Mediaboss Marketing

Watch video above: Alan Carterreports on the day it was on the election trail the Tories and Liberals attack the NDP, the NDP responds and Wynne celebrates her birthday.

TORONTO Ontarios Liberals and Progressive Conservatives would have voters believe that theyre the only ones on the ballot in the June 12 election, relegating the New Democrats to the ranks of insignificant fringe parties.

The fight for strategic votes got underway in earnest Wednesday after the blackout on political ads was lifted, flooding the airwaves with commercials aimed at attracting voters outside of their traditional base of support to win a majority government.

While touring Ontarios manufacturing heartland, Premier Kathleen Wynne stuck to her message that the real choice voters face is her partys compassionate, sensible approach to growing the economy and creating jobs, or calamitous Conservative cuts that would plunge the province back into recession.

The NDP? Well, they dont even matter, she said.

Every time Andrea Horwath introduces a kind of non-sequitur, an idea that floats out there on its own, it further makes her irrelevant to the very serious challenges that were confronting, she said while visiting the Toyota plant in Cambridge, Ont.

There are no simple one-off solutions to the challenges were confronting.

Its a time-honoured tradition for the Liberals to target NDP voters, painting their party as the only one that can stop the Conservatives from taking power, said Henry Jacek, a political science professor at Hamiltons McMaster University.

Read More: Dissecting the claims of campaign ads

The Liberals are fighting a war on two fronts, with the Tories trying to eat up their support on the right end of the political spectrum and the NDP attacking on the left, he said. So theyre stoking fears over Tory plans to cut costs and public sector jobs to help win over NDP voters, telling them they could elect the Tories by default if they divide the centre-left vote.

Read the original post:
Tories, Liberals dismiss NDP as a choice in the June 12 election

TORONTO - Ontario's Liberals and Progressive Conservatives would have voters believe that they're the only ones on the ballot in the June 12 election, relegating the New Democrats to the ranks of insignificant fringe parties.

The fight for strategic votes got underway in earnest Wednesday after the blackout on political ads was lifted, flooding the airwaves with commercials aimed at attracting voters outside of their traditional base of support to win a majority government.

While touring Ontario's manufacturing heartland, Premier Kathleen Wynne stuck to her message that the real choice voters face is her party's compassionate, sensible approach to growing the economy and creating jobs, or calamitous Conservative cuts that would plunge the province back into recession.

The NDP? Well, they don't even matter, she said.

"Every time Andrea Horwath introduces a kind of non-sequitur, an idea that floats out there on its own, it further makes her irrelevant to the very serious challenges that we're confronting," she said while visiting the Toyota plant in Cambridge, Ont.

"There are no simple one-off solutions to the challenges we're confronting."

It's a time-honoured tradition for the Liberals to target NDP voters, painting their party as the only one that can stop the Conservatives from taking power, said Henry Jacek, a political science professor at Hamilton's McMaster University.

The Liberals are fighting a war on two fronts, with the Tories trying to eat up their support on the right end of the political spectrum and the NDP attacking on the left, he said. So they're stoking fears over Tory plans to cut costs and public sector jobs to help win over NDP voters, telling them they could elect the Tories by default if they divide the centre-left vote.

Wynne often reminds voters on the campaign trail that the election was called because the NDP didn't support her budget, saying it contained measures NDP voters wanted, such as increasing the minimum wage and increasing wages for personal support workers and early childhood educators.

Party officials have also fired out quotes from disgruntled NDP supporters, who say leader Andrea Horwath has lost her way.

Read the original here:
NDP not a choice on June 12: Liberals, Tories

There are just under 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States today. And the number of illegal immigrants is growing, according to U.S. Border Patrol estimates. That means immigration reform may become a priority again.

Lenny Ignelzi, AP

Enlarge photo

There are just under 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States today, according to figures released last year by the Pew Research Hispanic Trends Center. And the number of illegal immigrants is growing, according to U.S. Border Patrol estimates. That means immigration reform may become a priority again.

It is about time. This is a problem Congress should have addressed long ago. Instead, it has left the issue largely to the president.

In response, President Obama has acted to address illegal immigration, although there is only so much he can do. One way he has acted is through deportation. His administration has deported an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants, a dramatic increase over the Bush presidency. Indeed, critics have named him deporter in chief.

Yet, those deportations have been targeted. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 75 percent of those deported during the Obama administration have been convicted criminals. Moreover, the deportation effort primarily is a border activity. In 2013, nearly two-thirds of deportations were of people who were in the process of entering the U.S. illegally. Those who already live in the U.S., and have no criminal record, are unlikely to be deported today. Again according to the Migration Policy Institute, 85 percent of those flagged by the Immigration and Naturalization Services for possible deportation were not deported, primarily because they lacked a criminal record.

But these figures still suggest that a group of people constituting over 3 percent of the nations population is operating without legal status within the United States. These people are the most vulnerable to exploitation by bad employers. Plus, many still avoid government for fear of exposure. The Obama administrations more humane approach to deportation has not resolved these problems.

What should be done?

One proposal is to provide a route to permanent residency and citizenship. This is controversial because while many consider this a compassionate step to integrating immigrants into society, others view it as a reward for illegal behavior. Indeed, it is a sticking point that has stalled immigration reform in Congress.

Original post:
Richard Davis: Find the common ground on immigration reform

No one saw this coming. The pundits had declared immigration reform dead for this year. On the U.S. Senate floor earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, who sponsored the bill that cleared the Senate last June, blamed Iowas Steve King for calling the shots against the bill in the House.

Already subscribe to VCStar? Unlimited access to VCStar on the web, your smartphone and tablet is included with your subscription. All you will need to do is ACTIVATE now!

Activate Now

Want to keep reading? VCStar now offers Premium and Digital Subscriptions. Subscribe now and select how you want to keep up-to-date on local news, reader comments, photos, videos, blogs and more.

Subscribe Now

2014 Ventura County Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

More:
Rekha Basu: Immigration reform gets new life

TheSpeaker ... A Film About Freedom
This controversial movie was produced by the American Library Association in 1977 to encourage discussion around the First Amendment and freedom of speech. It was digitized and provided in...

By: OIFTube

Follow this link:
TheSpeaker ... A Film About Freedom - Video