X Marks the Spot

Here's the link to the Ontario Liberal membership registration page.

Membership is only $10.

Trust me, it's a deal. You will instantaneously be a member of the great Liberal tradition in Ontario, the one in which you find ways to work less.

I know, I know, it sounds like a bad thing to be a part of. We all talk about working hard, and increasing productivity, and we really romanticize the notion of people pushing themselves. In reality, however, the only thing you really want to be pushing is more beer into your gullet. It's okay. Work is overrated. Enjoy life, take a day off, make a promise you can't keep. Be a Liberal.

As you well know by now, since it's probably going to be the least explosive and most joked about election promise of the provincial campaign, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced today that, if re-elected, he would introduce a new holiday into the year.

It will come on the third Monday of every February, which is also known by many Ontarians as the time of year when we'd rather be dead than scraping ice off our cars and shovelling away the mountain range of ice and snow the plow left at the foot of our driveways. AGAIN!

In other words, a vacation at that time of year is a good idea. We need it. We deserve it. And Saskatchewan and Alberta already have it, and Manitoba starts celebrating it next year, so why can't we, too?

This new holiday, McGuinty said, will be known as Family Day. Granted, that sounds about as exciting as becoming a member of the Liberal Party, but it makes sense because, you see, there are families in Ontario, and families really need a day in which to celebrate the existence of that entity. Because none of us see enough of our families. Really. Honestly. Ever since I moved out of my parents' house, all I've wanted are more opportunities to go home and be ignored by my parents while they watch Coronation Street. Thanks, Dalton, for giving me that opportunity.

Even though it is called Family Day, I don't think seeing your family will be part of the legislation that will bring the holiday into existence. So, really, you can spend it any way you like.

I'm going to spend it canvassing my neighbourhood signing up people to the Liberal Party. Maybe, if we get enough members, we can convince McGuinty to throw in another long weekend, just for fun. We'll call it, umm, I don't know, maybe Pet Day, since, here in Ontario, there are pets, and that should really be more widely and openly acknowledged, and celebrated.

Thank the lord. Or the Prime Minister.

Stephen Harper has postponed the return to Parliament, according to CTV.

This is great news for two reasons.

1. There's a provincial election going on and I don't want to have to juggle my remarkable and brilliant insights into two separate levels of government.

2. The day Parliament was supposed to resume was September 17. That was only one day before the Toronto Maple Leafs take to the ice for their first pre-season game of the season. Having all that start at the same time, particularly while in the middle of a provincial election, is untenable.

Yesterday, as I'm sure you well know, was the first day of school.

As the education reporter here at The News, I was required to wake up at an ungodly hour in order to get to a new Mississauga public school, McKinnon P.S., for 8 a.m. Why it's necessary to start school, or work, so early, I'm not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with hating and torturing students and employees. It is, I imagine, a conspiracy to keep the young and the working class oppressed, by keeping them too tired to revolt.

But I digress.

Standing on the tarmac of McKinnon Public School at 8 a.m. after a long weekend, was, despite the early hour, inspirational.

Going to schools in Mississauga nearly always is.

First, a little context.

I'm an immigrant. I'm not a real immigrant, though. I'm white, and don't have an accent. So, even though I didn't become a Canadian citizen until I was a teenager, no one I meet would ever question my Canadian-ness.

Only once in my life have I been a victim of racism. It was when Simon, a fellow classmate in elementary school, followed me around the school yard calling me "Scottie dog," making fun of my Scottish heritage.

I put up with it for a short while, but as we crossed the playground behind Sunningdale Public School in Oakville, I lost my temper and I punched him in the stomach. He fell to the ground and began crying. To this day, it's the only time, outside of a hockey arena, I have ever punched someone with the intention of hurting them.

So, aside from that, I never had to put up with racism personally.

I do, however, remember watching racism.

At Sunningdale, at the time, there were very few visible minorities. It was a school of nearly exclusively white kids like me.

Then a new kid showed up. He was Korean, and he knew very little English. The kids in his class would circle him, and they would teach him swear words, and everyone would laugh when he repeated them. These confrontations were never violent, and the Korean kid appeared to like making his peers laugh. Regardless, it certainly wasn't right.

It did turn slightly violent when another kid showed up. He was a brown kid, and, even though he was born in Mississauga and even though his command of the English language was superior to that of his classmates, he was bullied. The kids who used to teach the Korean kid how to swear in English taught the same kid to chase the brown kid around the playground, tormenting him. This went on for weeks.

I don't remember what I thought about it then, but I was, thanks to the shyness of my childhood, relieved of years of guilt by not taking part.

I doubt racism will ever completely die, even in Canada, but standing on the tarmac of McKinnon Public School Tuesday morning made me think that those scenes played out behind Sunningdale will likely never be repeated in Mississauga, or in modern-day Oakville.

A Korean kid or a brown kid in a classroom is not a novelty.

In fact, when you scan the faces at schools in the GTA today, it is the perfect picture of the Canadian Dream - these are places where there are no minorities because there is no majority.

Provided you buy into the ideal of multiculturalism - and I do; I think it's the best policy the Canadian government has ever come up with - you can't help but be heartened by seeing the kids in these schools.

And it made me rethink my position on John Tory's plan to fund faith-based schools in Ontario.

Previously, I had written in this space that I thought Tory, though he's going about it the wrong way, is at least trying to fix the problem of discrimination in our education system. McGuinty and Hampton are simply pretending there isn't a problem, that it's okay to fund schools for one religious group and not others. They do know it is a problem, though. They're not so stupid they would actually believe otherwise.

There are two solutions to the problem - offer funding to all faith-based schools, as Tory is promising to do, or stop funding Catholic schools.

Even if Tory's plan goes through, I don't believe every single Muslim will end up in a Muslim public school, nor do I think every Sikh will end up in a Sikh public school. But I think there will be an enrolment increase at religious schools. And that's a bad thing.

Here's what McGuinty should promise to do. Politically, it's a good idea, and morally, too.

Go to the people. Promise a referendum on the issue. It has become a significant enough issue in this campaign that there is obviously a need now for an answer to the question of what schools we should fund.

McGuinty should say that because of the increased interest from the public, if he's re-elected, he will hold a referendum in his first two years on whether or not the Province should fund faith-based education. If the public says we shouldn't, the Legislature must vote to amend the Constitution and get us out of funding Catholic schools. If the public says we should fund faith-based schools, then we use Tory's plan.

That would get McGuinty out of the mess he's in, and it would neutralize any of the power Tory's promise has.

And it would make me happy. I want everyone in the same school system. It's the best thing for our province. The more familiar we are with people who are different colours, or who have different accents, or who wear religious gear, then the more we will be able to relate to one another, and the harder it will be to insult one another, and to bully one another.

As I said, watching the kids line up outside McKinnon PS yesterday morning made me rethink Tory's stance.

I still support it, but only by default, and I really, really wish a party with a chance of forming the government would give me an alternative.

Want to see An Inconvenient Truth?

Been a while since you've caught up with your MP?

Well, now you can see the movie and complain about garbage pick-up (not actually a federal issue) on the same night.

MPs Omar Alghabra (Mississauga-Erindale) and Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Brampton South) are hosting a screening of the groundbreaking Al Gore doc and a subsequent panel discussion at Central Library later this month.

Here're the details, taken from the Facebook invite:

Thursday, September 13, 2007
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Noel Ryan Auditorium, Mississauga Central Library
301 Burnhamthorpe Road West

An open invitation to attend a Community Forum on the Enviroment. The event will begin with a screening of the award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” followed by an audience-driven discussion led by a panel of distinguished guests.

The purpose of the event is to raise awareness on the ever-growing impact of climate change and to identify ways to tackle environmental challenges.

Free underground parking available.

Contact:
Omar Alghabra @ 905.897.1952 or alghao1@parl.gc.ca
Navdeep Bains @ 905.795.5220 or bainsn1c@parl.gc.ca

You don't need a Nobel Prize to know barbecues heal all wounds, but it helps give the notion some credibility.

South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won his Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his struggle against apartheid, was Patron of National Braai Day in South Africa yesterday.

Braai is a word used by all South Africans for grilling, or barbecuing.

Tutu told reporters at the barbecue, "There are so many things that are pulling us apart, this has a wonderful potential to bring us all together...We have 11 different official languages but only one word for the wonderful institution of braai: in Xhosa, English, Afrikaans, whatever."

He added: "We've shown the world a few things. Let's show them that ordinary activities like eating can unite people of different races, religions, sexes... short people, tall people, fat people, lean people."

From now on, when I barbecue, I'll think of the great Desmond Tutu, who articulated what so many of us have experienced: that the barbecue, creating sweet smells and great meals, and giving a great excuse to hold a beer and a spatula at the same time, helps create a perfect world.

NOTE TO JOHN TORY: Dalton has already staked out Family Day, but there's no reason why you can't endorse Family Day and add one more holiday to it: Barbecue Day.

I've lost count of how many times PC Leader John Tory has been in Mississauga in the past month, but, if he's not careful, he's going to have to start paying local property taxes on his campaign bus.

He'll be back again today, spending two hours in town this evening to help Nina Tangri and Tim Peterson open their campaign offices.

It's worth noting that, after kicking off the "official" campaign stretch at Queen's Park, his first stops will be in Mississauga.

As The Globe and Mail reported in today's paper, the 905 is critical territory, and possible swing territory.

Karen Howlett wrote: "As for the Progressive Conservatives, they have to reclaim seats in the 905 region - their traditional base of support - that they lost to the Liberals in 2003, (Strategic Counsel's Tim) Woolstencroft said. The Tories won eight of the 25 905 ridings in 2003."

In other words, expect to see a lot of Tory over the next four weeks, and, if Tory's work starts to pay off, expect to see a lot of McGuinty.

PHOTO: Mississauga South MPP welcomes PC Leader John Tory to his Lakeshore Rd. W. office

Day 1 was yesterday, but I spent the night following around John Tory and then had an article to write once home, so I didn't get around to posting a blog entry about the big day.

Tory visited Mississauga-Streetsville candidate Nina Tangri, at her small no frills office beside, of all things, a No Frills. After that, he went down to Mississauga South Liberal-cum-Progressive Conservative MPP Tim Peterson's office, which had several frills, and a rather tempting wine shop two doors down.

For the first stop, the Tory media bus was a regular Greyhound bus. The original bus, with PC graphics, was hit before it even left Queen's Park yesterday. Fortunately, only the side mirror was knocked off the bus. The touring journalists were moved to another bus, and between Tangri's office and Peterson's office, they were moved back onto the repaired bus with the graphics.

After all the speeches and thunderstick clapping, and after Tory shook hands with nearly everyone in Mississauga South, his communications manager hooked me up with a one-on-one interview with the big man.

I was hustled onto the campaign bus to await my audience with Tory. The bus was dark, and a bit like a long cave, but with comfortable seats and keyboard-tapping aides, and a chafing dish on a portable stove, the contents of which made the entire bus smell like a tomato-based pasta sauce.

Tory climbed the steps onto the bus, walked down the thin aisle to the small table I was sitting at roughly halfway down the bus. We shook hands, and he jokingly offered me veal from his chafing dish. Knowing how easily my vote and allegiance can be bought, I declined his offer.

Then, knowing I had very little time to interview JT, I quickly asked my three questions. Then, it was off the bus and back into the glare of the wine shop signage.

As for what Tory actually said at the campaign office openings, it amounts to, and I'm paraphrasing, "Liar, liar, Dalton's pants are on fire."

PHOTO: My new Liberal swag

PART ONE
Walked into the office today and found a large FedEx package on my desk.

After checking for any hints of anthrax and listening for a ticking bomb, I opened the package to find free swag from my friends at The Ontario Liberal Party.

I received (listed in order of impressiveness, from most to least):

- a memory stick (a.k.a. thumb drive) with photographs of Dalton McGuinty in every family-friendly situation you could ever imagine him. Fortunately, those photographs were easily trashed, giving me a free and clear memory stick.

- a travel mug. I don't ever use a travel mug, but I could likely, using nail polish remover, remove "McGuinty Tour 2007" from the mug and then pawn off the travel mug as a Christmas gift on a C-list friend.

- a canvas shoulder bag (a.k.a. purse/murse). This seems like a good sturdy bag, but I have no use for a new bag and would feel awkward carrying one with "McGuinty Tour 2007: Change that's working" embroidered on the side. As I don't have the patience to remove the stitching, it will likely join my ever-growing collection of useless canvas shoulder bags I've received in my four years as a professional reporter. I believe, with the new addition, I will be up to seven shoulder bags.

- the official, hard copy version of The Ontario Liberal Plan, 2007: Moving Forward Together (a.k.a. the new set of promises the Liberals plan on breaking if re-elected).

PART TWO
As is my good fortune, there was a Peel District School Board meeting this evening. As always, it was exhilarating.

LXN-related highlights:

1. Board Chair Janet McDougald urged a group of residents who wanted busing for their kids to lobby their local MPP and demand an answer to the question: Why are Peel students getting $690 less per pupil than the provincial average?

2. There was also some talk about Premier Dalton McGuinty's promise to change the current half-day kindergarten into full-day kindergarten. The promise is for both junior and senior kindergarten. When asked how much this would cost, Associate Director Wayne McNally said they'd need to build 460 classrooms in Peel, and he ballparked the expense at $170 million. Keep in mind that's just the public board. The Catholic board would need to do the same, only with fewer classrooms.

PHOTO: Bramalea-Gore-Malton Green candidate Bruce Haines standing in front of his enemy, urban sprawl.

PART ONE
Bramalea-Gore-Malton Green candidate Bruce Haines walked into City Council this morning and demanded that the rules for the City-hosted provincial election debate be changed to allow Green Leader Frank de Jong to take part.

He said to council: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mayor and Council, it is not too late to rectify your decision to exclude the Green Party from the debate. The motto for the City is 'Leading today for tomorrow.' Today you have a chance to lead. Please allow the Leader of the Green Party of Ontario to participate on September 19th."

Then, council voted to do just that.

Frank de Jong will be taking part.

The original rules excluded the Greens because they don't have any seats in the legislature.

This morning, council changed the rules. Now, any party that received more than 1 percent of the popular vote in the 2003 provincial election will be invited to take part. That means the Green Party, which received 2.8 percent of the popular vote, will be invited.

The cut-off also means that Guiseppe Gori, the leader of the right-wing Family Coalition Party, which only received 0.8 percent of the vote, will not be invited.

PART TWO

Speaking to Bruce Haines about his triumph at City Council this morning, we got to talking about the poll numbers.

A new Canadian Press-Harris/Decima survey has the Liberals at 41 percent, the Progressive Conservatives at 33 percent, the NDP at 13 percent, and the Greens at 11 percent.

At 11 percent, there's a distinct possibility the Green Party could beat the NDP.

As Haines said: "If I could make any projection it would be that the Green Party will slide into third in the popular vote."

The problem would be that because the NDP has concentrated support in a number of ridings, they could win seats in the legislature with less support than the Green Party, which will likely win zero seats.

It will be an entirely new argument in favour of changing our electoral system, as we have the opportunity to do on Oct. 10.

PHOTO: The referendum ballot. Read it. Know it. Love it.

Referendum Fever is sweeping the province! People are screaming in anticipation of the chance to have their voices heard! Mothers and fathers are forgetting to feed their children because they're so engrossed in electoral reform literature. This is the biggest political lovefest since Trudeaumania!

Actually, it's not. Not at all. No one cares about the referendum. Only six, maybe seven, people actually know there is a referendum on Oct. 10.

That's one of the reasons I visited with Natasha DeSouza this morning. She's the referendum resource officer for Mississauga-Streetsville. Her job is to educate people about the referendum question. She didn't complain about it, but she has a frustrating and thankless job.

I know, in part, what she's going through. Never do I feel as frustrated and unthanked as I do when I'm writing about the referendum coming up on E-Day. I know no one's going to read the article. If the headline somehow tricks readers into committing to the article, by paragraph two their eyes will glaze over, and if they somehow make it to paragraph five, rigor mortis sets in.

I have a hard time understanding why. I find the referendum question fascinating. I think it's a chance for a serious and deep debate about how we are represented in government. Just try to bring it up at a bar on a Friday night, though - people will keep so much distance from you you'd think your breath smelled like burnt hair.

I really think Elections Ontario should hire Jessica Alba and Brad Pitt, put them in bathing suits, and shoot them as stars in referendum information commercials. Have them posing for brochures and posters, too.

It really is the only way people will pay attention.

To learn about the referendum, and to watch the seven-part instructional video, visit www.yourbigdecision.ca.

For my initial thoughts on the upcoming referendum, visit my three-part blog series Let the Headaches Begin - Part One, Part Two, Part Three

PHOTO - Planet Earth. 4.6 billion years old and still going strong. Well...still going.

Had a fascinating conversation last night with Chris Lowry, network director of Get Green Enterprise Toronto.

He was at the screening of An Inconvenient Truth at the Central Library last night (organized by MPs Omar Alghabra and Navdeep Bains). He was an expert on the panel that took questions from the audience after the movie.

While answering one question, Lowry mentioned the upcoming referendum on electoral reform.

One of the main concerns about the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system of electing MPPs is that because it will result in near-constant minority governments, strong and bold legislation will be difficult to implement since everything will need to be watered down to pass through the legislature.

"I don't think the evidence supports that," said Lowry after last night's event. "It's a less adversarial political system that leads to a diversity of voices that represents the common wisdom."

He pointed to New Zealand, which uses mixed-member proportional. They made the small island country a nuclear-free zone under a coalition government. Meanwhile, Germany's minority government introduced extended producer responsibility, in which "manufacturers...they've got to deal with the waste of the products they sell, not the consumers."

Lowry added: "I'm extremely excited about the possibility of this happening. It'll be good for the earth."

For previous blogs exploring the ins-and-outs of the referendum, go here, here, and then here.

PHOTO: Mississauga-Erindale NDP candidate Shaila Kibria - Howard Hampton has thrown her into the deep end to teach her how to swim

On Wednesday night, City Hall will host Mississauga Matters, a "leaders' debate" on municipal issues, but, it turns out, to a couple of the political parties, Mississauga doesn't matter much at all.

City Council asked for the leaders of the three main political parties to debate Mississauga-specific issues in Mississauga, but the only party leader who will be there is Green Party leader Frank de Jong, who wasn't initially invited and had to fight to get on the billing.

The Liberals are sending veteran MPP and finance minister Greg Sorbara in Dalton McGuinty's place. Sorbara is a bigwig in the party and has played an important role through the four years of the Liberal government.

It can, therefore, be concluded that the Liberals, though not sending their leader, are taking the debate seriously.

The Progressive Conservatives and the NDP, on the other hand, don't appear to care about the debate.

The Progressive Conservatives are sending out Tim Peterson, who has been PC for all of three months, after spending more than three years as a Liberal MPP.

At least Peterson has some experience in the legislature.

The NDP is sending out Shaila Kibria, who is a fine candidate but who has been a politician for less time than Peterson has been a Tory.

What was originally billed as a heavyweight title match is turning out to be nothing more than an amateur flyweight undercard.

I was searching online for Ravi Singh, the Mississauga-Brampton South PC candidate.

Google brought up nothing on the man I was looking for, so I went to the Ontario PC website and looked up the riding.

And there was Ravi Singh's photo and bio, and an email address where he could be reached. The email address ended with ravisingh.ca, which, of course, usually means that the website would be ravisingh.ca.

Sadly, it's not.

Another Ravi Singh already has www.ravisingh.ca.

This Ravi Singh is an attractive, young real estate agent who appears to have nothing at all to do with the Progressive Conservative Party.

So, the search continues.

For a candidate who told me on his nomination night that he had been campaigning for the nomination for over a year, he seems grossly underprepared to be a candidate.

PHOTO: Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod laughs at Liberal Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, who accidentally glued his fingertips together before the debate.

Sorbara didn't actually glue his fingertips together, but it certainly would've made tonight's Mississauga Matters debate much more interesting.

Instead, the audience was treated to a rather bland, albeit well-executed, debate. I have written a proper story for the website and newspaper, so in this space, let me just gather some bits and pieces.

***

There were last-minute line-up changes for the debate. Instead of having local candidates taking part, the NDP and PC parties brought in some heavier hitters to match wits with Liberal finance minister Greg Sorbara and Green Party leader Frank de Jong.

For the NDP, there was Andrea Horwath, the critic for pensions, children and youth issues, WSIB and Women’s Issues and a former Hamilton city councillor.

The Tories brought in Lisa MacLeod, Nepean-Carleton MPP and critic for children and youth services.

***

Green Party leader Frank de Jong, discussing the GTAs garbage woes and garbage incineration with Greg Sorbara:

Frank de Jong - God recycles and the devil burns, but the Liberals, we should not be getting into incineration...nothing should be incinerated, nothing should be landfilled.

Sorbara - you see, that's utopia, absolutely utopia...

FD - (interrupting) Eco-topia.

(audience laughter)

S - This is where the world is absolutely perfect - it's where the Green party loses some credibility when it comes to politics and to be frank...

FD - (interrupting) That's me!

(more audience laughter)

S - ...You just lose it. So long as mankind walks the earth there's going to be stuff we throw out.

***

Frank de Jong is very tall.

***

Re: downloading of services from the provincial government to municipal governments. Sorbara and MacLeod got into a dust-up about who's fault the City's problems are.

Sorbara - Guess who designed the system, the previous Conservative government.

MacLeod - And guess who didn't fix it. And guess who didn't fix it.

S - (Shouting over MacLeod) I think I let you finish - we eliminated pooling...

M - He's just not used to women on the panel, I think. (Audience laughter) I know I should be at home baking cookies, Greg.

This is funny because of this pre-campaign gaffe by veteran Liberal war roomer Warren Kinsella (who did, in his defense, apologize repeatedly).

***

Three nearby rooms were set aside as overflow rooms, with the debate playing on large televisions. Turned out they didn't need three rooms. All they needed was seating for nine. It was a bit ridiculous since I counted only 147 spectators in the council chambers, which holds 300.

***

Has anyone mentioned recently how well Harold Shipp dresses? It should be mentioned more regularly.

***

Though everyone was out to hurt the Liberals, from my seat, Sorbara won the debate. He dominated. He was louder, more fierce, and, in this one instance, absolutely brutal in making his point.

Lisa MacLeod - One thing we will do by 2010 is to eliminate the job-killing capital tax on an accelerated timetable so we can put more money in the pockets of small business owners so they can expand and grow their businesses.

Sorbara - But that's already been legislated. It's already there. It's in law - the capital tax will go in 2010. I don't know why your party keeps saying if John Tory is elected, you'll do things that are already part of the law of Ontario, that's not leadership...

L - Because we can't trust you'll follow through on anything.

S - It's already the law.

L - We can't trust you'll follow through on anything.

S - It's already the law.

L - You broke 50 promises in the course of four years.

S - It's already the law.

(Sudden, awkward silence for two excruciating seconds. MacLeod and the crowd realize she has been beaten, at least on this point.)

S - (slowly twisting the dagger) It's. Already. The. Law. The capital tax is going to be eliminated under the laws of this province in 2010 and for John Tory to stand up and say if I - the guy for who leadership matters - get elected I'm going to eliminate the capital tax by 2010. Biiiiig deal.

Francis DeSouza, CityTV newsman and Mississauga resident, mercifully ended the slaughter.

***

Francis DeSouza is pretty cool, and extremely well-groomed.

***

The media chairs at City Hall are better than the media chairs at both the Peel District School Board and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.

Also, there was a jug of water on the media table. At the public school board, we get a jug of water and a glass but uncomfortable seats. At the Catholic school board, we get good seats but only a paper cup, with no water to fill it with.

PHOTO: Party leaders are going to be fighting for their political lives at tonight's debate, just like Little Mac (a.k.a. Mackenzie Weaver) taking on big, bad Mike Tyson in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (the name of which was changed after Tyson became a criminal, though the makers of the game did not take out the criminal grammar of double exclamation points). Mike Tyson, in case you're wondering, represents the doubts the voters have about the leadership abilities of the leaders. Just like in the video game, it is extremely difficult to land a punch on "Iron" Mike Tyson, let alone knock him out.

Tune in to my blog later tonight for a Mississauga News first: live-blogging.

As I watch the debates I will be posting well-crafted points and counter-arguments, and just generally being flippant about the whole circus.

This debate, I think, will be important. I get the feeling voters are sitting around waiting for the leaders to do something. There is a stagnant feel to the campaign. We need a good fight, or something new to talk about. Everyone's so bored of thinking about funding faith-based education they're willing to hear anything else. How about funding faith-based hospitals? Or banning gasoline? Just give us something new to talk about.

In case you missed the latest Ipsos-Reid poll, it's saying the Liberals are at 40 percent, the PCs are at 37 percent, the NDP is at 16 percent, and the Greens have 6 percent.

When it comes to the seat count in the legislature, those numbers translate into a small minority for the Liberals.

The leaders aren't offering anything that's moving voters yet. I thought McGuinty's new holiday would do it, but the announcement didn't have legs. Maybe if he offers a case of beer for every Ontarian of drinking age on that long weekend, maybe then the promise will stick around, and give him the bump necessary to cement a majority.

It is a strategy Little Mac's trainer Doc Louis would approve of; as Doc often told Little Mac between rounds, "Listen Mac! Dodge his punch then counter punch!"

As for John Tory, Doc Louis might not have much advice for him. Instead, he'd offer his regular assessment of Little Mac's ring skills: "Dancing like a fly, bite like a mosquito." Though, apparently, you can knock out Mike Tyson with enough mosquito bites properly timed.

Anyway, I'm expecting a call from Mississauga South candidate Charles Sousa any minute now, then I'm on my way home to set up for the debates.

You can either read my brilliant analysis at the time, or you can just catch up on it tomorrow.

All right, we're ready.

Just in time for the video opening statements.

Dalton McGuinty said he broke an election promise. Why hadn't anyone mentioned this before?

Howard Hampton, it turns out, is "there for working families." Where "there" is, and whether or not non-working families exist, I'm not sure.

John Tory's friend, Cathy the Ontarian, said Dalton McGuinty broke a promise. Tory agreed with Cathy the Ontarian. Dalton McGuinty broke promises. And, apparently, John Tory thinks leadership matters.

***

6:42
Woohoo. First question is from Olga in Mississauga. She wants to know about funding faith-based education.

Tory wants to bring people together.

Dalton fixed education. It's perfect. There's nothing wrong with it.

Wait, wait, Howard is saying Dalton didn't fix education. "I think we should focus on funding our neighbourhood schools properly." And Tory has it wrong on funding faith-based education.

Tory: "We have an opportunity to include people."

McG: You can either devote yourself to getting test scores up and class sizes down ... or plunge this province into this controversial debate...what faiths will be funded?

HH: The real problem: Our school funding formula isn't fixed. It's a private decision and the public shouldn't pay for it...there's always someone who'll want to work outside the system.

John Tory's winning. Dalton's very skinny.

***

6:49 p.m.
Tory says he's inviting faith kids into public system, and I know what he's getting at, but he's wrong. Sure, the school would be part of the public system, but they'd still be in classrooms with exclusively kids of only their own faith.

***

6:50 p.m.
Steve Paikin's hair is remarkable.

***

6:51 p.m.
Man, Dalton's really happy about his record. He doesn't stop smiling.

Meanwhile, HH appears physically incapable of smiling.

HH says kids can't play in schoolyards, and that schools are crumbling, and that there's too much fundraising, making schools in rich areas better than schools in poor areas.

JT hates split grades, loves looking down at his notes. Doesn't he have that stuff memorized yet?

The number of split-grade classes has not actually increased - it has decreased, according to McG's tracker. John said Dalton should call in a repair man because the tracker's broken.

Someone should have told Howard not to put his hand in his pocket on television.

***

6:56 p.m.
John Tory's still winning. He's pounding McG on not living up to his promises, and Dalton's standing there saying, "We've come a long way. We've come a long way."

This, of course, was expected. If McG comes out of this alive, the Liberals have to consider it a win.

***

6:57 p.m.
Transit time!

What's wrong with HH's left hand? Why can't he get it out of his pocket? Wow - I think he just tried to smile.

JT will take every single cent of gas and fuel tax and dedicate it to transit and roads, on top of what's already there. Meanwhile, he says, McG's building new subways even though cities don't have the money to keep the current subways running.

HH keeps asking Dalton questions. JT keeps accusing Dalton of being a bad Premier. That's why JT's winning. "You did nothing until the election was at hand."

Oooh - Dalton fights back. HH keeps telling him he's downloading services to municipalities, and he's deflecting the criticism to JT, saying JT's party downloaded them and his own party is uploading.

***

Running to the kitchen for a fresh beer. Why don't these things have commercials?

***

7:08 p.m.
Tory says when you take a new job, you can blame your predecessor for a couple of weeks or a couple of months but not for four years. That's a fair statement, though most people don't take over jobs in which they have to get rid of a $5.6 billion deficit.

***

7:11 p.m.
I'm sick of hearing about broken promises. It bores me now.

HH makes a great move, says that McG must have been the only person in Ontario who didn't know the previous government had a deficit.

HH is also pulling a Stephen Harper, saying he's only making six commitments. Just six commitments. Commitments are similar to priorities, and six is close to five.

JT's going to shake hands with Ontario, then Ontario will know he'll keep his word. Or something like that.

***

7:15 p.m.
JT's pounding McG on his broken promises. He's livid. And McG weakly defends himself, his voice barely audible.

Tory continues to win.

***

7:16 p.m.
JT asks why McG, even though the health tax was to fight the deficit, isn't willing to get rid of the tax now that we have a big surplus. And why is McG saying he'll review the health tax even though he has also said he won't cut the tax anyway.

***

7:20 p.m.
McG: "Have we lost jobs? You bet we have." But, we have supports for those people who lost their jobs.

McG is making fun of the NDP record on employment...in 1995! 12 years ago!

Tory's funny: "By the time we get to the end of this broadcast, you're going to be bringing up John A. Macdonald and blaming him for something."

***

7:26 p.m.
Howard Hampton is wearing a red-and-blue striped tie. Strange.

***

HH - $10 minimum wage now. Public health dental plan for poor people. Roll back tuition and apprenticeship fees.

Tory likes the Ontario Child Benefit and will keep it, and congratulated McG on bring it in. That was nice of him to say. What a great guy. Maybe I should vote for him. But it was McG who brought it in, so maybe I should vote for him. SO conflicted.

***

Dalton dodges poorly. Hampton catches him on the other side, repeating JT's question about his health tax hurting poor people disproportianately. He dodges again. JT starts dogging McG. This fight seems unfair. It hurts a little bit to watch.

***

They should really have commercials. Just half an hour left.

***

HH says people are committing crimes because they've lost hope. The NDP will find it for them.

JT says people can't keep their doors unlocked at night anymore. Which raises the question, who was stupid enough to keep their doors unlocked at night, ever, anywhere?

McG - Ontario has the lowest rate of crime in Canada and the second lowest rate of violent crime in Canada. Still more to be done. Ban handguns.

JT- "Handguns are effectively banned already, and you know that."

***

HH is going to rollback tuition to 2003 levels and freeze them there. One assumes the money would need to come from the government to make up for that.

***

7:44 p.m.
Beer run to the kitchen, with a pit stop at the washroom. I'm lobbying for more commercials in the next debate.

***

7:47 p.m.
McG - "We're going to have to have nuclear energy for the foreseeable future."

HH wants us to reduce consumption. New appliances for everyone!

***

7:49 p.m.
The HOG (Hell-of-a-guy) factor: none of them have it.

***

7:50 p.m.
Question from the public: How come there are still big emergency room lineups and people don't have doctors even after we paid all this money on this new tax?

McG said the money's going to insulin pumps, etc. (That is a big etc.)

JT asks, Is delivery better than four years ago? There are 1 million people without doctors in 2003. Same today.

McG asks people to consider JT's plan of cutting taxes, spending more on services, and balancing the budget. McG thinks he can't do it.

***

JT's neck seems to disappear when he gets angry.

***

McG says our health system is getting better. Wait times are going down for knees, hips, MRIs, cancer care, CT Scans.

***

Unless it happened while I was grabbing a beer, there have been no questions specifically about the environment.

***

7:56 p.m.
The last question was a softball. Basically, the question was, "Is Ontario still great?"

If that's not an opportunity to wax poetic, I don't know what is, but the three leaders let go of the chance to talk about Ontario's greatness. Granted, you need to push the platform, but there was time for something inspiring.

***

FINAL STATEMENTS

HH
"You deserve better."
"We can make life better for your family."

McG
"We've come a long way in four short years."
"Ban pesticides"

JT
"If you aspire to something better, I encourage you to vote Progressive Conservative."
"Leadership matters."

***

Tory wins.
Dalton survived, which is like a win.
Howard should take his hand out of his pocket.

PHOTO: Zoran Churchin's idling billboard truck. You'd think candidates would know that idling is a bad idea. Even if not Churchin's fault, he should know that it's not particularly "green" to send a truck out 10 hours a day to drive around a billboard.

A Mississauga provincial election candidate's idling billboard truck polluted the post-debate air of triumph Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory was hoping to bring to Mississauga earlier today.

The diesel cube truck with large "elect Zoran Churchin" signs on it sat idling in front of Mississauga South PC candidate Tim Peterson's office for about 14 minutes, finally moving as Tory's bus pulled into the strip-mall parking lot.

During a media scrum after Tory's stump speech, Tory was asked if it was acceptable for the truck to be idling before his arrival.

"I will raise this with (Churchin) before I leave here today and indicate to him we've all had to learn the lesson of making sure we don't have our vehicles idling, and I'm sure someone just did that through inadvertence," said Tory.

After Tory warned Churchin against idling, Churchin told The News he was unaware the truck had been idling.

"If I'd seen it, I definitely would've stopped it and when I see the man driving the truck, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

When asked if it's a good idea to have a truck driving around Mississauga all day for a month spewing emissions just to advertise, Churchin admitted it was a rookie mistake.

"I'm not endorsing anything like it," he said of the single-purpose advertising truck, which drives around the city for 10 hours a day. "I was advised to do it from people who have used it...this is my first time running and I would not do that again."

During the media scrum, Tory also said he would not endorse that form of advertising for candidates.

"Everybody has to learn to change their habits in Ontario society, and that includes politicians and everybody else," he said.

I have election fever, as well as an election headache, cough and runny nose.

I expect to return, sans election flu, tomorrow.

In the meantime, go here, and read (again) why John Tory has lost his chances at forming a government - funding faith-based schools has killed him.

VIDEO: The demolition of the "four sisters" earlier this year. What will replace those smokestacks is the primary concern of Lakeview-area voters.

Just returned to the office from the Lakeview Ratepayers Association debate for Mississauga South candidates.

These guys have now had three debates in the past three nights. Pity them.

They still managed to keep it somewhat fresh for the audience of more than 200 people at the Cawthra Seniors' Centre.

The highlight, from an entertainment perspective (the political perspective will be dealt with in the news story), was NDP candidate Ken Cole's offer to give out lawn signs after the debate so people could show their support for him.

Tim Peterson quickly followed up by saying to Cole, "I'd like one of your signs, I'm just not sure where I'd put it."

Cole shot back: "I can tell you where to put it."

***

Another highlight: Charles Sousa employed an old trick and read part of a press release PC candidate and incumbent Tim Peterson sent out in March.

Sousa read Peterson's release, which stated, in part: "Our government plan is working for Mississauga...I am especially pleased that our government will be ending GTA pooling, which will save GTA taxpayers over $200 million."

Of course, Peterson made the statement back when he was a Liberal, before he left the party ostensibly because pooling was not being ended quickly enough.

Sousa also laid into Peterson by saying that the incumbent was only in the legislature 40 percent of the time.

Peterson defended his record by saying he was on five committees and crossed the province doing consultations for four months, and also that he didn't vote after leaving the Liberals and sitting as an Independent because "he didn't want to be seen voting against the government that helped me get elected."

***

Most of the questions from the audience were decent, but one was nothing more than a statement, and caused some commotion in the auditorium. It came from a woman named Janet.

"I don't know how anyone could vote for a floor-crossing betrayer like Mr. Tim Peterson," she said.

Peterson responded, "Janet and I were very close (when I was a Liberal)...I'm glad she's that upset that I left."

Peterson added, after repeating the four reasons he left the Liberals: "I went to your leader and said, 'what do you think of these ideas,' and he said, 'send me an email.' Janet, you're on the wrong side."

***

Roy Willis, former mayoral candidate, told the candidates that Mayor Hazel McCallion supports power plants in Mississauga.

He asked the candidates, who are all against power plants in Mississauga South in one form or another, "How are you going to deal with Hazel?"

The question, and the answers, evoked much laughter.

Green candidate David Johnston said, "Well, she can't live forever."

NDP candidate Ken Cole: "I'm not scared of Hazel - she better get used to me."

Sousa said he'd speak to her not only about the economy but about the health and safety of residents.

Peterson: "Hazel doesn't get the waterfront like she gets Streetsville or the city core...as for her longevity, I wouldn't bet against her."

PHOTO: is self-explanatory

A moment of introspection:

Why is it that I can appreciate shirts with French cuffs, and love a nice pair of cufflinks, but find it distasteful when provincial election candidates wear them?

Perhaps it's because it represents a disconnect between the people and their representatives. I doubt there were any French cuffs in the audience at the Lakeview debate tonight. They were on display at the front of the room, though. The cuffs were fastened with a beautiful pair of what appeared to be square, brushed-metal cufflinks. I won't say who was wearing them because it doesn't matter, but, as I mentioned, I found it distasteful.

Is that a fair assessment, though? Is it fair to expect the men running to represent Mississauga South to dress in a similar fashion as those who will elect one of them? I don't think it is. If that was the case, after all, the candidates would be wearing ill-fitting khakis and hiking boots.

The candidates still have to wear suits, but perhaps they shouldn't dress them up. Unfortunately, this goes against what I believe in. I think people should dress as well as they can. If they can afford beautiful cufflinks, wear them. If they can afford nice suits, wear them. You dress for other people, because people like being around attractive, nicely dressed people. It is a nice thing to do for people. And if someone is representing you at Queen's Park, you want them to look good, because they're a reflection of your community, and you want people to think your community is attractive and doing well and can pull off a nice pair of cufflinks, even if you, in fact, wear ill-fitting khakis and hiking boots on a daily basis.

In other words, let them wear cuff links, and let us wear cuff links. Maybe instead of disliking the candidates because they are ostentatious perhaps I should dislike the voters for being so modest and unimaginative. Let us all strive to be better looking and more put together. Bury the hiking boots in the back of the closet until you actually go hiking, and remember that there's never been a person, other than perhaps James Dean, who looks good in khakis.

SCREEN SHOT: Our brand new LXN website. Visit it often.

Good news here on the intertubes - our election website is up and running and beautiful.

We even have videos of all the candidates telling us why we should elect them. The site's well put-together, informative, and will be growing quickly between now and E-Day.

Go here to see all the information, broken down into Mississauga's six ridings.

PHOTO: Burger Poll mid-campaign results

The Lick's poll has been up and running for a while now. I stopped by for lunch today to snap a pic of the numbers today, with slightly less than two weeks remaining in the campaign.

The polls at Lick's on Hurontario, just north of Eglinton, don't match the provincial polls, and, as you can see, they actually have Tory's Tories in the lead by a couple of points.

Keep in mind, it's entirely possible that PC operatives have been lunching there on a regular basis in order to pump up the numbers.

The burger poll was first used to raise awareness of an Oakville municipal election back in the 1970s. It gathered steam after that, with the federal government banning polls, including "Hamburger surveys," during the 1977 federal election.

"Since no one but Lick's was conducting a Burger Poll at the time, Lick's patrons took the ban as the highest possible compliment about their political astuteness," said Denise Meehan, founder of the burger chain.

In case you can't see the photo, it reads:
Progressive Conservatives - 37%
Liberals - 35%
NDP - 16%
Other - 12%

UPDATE - I just spoke to Frank Peruzzi, the Chief Electoral Officer at Licks. He told me the numbers posted at the Licks (in the photo) are province-wide. The current poll numbers for that specific location are as follows:
Libs - 39%
PC - 30%
NDP - 13%
OTHER - 18%

Peruzzi also told me that each of the chain's 25 stores get about 110 ballots cast per day. By the end of the campaign, that means they get roughly 60,000 ballots.

Also, Peruzzi gave me the results from the 2003 election
Liberals
Licks result - 49%
Actual result - 46.5%

NDP
LR - 16%
AR - 14.7%

Another night, another debate.

This one was at the University of Toronto Mississauga, and involved Mississauga-Erindale candidates.

The crowd was rowdier than other Mississauga audiences, with shouts of "shame" regularly raining down on the candidates like meteorites.

Like most local debates, the event wasn't actually a debate. It was a Q&A with candidates. Only once did a candidate interrupt another candidate, and it was very funny.

The NDP's Shaila Kibria interrupted Liberal incumbent Harinder Takhar, and Takhar shot back, "I didn't talk over you, so just be quiet."

Enough meteorites of "shame" rained on the minister to pave a new highway between Mississauga and Vancouver.

***

Highlight of the night was the video above (some of you, I'm told, can't see it on your computers, and I have no idea how to fix that).

Rich Pietro, the Green candidate in Mississauga-Erindale, told the audience that he was bilingual, and the audience cheered, surprising Pietro, who then raised his fist in the air and loudly said, "Bilingualism!"

He then said when he moved to Mississauga from Montreal, his first job was delivering The Mississauga News. Another round of half-mocking cheers from the audience, to which Pietro again raised his fist and shouted "Mississauga News!"

So now Pietro is our favourite candidate.

***

The other highlight actually came before the debate.

I spent time wandering around the halls of UTM to gauge the level of interest the young students had in voting. There was nearly no interest, except from the students who were attending the debate, most of whom were either Young Liberals or Shaila Kibria cult members.

One guy I interviewed said he wasn't going to vote because he only goes to school in Mississauga and doesn't actually live here.

After telling him that provincial elections don't happen only in Mississauga but across the entire province, he said he might think about voting. I seriously considered pleading with him to stay home on Oct. 10.

***

Julie Tyios, the news editor at The Medium, the UTM newspaper, was part of the panel at the debate.

She asked about the electoral reform referendum (for background, see here, here, and here, and also here and here, and, finally, here, here, and here), but preceded her real question by asking, jokingly, Starbucks or Tim Hortons? It has become a divisive issue on campus, as the school, which has always had a Tim Hortons, with the obligatory 25-deep lineup, finally got its very own Starbucks.

David Brown, the PC candidate, was the only one to remember to answer the question, and it was a good, well-thought out answer, perhaps the most clear and concise answer I've heard in the past month from any of the candidates: "If tea, Starbucks; if coffee, Tim's."

***

Shaila Kibria made a huge mistake mid-debate.

Here's the thing about students. Most of them aren't involved, but if they are involved, they're REALLY involved, and most of the people in the audience at the debate were really involved. So, when Kibria tried to tell the audience that since Takhar's party has been in power the funding for the Status of Women program has been cut, the crowd went ballistic.

Anyone who regularly reads the newspaper and follows politics knows that was a federal program and the cuts were made by the Conservative government.

The crowd let her know they knew.

"It may be a federal issue..." said Kibria, trying to explain away her mistake before being drowned out.

It was embarrassing to watch.

***

In the end, PC candidate David Brown won. It's always nearly impossible for the incumbent to win, because they have a record the others can bash. Kibria bashed the record but came across as an "amateur," as one observer called her after the debate. Brown just kept his head down and spoke policy.

Card-carrying Young Liberals said, during the debate smoke break, that Brown made them think they could possibly vote PC. What made them stop short of marking off Brown's name was John Tory's name. That's unfortunate since PC candidates in this election all seem to have signed a party pledge to say John Tory's name at least 35 times per hour.