Ontario Votes: 40th General Election Coming this Fall

Ontario will elect members into the 40th Legislative Assembly on October 6, 2011. Currently, our Premier is Dalton McGuinty of the Ontario Liberal Party, elected in 2007.

I encourage all residents over the age of 18 to vote in this coming election. If you do not feel that you have a strong knowledge of each Party's platform, or of the issues in general, don't let that be an excuse.

I'll be updating this website with campaign news from now until Election Day, but for now, here are some links to websites with information on the Ontario Election:

Elections Ontario
Election Almanac (my favourite website to track the polls)
Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario PC (Progressive Conservative) (requires signing up)
Ontario NDP (New Democratic Party)
Green Party of Ontario
2007 Ontario General Election


Slightly unrelated, I'm still surprised by the Federal Election we had on May 2, 2011. I hope the Ontario Election is as equally exciting. The student Vote Mobs were so inspiring to see, and I expect to see more this fall.

I do intend to volunteer with the party to which I belong, and I will post photos from all the different campaigns.

Ontario's Flag

New: Ontario Photo Card

If you're one of the 1.5 million people in Ontario without a Driver's License or other type of photo identification, Ontario has introduced the Ontario Photo Card.

The card looks similar in design to the old Ontario Driver's Licenses and appears to be blue/purple in colour.

Click here to go to the Ministry of Transportation's website for more information on the new Ontario Photo Card.

The Village of Islington

I used to live in Etobicoke (which was amalgamated into Toronto in 1998) in an area called the Village of Islington. It is located on Islington Ave. at the corner of Dundas St. W. It is known for its small town atmosphere, unique shops and the murals along the side of the commercial buildings. These murals were painted by John Kuna over the past few years and I was able to take a few photos of them before I moved.

Stormy Heat

Southwestern Ontario has been really hot and humid these past few days, and as a result, we've been experiencing a lot of summer storms! Although my favourite season is winter, I love summer storms because of their energy and how they cut through the heat of the summer. 

Here are a couple of photos I've taken over the past few days.

Canada's Wonderland 2?

We all know about the very popular theme park in Toronto called Canada's Wonderland and that Toronto is expanding quite quickly. What happens when something in Toronto wants to expand but there isn't enough room?

That's what may be happening to Canada's Wonderland as talks about it expanding to other parts in Ontario spread across the province.

The latest rumour is that it might have a location in Chatham-Kent.

What do you think? Could this fill the void that the Wheels Inn created when it closed down? Will it boost tourism in the area, or do you think something like this would be better suited in a more populated area?

Blenheim's Annual Cherry Festival

I went to Blenheim's Cherry Festival this weekend which featured some rides, games, sidewalk sales and the popular Cherry Pit Spitting contest! For more photos, check out the post in the Chatham-Kent section.

View of Cherry Fest down Blenheim's main drag.

These cherries are painted onto the streets every year!

Did you know...

... that there are 1280+ towns, cities and hamlets in Ontario? I know this because I just typed out each one in the new Complete List of Cities & Towns section! I know I'm missing quite a few, so if you're reading this and you come from a really small town, check to see if your town is listed! E-mail me at rediscoverontario [@] gmail [dot] com if I missed one.

It's my goal to visit and document each and every one of these places, rather than just search for information on each place, and I'm fully aware that it may take me many years to do so :D

Have you ever been to a...

LIGHTSABER BATTLE?!

Remembering the Wild Zone at the Wheels Inn

Last week I mentioned that I had solved the mystery of where the arcade games from the Wild Zone had gone after they closed in 2009.

After looking through literally tens of thousands of pictures I've taken over the past six years, I found some pictures of the Wheels Inn and then Wild Zone!

For those of you who don't know, the Wheels Inn was a hotel in Chatham, ON. It was a popular destination for those of us living in Southwestern Ontario, but also for tourists! That was mainly because of the Wild Zone, which at one point, was the largest indoor amusement park in Ontario (the title now goes to the Fantasy Fair in Etobicoke, ON). It was a series of rides, arcade games, a swimming pool, mini golf, laser tag and more.

I spent a lot of time at the Wild Zone as a teenager, and I was sad to see it go!

Here are some of the pictures I found. Keep in mind that I was using a 5MP digital camera at the time, which was pretty good then! (more pictures to be posted in the Chatham-Kent section).

Sign at on the the entrances

A series a tubes and children could crawl through

The Laser Tag's Floor Plan

Dance Dance Revolution- the best game ever, and the game I spent the most money on!

Pride 2011

YouTube

Rediscover Ontario now has a YouTube Channel. This is where I will post video clips from events and places around Ontario. I will also have them linked here on this site as well. Check it out! The link is www.youtube.com/rediscoverontario

Mystery Solved!

Those of you who live or have lived in Chatham-Kent will remember the Wild Zone Adventures at the Wheels Inn in Chatham (it was at one point the largest indoor amusement park in Ontario, and closed two years ago). It had many arcade games (including the very popular Dance Dance Revolution machine), rides, mini-golf, laser tag and more! Many of us wondered where these games and rides ended up after the Wild Zone closed as we heard they had auctioned them off.

This past weekend, I went to Colasanti's Tropical Gardens in Kingsville and was surprised to see that they had acquired some arcade machines. A closer look revealed that they were similar to (if not the very same) arcade machines from the Wild Zone!

Here are some pictures:

Happy Canada Day/Happy Pride!

It was a great long weekend in both Chatham-Kent and Toronto! I spent a few days in Chatham-Kent for Canada Day, and then came back to Toronto today for the Pride Parade.

This picture is of the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto displaying a rainbow flag for Pride Week!