Which is more liberal: New York State or Ontario?

[King of Kensington]

Another silly exercise...but why not? 

[King of Kensington]

Some things to think about:

The left-liberal Kathleen Wynne is a lot more progressive than neoliberal Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

But in the largest cities, Bill de Blasio is not only obviously wayy to the left of Rob Ford, but he also ran way to the left of the current "progressive" mayoral candidate, Olivia Chow.

[Hatman 🍁]

I don't know if Bill de Blasio is to the left of Olivia Chow. Certainly 1990s era Jack Layton was much to the left of de Blasio.

This is an interesting question though. Ontario is probably more Liberal though, because it is Canada.

[King of Kensington]

I'm using "liberal" in the American sense of the word.

Bill de Blasio definitely ran to the left of where Olivia Chow is now.  He ran on a left-populist campaign that focused on the gap between the rich and poor and called for increasing taxes on the rich.  OC is running away from the "tax and spend" label and every announcement she makes says won't significantly cost the taxpayers.  There are of course jurisdictional differences to keep in mind - the mayor of NYC has a lot more powers than the mayor of Toronto - but it doesn't answer the question of why de Blasio won with 73% of the vote while in Toronto any talk of increasing taxes or significantly increased spending is considered a political liability.

[King of Kensington]

I guess the counties that reliably vote over 50% Conservative provincially and federally would be good proxy for "Republican" counties.  I think that would include Renfrew, Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Norfolk...what else?  With Republican-type Conservativism being maybe 30-35%, fairly similar to NY?  NYC suburbs however seem to be somewhat more conservative than Toronto's 905, probably because they're on the whole more affluent.  Then again NYC makes up a much greater percentage of the population of New York State than Toronto does of Ontario.

[King of Kensington]

How about Yankees (the "old stock" of upstate NY as well as New England) vs. descendants of United Empire Loyalists?

Eastern Ontario seems to line up a bit with neighboring upstate NY politically - though it seems to be a bit of upstate New York without Italians and industrial cities!  It certainly seems to lack the "rural liberalism" of Massachusetts and Vermont.  

[Hatman 🍁]

There is definitely an argument to suggest that NYC is more liberal than Toronto, especially post-amalgamation Toronto.

[King of Kensington]

It may not be "nice", but Andrew Cuomo is right that hard right conservatism doesn't fly in New York State, given that the majority of NYS is made up of NYC and its generally fiscally conservative but socially liberal suburbs and even upstate New York is less socially conservative than the US as a whole.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/22/governor-cuomo-extreme-conservatives-have-no-place-in-new-york.html

Similarly, Tim Hudak's decision to pursue a "GOP North" model - the most right-wing economic platform of any major party leader in Canada I've seen in my lifetime - was a disaster and pretty much resulted in the party being reduced to an eastern and central Ontario rump.  Honestly don't think he wouldn't have done much worse if he had declared himself to be "pro-life."

[King of Kensington]

Wonder if one can draw parallels between the metropolitan NYC / Western New York and the GTA / Southwestern Ontario relationships (Northern Ontario is of course another kettle of fish).

[Flake]

I thought the op kept replying to himself

But Ontario is obviously farther to the left than New York.

[jimrtex]

I thought the op kept replying to himself

But Ontario is obviously farther to the left than New York.

This map shows it standing on NY.

[Flake]

I thought the op kept replying to himself

But Ontario is obviously farther to the left than New York.

This map shows it standing on NY.

You do raise a good point, but



Ontario is still farther to the left.