Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty Is jumping ship
A Commentary by Doug Draper
Like him or not, at least Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty had the sense to quit before he was fired by the province’s electorate.
That is far more than can be said for most politicians who stick around long after they appear to have forgotten what ideas or principles propelled them to seek public office in the first place. Some of them seem more interested in setting a record for longest serving member in parliament, even if any effective role they once played on behalf of their constituents is reduced to attending enough ribbon cuttings to keep their name in the news while at the same time doing everything possible to avoid encounters with the media and their constituents when it comes to hot-button issues. Many of these politicians remain glued in their seats like barnacles until their health fails them or they are finally given the boot in an election.
Perhaps McGuinty watched the humiliating defeat late this summer of Jean Charest, his Liberal counterpart in Quebec, and made up his mind he was not going to hang around until that happened to him. Whatever the reason for his sudden, if not “shocking” (to quote the word most used in the mainstream press) announcement this October 15 to leave provincial politics, my hunch is that many of my fellow Ontarians wish others in the legislature would take a cue from McGuinty and do the same.Curiously enough, one of the names that has been thrown out (at least in some of the email I’ve received) as someone who should follow McGuinty’s exit plan is Niagara area MPP and Conservative opposition leader Tim Hudak. I say curious because those who sent me that email made their dislike for McGuinty quite clear and yet who has criticized McGuinty more relentlessly over the past three years during and since his successful run for his party’s leadership than Hudak.
Yet Hudak’s almost daily obsession with demonizing McGuinty – with making him the personification of everything he feels is going wrong in Ontario rather than criticizing the policies of the Liberal government more generally and giving the rest of us a clearer idea of what he would do if he were elected premier may help explain why popular support for him sank like a stone in last year’s provincial election.
Now, with McGuinty on the way out, Hudak may have one last chance to clear the palate and focus more on policies and solutions than that may appeal to Ontarians in an election that will probably be called by the minority Liberal government or forced on it by the opposition sometime within the next 12 months. If Hudak fails to deliver a Conservative majority at that time, it is quite likely that members of his own party will fashion an exit plan for him.
In the meantime, Hudak is right to slam McGuinty and the governing Liberals for also announcing this October 15 that it is also proroguing provincial parliament (as in closing it down) while they try to negotiate a way out of a wage and benefit dispute they are entangled in with teachers and other public sector employees, and while they find a new leader.
“Ontario is facing major challenges,” stressed Hudak in an open letter he sent to McGuinty this October 16. “By proroguing the House, the critical work that needs to be done to address Ontario’s jobs and debt crisis has been put on hold. You stated the reason for this prorogation was partly to allow the Liberal Party of Ontario to hold a leadership campaign to replace you. Surely we can find a way to carry on the business of the Legislature while this internal Liberal party matter takes place …”
“We must keep in mind that 600,000 Ontarians woke up this morning without a job to go to,” Hudak added. “Every day we delay the urgent action necessary to grow the economy is another lost opportunity to help get those people back to work.”
In a separate media release, the province’s NDP leader Andrea Horwath joined the call to have the legislature recalled immediately.
“Last September voters sent 107 MPPs here from all corners of the province to do an important job. Yesterday the McGuinty government decided we should all stop working,” stated Horwath in her October 16 release,. “I believe that when 600,000 people in Ontario are looking for work, we should be doing the job we’re paid to do.”
“The important challenges facing our province won’t go away while the Liberals select a new Leader and we can’t go away either,” said Horwath. “I’m calling on the Premier to do the right thing, resume the legislature and get the MPPs to get back to work.”
During a media briefing McGuinty called a few hours after announcing his decision to step down, he stated that one of the reasons for shutting the doors on parliamentary debate is to get away from “the heightened rancor that has sadly too frequently characterized our legislature of late.”
Well, Mr. Premier, at least some Ontarians might view what you are calling “rancor” as democracy at work and they may feel it is more than justified given some of the recent questions over the costly withdrawal of plans for gas-fired energy plants in Liberal ridings prior to last year’s provincial election and other controversies that are swirling at the moment.
I am prepared to make a bet now that the longer your minority government keeps the legislature shut down, the more ridings your party can kiss goodbye in the next election.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. Remember that we only post comments by individuals that also share their first and last names. Anonymous comments or comments accompanied by pseudonyms are not posted here.)
Niagara At Large 
I think this a fair perspective Mr. Draper. Kim Craitor and Jim Bradley have longevity on a local level because of the quality of their constituency offices and staff, and I am sure, some degree of attending “ribbon cuttings” at the right times, but this may be the last straw for at least Craitor. His party has done him no favours, he claims, and so he was put back in last year, but he beat Lepp and the popular Redekop by a hair the last time out. This may be the last disservice the cabinet sends Craitors way. The only lifeline he has left, IMHO, is if the other leaders continue to spin the generic jargon that they churn out and it keeps voters away from the polls.
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I must say that I agree with almost every point Doug makes in his commentary.
I am one of those still calling for Hudak to quit. I am a small c conservative – I am slightly to the right of centre. As far as I am concerned, Hudak is so far out to the right that he makes Ronald Reagan look like a card-carrying communist! That type of ultra-right stance scares me. It puts the wants of business and the rich ahead of the needs of the average person – those who pay the most in taxes. Please note that I used the words Want & Needs intentionally.
The fact that Dalton McGuinty has quit is good. The fact that he has prorogued the Legislature is bad. Prorogation is an attempt to avoid the contempt hearings for the energy minister and to avoid all the other fallout from the energy plant cancellations and other disastrous moves by the Liberals.
I think it is time for the Lieutenant-Governor to step in and refuse to allow prorogation. If he won’t, the opposition leaders, Hudak and Horwath, should be demand the Lt-Gov’s resignation.
Every taxpayer in Ontario should be telephoning AND emailing AND snail-mailing their MPP to complain. I live in a riding with a Liberal MPP – as a matter of fact, he is in cabinet. But after seeing him in action for the last several years, I refer to him as “Teddy Do Nothing” instead of as Ted McMeekin.
I will be sending him an email and making a telephone call to his office shortly to let him know that I, as a taxpayer, am most unhappy about the continued waste of my hard-earned money by him and the rest of the Liberal party.
On top of all that, we, as taxpayers, should insist most strongly that the costs of cancelling the Mississauga and Oakville generating plants be paid by the Liberal Party of Ontario. The taxpayers of Ontario should NOT be saddled with the bills for Dalton’s political malfeasance.
On top of all the other noise about McGuinty’s resignation, I am hearing a number of names being touted as potential replacements – Chris Bentley, Dwight Duncan, Deb Matthews etc. All three of those are scary! Do we want Deb Matthews, who lied and obfuscated about e-health, ORNGE etc in charge? I sure as hell don’t! Chris Bentley is the one who fought against releasing the documents about the generating plant closures, and then failed to release them all (even though he said he did). Dwight Duncan is the guy who could find the $$$ for free daycare – excuse me, all-day kindergarten – but is deeply involved in the artificial fight against teachers.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see George Smitherman in the race for leader! Please – do not mistake me for a homophobe (I have a number of gay friends) – but Smitherman is an even worse choice than any other names mentioned above. It was Smitherman who brought in the LHINs, e-health, ORNGE etc and then bailed out in an ill-advised bid for the Toronto mayoralty.
This rant is getting long – but it isn’t often that we have a good news/bad news type of situation like we have today!
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Thank you Dalton for making us a have not province, thank you for closing down our Fort Erie hospital, thank you for the new health tax and the combined GST tax, thank you for putting tens of thousands of Ontario horse owners and race tracks out of business. thank you for the LLIHN s we now have another bunch of swine in the money trough, thank you for Ornge a debacle that stinks to high heaven, thank you for shutting 2 half built gas fired electric plants down at the costs now close to a billion dollars, thank you for the one billion dollar E-Health program that is still not completed, thank you thank you for shutting down the only access to the North of Ontario, polar express gone, thank you for closing down numerous bingo halls down, Premier “Dad” Dalton Mc.Guinty I will not miss you.
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Thank you Doug for making your words both informative and fair. I enjoyed reading the other comments which were interesting. I do have to mention that Kim Craiter has always returned calls personally and frequently leaves his private cell number when someone in dire need tries to reach him. I have neighbours who are not members of any political party and definatelly not affluent, yet on more than two occasions have contacted Mr. Craitor asking for assistance and he responded in person almost immediatelly. I do not agree with many things Kim has backed but then I don’t agree with just as many things backed by the opposing parties either.
The point I want to make clear is that no matter what, we should appreciate it when we get someone in our riding who is interested in helping everyone and anyone, not just diehard members of that particular political camp. I speak from experience, having once gone to the office of an elected rep only to be told that they knew I had not voted for them in a past election and treated me with distain.
Remember, when someone casts a ballot, only that person knows who they voted for. Also, before Mr. Craitor was officially representing our riding he made himself available to help us when our elected rep was not available due to relocating prior to the actual end of his term. My hope is that there comes a time when everyone gets to feel like they have the choice to vote for the best candidate and not have to vote by deciding which one is the least worst!
My vote will always go to whomever I hope will follow through with making the effort to do whatever they promised they would do that would be best for my community. In the real world I have to remember that whoever gets to be our rep has only one vote and with luck their party carries through with whatever made me feel they were worth voting for. I’m hoping the chance is better than my odds are for getting a money tree to grow in my back yard where I lost a couple of coins last year.
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The dubious actions of this Liberal Government is indicative of the dire need for a repeal process so these “Elected” trough dwellers will be forced into accountability or be FIRED. What McGuinty and his squadron of sheep have done to the fabric of Ontario is almost if not totally criminal and this should NEVER be allowed to happen again EVER…..Anywhere Municipally, Regional, Provincial and or Federally
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I wish Kim Craitor would switch to the Green Party of Ontario, this man is a man that listens to the people and is everywhere, we all love him, in a minority government situation, he could wield the power to effect real change in our Province.
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