I am the Furnace Nazi

Everyone has a season they love and for me fall is that season. It's the time of year when heat and humidity no longer dictate whether you go outside, a season where you can breathe easy, especially if you suffer from allergies or asthma (something that runs in my family).



I welcome Sept. 21 with open arms and once October hits I'm one of the happiest guys around. I love this month.

Despite my affection for fall my family has a slightly different view of the season. The cooler nighttime temperatures bring with them an unhealthy urge to touch the thermostat. I do not have that urge but every other member of the McMillan clan does. To them I say, "No heat for you!"



Yes, I admit it, I am the 'Furnace Nazi'.

For those of you familiar with the television show Seinfeld, you'll remember the Soup Nazi. He made the best soup in New York but if you didn't ask for it just right he'd deny you the soup. It was a hilarious episode and it made actor Larry Thomas a household name. "No soup for you!"


Ian McMillan is the Furnace Nazi



While the Soup Nazi denies soup, the Furnace Nazi denies heat. If you're cold in my house put on a sweater and throw another blanket on your bed. I firmly believe no furnace should be turned on until November just like I do not believe Christmas merchandise should be displayed in stores until after Remembrance Day. It's just not right.

Am I the most popular person in my household right now? No. But I am who I am and who I am is the guy who pays the heating bill. And if I stop paying that bill it will certainly get a bit chillier in here than it is right now.



Strategic voting gets you nowhere

In 2006 Buzz Hargrove put his arm around federal Liberal leader Paul Martin and embraced strategic voting. In doing so he turned his back on the NDP, a party he had previously embraced and had been a card carrying member.

Why?

Hargrove felt that by embracing the Liberal party he could persuade CAW members to switch their allegiances from the NDP and in doing so stave off the Conservatives led  by Stephen Harper. We all know how that turned out. The Conservatives formed a minority government and have been in that position ever since.

Hargrove had no confidence in the NDP and in a desperate move felt strategic voting would save the day. What Hargrove didn't understand then but probably does now is that strategic voting is for losers and it's seen as weakness by most people who bother to get out and cast their ballots.

The spectre of strategic voting has again reared its ugly head in the Toronto mayoral campaign as Councillor Joe Mihevc, a traditional NDP backer, has turned his back on mayoral hopeful Joe Pantalone, also a NDPer, to back George Smitherman. He believes Smitherman is the only candidate who can defeat Rob Ford who is way ahead in the polls. Again, this is a move of desperation that will fail.

I've always believed that you should vote with your conscience for the candidate who you think will best serve your city. If I lived in Toronto I would only vote for Smitherman if I felt he was the best person for the job. There's no way I could hold my nose and vote for somebody I didn't believe in but felt had a better shot at beating the frontrunner. That's like giving up your vote.

Call me crazy but I believe in voting for someone. Back your candidate, support him/her and live with the consequences. I don't take this responsibility lightly and could never be convinced into marking my ballot in a way that would prevent someone from winning. Vote for your candidate not against another candidate.

Theoretically strategic voting sounds good but in practise it doesn't work. Those who consider it have given up and should just stay home on election day.

Political daydreaming

Twenty years ago today Bob Rae did the unthinkable -- he became Ontario's first NDP premier.

I remember watching the television that night and seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces as the ballots were counted. The Rae government was elected with just 37 per cent of the popular vote but they won a majority of the swing ridings.

Liberal arrogance lost Premier David Peterson the election that year, not brilliant NDP strategy. He arrogantly called the election just three years into the Liberal-NDP coalition government much to the dismay of voters who didn't want an election.
Peterson didn't think he could lose the 1990 election. After all, the Conservatives had just made Mike Harris their leader and the party was nowhere near ready for an election. And the NDP had never formed government in Ontario before so who was going to vote for them? Well Peterson was right about the Conservatives but wrong about the NDP.

Fast-forward to 2010 and what do we have? Another self assured Liberal premier in Dalton McGuinty who's banking on Ontario voters being afraid to vote for Conservative leader Tim Hudak in fear of another 'Common Sense Revolution'. Andrea Howarth and the NDP, who will ever vote for them again anyway?

Ontario voters are ready for change. A recent Toronto Star-Angus Reid survey showed 76 per cent of the electorate want a new government at Queen's Park.

Granted, McGuinty has taken a beating over the summer with the HST and hydro rate increases. Any poll now would show the Liberals in a free fall. The party's numbers are bound to improve before election day in October, 2011.

The Liberals are bound to go on the offensive any day and give Conservative leader Tim Hudak a taste of his own medicine. Every day I get two or three media releases from him attacking the McGuinty Liberals. It will actually be refreshing to see McGuinty fight back because there's nothing I like more than seeing Conservatives under attack.

I expect the Liberals will attack Hudak for all his failings -- translation, they'll tie this Conservative government to the previous administrations of Harris and Ernie Eves. Could it work? I can't wait to find out.

If it does and voters go to the polls in October, 2011 who will they vote for? A Conservative party they're afraid of or a Liberal party they want to turf out? Or will they protest and mark their ballots for a party that has no hope of forming a government? Will history repeat itself 20 years later?

Howarth better be prepared for the unthinkable if that's what happens.