No. 15 - Ontario Election coverage

Happy Friday!

For the next six weeks, I’ll be writing about the Ontario election for The Maple. You should sign up to their mailing list to catch that coverage.

The first piece is about the ONDP’s platform. While I intended to write about the platform generally, I couldn’t get past the first set of promises. They were about housing and, because I am now writing news, I compared their platform to previous housing promises, including a 2020 policy document and the 2018 election.

And, because it is not opinion, I didn’t opinionate. I just laid the facts bare — the housing platform correctly identifies that Ontarians are probably concerned about housing more than anything else, but that the 2022 platform doesn’t seem to appreciate the pandemic. Like, there is very little urgency in this platform and no measures to put a halt to the sky-rocketing housing prices.

ONDP staff took issue with how I framed this. They didn’t think it was fair that I looked at their 2022 platform alone rather than assuming that, of course, previous housing policies would also be part of the platform, even if those promises were not in the platform. I’ve asked them formally for comment and will add it when/if they reply.

The natural question, of course, is this: then why not put all the promises into the platform document? It’s already 192 pages long. It could be longer! And why has there been no elaboration of housing promises by the ONDP since November 2020?

I have my own opinions about why, but I’ll save them for you to keep space in your brain for your own theories. But do make sure you read the story and decide for yourself!

Ontario NDP Housing Plan Thin on Details, Leaves Out Previous Pledges

(The rebuttal being: they aren’t left out! They’re just in other documents!)

And, while you’re here, please check out how protesting in Ottawa this May Day will be harder than ever before (or perhaps, harder than ever before since WWII).

May Day In Ottawa Is Threatened By The Police We Called

Happy May Day!!