Fair Elections Act - media hyperventilating

Andrew Coyne and his fellow Media Party partisans (and liberal "experts") continue their hysterical campaign to discredit changes that amount mostly to common sense administrative minutiae in the electoral process.  Arguably, the biggest issue in their litany of gripes, disallowing the practice of vouching, rises above the level of minutiae.  But even if, as they claim, there is little evidence of its having been fraudulently used, vouching is wide open to fraud and so should be banned. Banning it is a no-brainer.  Vouching is not permitted in either Ontario or Quebec elections (over 60% of Cdn voters) - have Coyne et al ever hyperventilated about this travesty?  Didn't think so.

Ezra Levant's rebuttal of the hysteria highlights the 2006 election result for the Sask. riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River - a razor-thin defeat of an incumbent Conservative by a Liberal.  Vouching was involved at an Indian reserve where more than 100% voter turnout was observed and a big-screen TV raffled "to get out the Liberal vote" (all laughed off by Elections Canada "investigators").

Kathleen Wynne's self-destructive opportunitic mercantilism

Peter Foster: Ontario’s anti-markets deal with Cisco a self-destructive case of ‘opportunist mercantilism’

The loudly-trumpeted news that the Ontario government is to give California-based Cisco Systems “up to” $220 million to create “up to” 1,700 jobs is a typical example of “opportunist mercantilism” — that is, “beating” other governments at self-destructive policies.

...The one relatively clear statistic is that the Ontario government seems to be ponying up well over $100,000 a job. This is nonsensical.

... This game bears little or no relevance to the voluntarily, non-criminal cooperation of the free market, but it does explain a lot about the government behaviour.  ... governments aren’t interested in economically optimal results. They are interested in gestures that will win votes, whatever the costs to the economy. They play. Taxpayers lose.

Ezra Levant's take: