Get out there and vote!

[Baggsy]

Someone posted this on another bbs, which might be pertinent to the forum and this thread:

Dear XXXX, Member of Provincial Parliament, Riding Name

Congratulations on your recent election. (or re-election). I am a resident of Riding Name and I am one of several hundred thousand licenced motorcyclists in Ontario. I ride my motorcycle as a regular means of transportation, to commute to work, and for recreation - exploring all parts of Ontario and beyond.

As you take your seat and begin your work in the new provincial parliament, I would ask that you think about and consider the interests and needs of me and my fellow motorcyclists.

For example,

· Improving affordability by taking steps to improve access and reduce the cost of insuring motorcycles in Ontario

· Supporting training for new and experienced motorcyclists (and other motorists) to improve safety and reduce collisions, injuries, and deaths.

· Recognizing motorcycles and other powered two wheelers for their role in reducing congestion and improving personal mobility – by promoting favourable access to parking and taking rational traffic measures, like improved access to HOV lanes.

Thank you for your consideration.

Name, phone, email

 

[GreyGhost]

Someone posted this on another bbs, which might be pertinent to the forum and this thread:

Dear XXXX, Member of Provincial Parliament, Riding Name

Congratulations on your recent election. (or re-election). I am a resident of Riding Name and I am one of several hundred thousand licenced motorcyclists in Ontario. I ride my motorcycle as a regular means of transportation, to commute to work, and for recreation - exploring all parts of Ontario and beyond.

As you take your seat and begin your work in the new provincial parliament, I would ask that you think about and consider the interests and needs of me and my fellow motorcyclists.

For example,

· Improving affordability by taking steps to improve access and reduce the cost of insuring motorcycles in Ontario

· Supporting training for new and experienced motorcyclists (and other motorists) to improve safety and reduce collisions, injuries, and deaths.

· Recognizing motorcycles and other powered two wheelers for their role in reducing congestion and improving personal mobility – by promoting favourable access to parking and taking rational traffic measures, like improved access to HOV lanes.

Thank you for your consideration.

Name, phone, email

While I applaud anyone's effort to get government to support what they care about, I think those points are dead in the water.

1. Why bother addressing motorcycle insurance separately from automobile insurance? Improve the model and both improve which affects far more voters.
2. Support training, why? They could amend graduated licensing to require training prior to riding a motorcycle on the street (as M1 is functionally useless now because of insurance industry) but people would scream about that. It would make a bigger difference if every license holder had to do recurrent training so they sucked less. I would be shocked if anything was done on this front.
3. Unless you allow filtering/splitting, saying they improve congestion sounds good but doesn't play out in reality. Each moving vehicle needs roughly the same amount of headway. If you had groups of bikes, that improves slightly, but groups of bikes in a congested environment rarely happens.

If I was a politician, I would read that, send a form letter that said thanks for your input and throw it out. I would be more likely to try to support changes that were both feasible and affected a much larger portion of the voting pool. It sucks as a small special interest group but that's reality.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

It's that day again...I'm still not 100% sure of who I'm voting for...but I'll have a decision to make in short order.

My opinion:

Liberals - Liars
PC - Idiots
NDP - Dreamers

I know it's not 100% applicable, but I guess that's the mentality I've had and been ingrained with over the years.

That is 100% applicable.
Not one party has enough common sense.

Makes “Declining a Ballot” a viable option. I truly wish people would decline their ballots en mass (and I mean like 60%+) - maybe then the politicians would wake up, realize that people are completely fed up and actually do something reasonable for all.

 

[GreyGhost]

That is 100% applicable.
Not one party has enough common sense.

Makes “Declining a Ballot” a viable option. I truly wish people would decline their ballots en mass (and I mean like 60%+) - maybe then the politicians would wake up, realize that people are completely fed up and actually do something reasonable for all.

They wouldn't care. Now, if the majority declined and that meant the civil servants run government for four years while all the politicians were unemployed, that might make them care. Sadly, the people declining are the ones that want to make a change/statement while believing in the system and they are most likely to vote. That really destabilizes the process if done on mass as you could end up with a fringe party elected as the insane people still vote for their preferred kook while thoughtful votes avoided picking a candidate.

 

[jc100]

That is 100% applicable.
Not one party has enough common sense.

Makes “Declining a Ballot” a viable option. I truly wish people would decline their ballots en mass (and I mean like 60%+) - maybe then the politicians would wake up, realize that people are completely fed up and actually do something reasonable for all.

I can’t remember but declining a ballot is not an option for one of the elections, not sure if it’s provincial or federal.

 

[GreyGhost]

I can’t remember but declining a ballot is not an option for one of the elections, not sure if it’s provincial or federal.

In provincial elections, you have to get your ballot and then publicly state that you are declining it and give it back to the RO. If you mark it (or don't mark it) and hand it in to be counted, that gets recorded as a rejected ballot.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/ontario-votes-2022-declined-ballots-rise-1.6466308

Under the province's Election Act, a voter can decline a ballot by telling the deputy returning officer at the poll "that they are choosing to decline the vote or by simply handing the ballot back to them," Elections Ontario said.

"The elector must do so publicly — under legislation, there is no secrecy associated with the action. Once a ballot has been declined, the deputy returning officer writes 'declined' on the ballot and the poll clerk records it in the poll record that a ballot was officially declined."

 

[Priller]

Four or five stories is a tough size. Tall enough that walkup may not be feasible and once you need elevators, costs spiral. I agree about one or two stories over commercial. A first step (and not an ideal one) could be at all big box wasteland. Easy to walk to the grocery store if it is downstairs and the footprint is large and ~square so it is easy to layout dwellings that use space well. Most wasteland also has some entertainment, fitness and restaurants within the parking lot. Not an ideal location to walk but easily doable.

Hamilton has finally started prioritising this kind of development in the lower city, particularly along the east/west major roads. It's big enough to make a big density improvement without creating knots of over-density as can happen with high-rises. It's planned in concert with the upcoming LRT, so should allow for a significant bump in density without a corresponding bump in car traffic.

Of course, it's meaningless unless they improve the GO options. My office is now near enough to a GO station in Mimico that the train would be an option if they didn't also charge over $22 (!) return to take it...

 

[GreyGhost]

Of course, it's meaningless unless they improve the GO options. My office is now near enough to a GO station in Mimico that the train would be an option if they didn't also charge over $22 (!) return to take it...

We were going to take the kids down to the aquarium. Barrie-Union return for two adults is $65 and kids are free. It also takes 1:40 each way. Holy mother. Who in their right mind would do that willingly? It costs more, takes far longer and you are screwed if there is an issue on the line. Far too many stops (at least one due to Del Duca pandering for votes and installing a stop where all studies said no way in hell), no real express options. Conceptually, I thought it would be fun and the kids would enjoy it. In practice, it's a huge fail and only useful for those that truly have no other option.

 

[Mad Mike]

I would consider him but the stupid dumpster fire of cash he wants to spend on new highways is a solid no.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Highways are critical to unlocking opportunities and improving productivity for the province.

It's kinda hard to move car parts and the minerals used to make batteries around using public transit.

 

[Mad Mike]

Well thats the problem, we need to diversify housing when we develop new neighbourhoods. If you keep building single family homes non stop all over the place and just put a highway and a busy boulevard to get to that subdivision and neglect ANY other type of transportation method, you are setting yourself up for failure.

This highway basically sets the tone for whats to come. It's possible to do better urban planning and heck its even easier when you're doing the initial builds like this project. But all thats gonna be done there is just a highway. No plan to get anything like public transit thats easily accessed or to get more low-mid density builds (like 3-4 story apartments, triplexes, etc). It's gonna be the same thing all over again and then we're gonna wonder why traffic is getting worse.

Once we open that highway up, where do we think those cars are gonna end up? There's nowhere else to go but the OTHER exisiting highways that are CLOGGED all the time. This project portrays the insanity of our (poor) urban planning methodology which is mainly led by politics.

Goods have to move... if transportation links to economic and industrial centers become choked off, industry moves elsewhere. Highways are not simply for the convenience and enjoyment of suburban dwellers - they are used to move farm goods, materials, and human resources around.

North America does have issues with public transit adoption -- no secret there, more needs to be done to make it convenient and efficient. But holding off on building other infrastructure, like highways to force people onto transit isn't a practical solution. Now, before you get all Europe on me, here's a comparison of their highway infrastructures compared to Ontario. The pics are all the same land area.

 

[mimico_polak]

While I agree with @Mad Mike about the lack of infrastructure...those maps are misleading.

Take the maps...add the population density within the country, and then compare.

We don't have that type of network (highway, or transit) because we simply do not have the density when compared to Europe. Until that happens...it's a pipe dream.

It's a chicken and egg situation...build the infrastructure first? Or the housing to justify the infrastructure?

I'm in transit, and would LOVE to have better access...but even with a free pass on the GO, I'm sure as hell not taking it from Mississauga to Scarborough. When my office was downtown...hell yes. Every day I'd jump on the train and wake up at Union.

 

[Mad Mike]

There isn't! They are all awful. Clown show. Worst election to date. I'm a liberal, I support change and all that stuff but I can't vote for any Liberals. Del Duca was an awful choice. Ford is going to win a majority, and I can't stand the guy.

It's not just a leader that makes a party. I've lived in a few countries, in my opinion, Canada invests far to little into civics education and it shows. I grind my teeth each election as it typically boils down to the charisma of the party head candidates - OR - is a summary dispatching of a corrupt or inept incumbent.

How many are really voting issues? The party ideology and roadmap? How many even understand the issues? What is a highway, and how does it impact the economy if built, if not built? Where's the value of the massive infrastructure spend on transit lanes and articulating busses across York region that on average carry 4 persons at a time, one being a driver?

I think it's time to buy my own island.

 

[Mad Mike]

While I agree with @Mad Mike about the lack of infrastructure...those maps are misleading.

Take the maps...add the population density within the country, and then compare.

We don't have that type of network (highway, or transit) because we simply do not have the density when compared to Europe. Until that happens...it's a pipe dream.

It's a chicken and egg situation...build the infrastructure first? Or the housing to justify the infrastructure?

I'm in transit, and would LOVE to have better access...but even with a free pass on the GO, I'm sure as hell not taking it from Mississauga to Scarborough. When my office was downtown...hell yes. Every day I'd jump on the train and wake up at Union.

Yes, there is a different population density but that's only because Ontario has a lower overall population. Where people live, the density in Ontario is higher.

As far as the chicken and egg, I think it's proven once the highway infrastructure is built, businesses and people relocate and take pressure off one massive urban centers. Places like Barrie, Peterborough and Kitchener would be sleepy little towns if they were not connected to a road network. Just look across the province every major center has a road connection that gets goods, services and people in and out. Eve thru the north -- its no surprise all the big communities in Northern Ontario are along the path of HWY 11.

 

[Mad Mike]

While I applaud anyone's effort to get government to support what they care about, I think those points are dead in the water.

1. Why bother addressing motorcycle insurance separately from automobile insurance? Improve the model and both improve which affects far more voters.
2. Support training, why? They could amend graduated licensing to require training prior to riding a motorcycle on the street (as M1 is functionally useless now because of insurance industry) but people would scream about that. It would make a bigger difference if every license holder had to do recurrent training so they sucked less. I would be shocked if anything was done on this front.
3. Unless you allow filtering/splitting, saying they improve congestion sounds good but doesn't play out in reality. Each moving vehicle needs roughly the same amount of headway. If you had groups of bikes, that improves slightly, but groups of bikes in a congested environment rarely happens.

If I was a politician, I would read that, send a form letter that said thanks for your input and throw it out. I would be more likely to try to support changes that were both feasible and affected a much larger portion of the voting pool. It sucks as a small special interest group but that's reality.

Motorcyclist interests are not on the radar of any politician - the community is far too small, and it doesn't have a 'victim' or disenfranchised element -- quite the opposite, it's perceived as a part-time indulgence for some, and a tool for the hooligan. Motorcyclist causes cost politicians political capital -- they need a really good reason to spend that.

The only way to really have influence is thru organized pressure. I applaud the Sikh community for the way they got the Turban DOT approved. They massed a force that could tip the scales for an incumbent in a future election -- that was cause for that MPP to spend political capital on their cause, he did and they won.

Maybe next election we need to find a riding that has enough motorcyclists to impact a MPP's re-election.

 

[Baggsy]

While I agree with @Mad Mike about the lack of infrastructure...those maps are misleading.

Take the maps...add the population density within the country, and then compare.

We don't have that type of network (highway, or transit) because we simply do not have the density when compared to Europe. Until that happens...it's a pipe dream.

It's a chicken and egg situation...build the infrastructure first? Or the housing to justify the infrastructure?

I'm in transit, and would LOVE to have better access...but even with a free pass on the GO, I'm sure as hell not taking it from Mississauga to Scarborough. When my office was downtown...hell yes. Every day I'd jump on the train and wake up at Union.

That's the thing, you're the perfect candidate for some new type of transit, yet you're driving.

 

[Mad Mike]

We were going to take the kids down to the aquarium. Barrie-Union return for two adults is $65 and kids are free. It also takes 1:40 each way. Holy mother. Who in their right mind would do that willingly? It costs more, takes far longer and you are screwed if there is an issue on the line. Far too many stops (at least one due to Del Duca pandering for votes and installing a stop where all studies said no way in hell), no real express options. Conceptually, I thought it would be fun and the kids would enjoy it. In practice, it's a huge fail and only useful for those that truly have no other option.

Go is pretty good for me, $15.82 return from Markham GO to Union, 35 to 50 minutes depending on time of day - about the same as drive times.

Driving would consume $12.80 in fuel (@ $2/l) + $20 for parking. For two of us to go downtown it's the same price to drive or take GO.

The downside to taking the GO is I'm having 3 extra $12 drinks if I don't have to drive home.

 

[mimico_polak]

That's the thing, you're the perfect candidate for some new type of transit, yet you're driving.

Yup. And even when it’s FREE I won’t take it.

The drive is approx 40min with no traffic.

Transit…1.5hrs with 3 connections.

No gas as (currently) can L2 charge at work for free but $85/month for parking.

 

[jc100]

With public transport you have to sit near riff raff. My butler told me so.

 

[FullMotoJacket]

Walked in, showed my ID, walked over and got my ballot, walked over to the voting booth, then the ballot counting machine, then walked out. Took maybe 7 minutes. 3 of them were the guy doing his how to use the ballot spiel.

 

[Baggsy]

Walked in, showed my ID, walked over and got my ballot, walked over to the voting booth, then the ballot counting machine, then walked out. Took maybe 7 minutes. 3 of them were the guy doing his how to use the ballot spiel.

Was it intentional? Mine took less than 3 minutes.

Yup. And even when it’s FREE I won’t take it.

The drive is approx 40min with no traffic.

Transit…1.5hrs with 3 connections.

No gas as (currently) can L2 charge at work for free but $85/month for parking.

Used to take me 8 minutes from car in the driveway to sitting at my desk in the downtown core.
Close to an hour getting home if the Ex was on.
TTC was: walk 20 minutes, Subway with the unwashed east/west masses,Transfer and cram in with the north/south masses, walk 10 minutes.

Edit: It was under two hours to walk.