Ontario Election

[Edward Campbell]

I wonder if, given the 20,000 'new' documents, the opposition were considering citing Premier McGuiny for contempt, too ...  :nod:

 

[Haletown]

I wonder if, given the 20,000 'new' documents, the opposition were considering citing Premier McGuiny for contempt, too ...  :nod:

No need . . He has just fallen on his sword and resigned.

There is hope for Ontario. :nod:

 

[vonGarvin]

I just heard this.  Very interesting times ahead.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Ah, the risk of running what appears to be "canned" copy at a time like this.....

.... Among those mentioned as possible Liberal leadership contenders are embattled Energy Minister Chris Bentley, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, Children and Youth Services Minister Eric Hoskins, Health Minister Deb Matthews, Training Colleges and Universities Minister Glen Murray, and party president Yasir Naqvi, the Ottawa Centre MPP.

I'm thinking the guy in yellow may not be up for much leadership running these days, proroguement or not....

 

[brihard]

 

[GAP]

I can't believe Glen Murray is in that list.....no, wait...we're talking Ontario Liberals.....he fits right in.....twit incorporated all... :

 

[Old Sweat]

I can't believe Glen Murray is in that list.....no, wait...we're talking Ontario Liberals.....he fits right in.....twit incorporated all... :

He made the list.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

I can't believe Glen Murray is in that list.....no, wait...we're talking Ontario Liberals.....he fits right in.....twit incorporated all... :

Another knee-dipper that got ran out of town (in Murray's case, literally) and who decided to move to greener pastures and hope no-one would remember their past record.

 

[Gorgo]

Smell another election coming soon . . . or is it just me?

 

[The_Falcon]

Smell another election coming soon . . . or is it just me?

Of course

 

[brihard]

Depends. This is only a proroguation - one, I believe, used appropriately - that will result in a new speech form the throne and consequentially a confidence vote. That's a good thing. We won't go to election unless the opposition somehow all figure they're each independently better positioned to come out of one ahead.

 

[a_majoor]

Good riddance! Unfortunatly my prediction still stands; there is no party that will be able to get a clear majority, which will make taking corrective measures an almost impossible task:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/10/15/national-post-editorial-board-dalton-mcguinty-successful-politician-failed-leader/

National Post Editorial Board: Dalton McGuinty — successful politician, failed leader

National Post Editorial Board | Oct 15, 2012 9:35 PM ET | Last Updated: Oct 15, 2012 9:39 PM ET
More from National Post Editorial Board

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle SiuDalton McGuinty speaks to the media at Queen's Park after announcing his resignation in Toronto Monday.

Dalton McGuinty steps down as premier of Ontario: Video

When Dalton McGuinty took centre stage at a hastily called meeting of the Ontario Liberal caucus in Toronto on Monday night, surrounded by his family, attendees knew what was coming before he’d said a word. After nine years as premier, he was stepping down. But not before proroguing the provincial legislature, to buy time, Mr. McGuinty said, for the cash-strapped province to either negotiate a wage-freeze deal with its public-sector workers, or reach an agreement with one of the opposition parties to legislate such a freeze into law.

Though Mr. McGuinty has said he will continue to serve as a member of provincial parliament until the next election, clearly, his resignation from the top job in Canada’s most populous province marks, for now at least, the end to a long political career. Let it be said that Mr. McGuinty was indeed a successful politician — though not, unfortunately, a remarkable or especially principled one.

Related
'Time for renewal:' Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty resigns
Kelly McParland: McGuinty quits after nine years as premier, leaving his party to peer over the edge
See the video of Dalton McGuinty's resignation announcement
After nine years, McGuinty made a mistake he couldn't aww-shucks away

Mr. McGuinty was best known for his evasive, but always cheerful, sound bites and near-permanent affable grin. His style of politics matched his even-keeled personality. He rarely put a foot wrong in terms of political optics. Even his political opponents, speaking off the record, have offered only praise for Mr. McGuinty as a fellow lawmaker.

But there was a negative side to this inoffensive, religiously centrist, risk-averse brand of politics: Because Mr. McGuinty was so skilled at avoiding public outrage, he often also avoided tackling serious problems in a straightforward way.

The ultimate abdication of responsibility that took place under Mr. McGuinty’s watch was the abandonment of the town of Caledonia to native lawlessness and intimidation, sometimes even violence

Having pledged to never raise taxes, he imposed a health-care “premium” that cost the average Ontario family hundreds of dollars a year. He spent years insisting that the decision to harmonize the provincial sales tax with the GST would be revenue-neutral for taxpayers, before finally admitting, only after the fact, that it would in fact cost citizens hundreds more. He raised Ontario test scores (perhaps his most esteemed accomplishment), but then turned on public-school teachers suddenly when the political winds changed.

His government pursued a green policy that put an environmentally aware happy face on the province’s power grid. Yet it added thousands of megawatts of premium-priced power at a time of declining demand, which Ontario must sell at a loss, driving up hydro rates. Ontario wasted over a billion dollars trying, and failing, to establish electronic health records, while thousands of Ontarians in need of long-term or specialized care beds languish for years on waiting lists.

And while Mr. McGuinty lauded Ontario’s rapid economic recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis during his remarks Monday, he cannot escape responsibility for the fact that, under his watch, Ontario — once known as the economic engine of Canada — has become a have-not province receiving billions in equalization transfers.

The ultimate abdication of responsibility that took place under Mr. McGuinty’s watch was the abandonment of the town of Caledonia to native lawlessness and intimidation, sometimes even violence.

It is ironic that Mr. McGuinty would choose to resign now, as the opposition howls in outrage over the Liberal decision to scrap two planned power plants

Caledonia, a small town that for years had enjoyed warm relations with a nearby native reserve, was the scene of a nasty, prolonged conflict between town residents and natives angry about a new housing development they say encroached on ancestral lands. Blockades were established, property destroyed and residents assaulted. The police, under orders from the Liberal government, did nothing. It was McGuinty at his absolute worst: Fearful of the optics of a racially tinged confrontation, the preternaturally risk-averse Mr. McGuinty was willing to exempt an entire population — native Canadians — from law enforcement to avoid bad press. It was unforgivable.

It is ironic that Mr. McGuinty would choose to resign now, as the opposition howls in outrage over the Liberal decision to scrap two planned power plants. The cancellation of the plants, which cost taxpayers hundreds of millions merely so that the Liberals could protect two seats they otherwise might have lost in the 2011 election, was indeed a scandalous matter. As was the Liberals’ subsequent refusal to come clean with all the documents the opposition parties rightfully requested. But it wasn’t the worst thing he’d done, or the most expensive. Failed green energy policies were more costly. And Caledonia betrayed a more scandalous abdication of moral leadership. Yet it was, in the end, perhaps the proverbial straw that finally broke the back of a political career that, improbably, saw the affable, paternal Mr. McGuinty lead Ontario for nine years despite his failings.

Electoral success and moral backbone are the measures of a politician. Let it be said that Dalton McGuinty never batted more — or less — than .500 on this scale. How fitting a score for Canada’s most doctrinaire down-the-line centrist.

 

[Journeyman]

National Post Editorial Board: Dalton McGuinty — successful politician, failed leader

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle Siu
---------------
..... Dalton McGuinty .....Canada’s most doctrinaire down-the-line centrist.

I thought Michelle Siu was a photographer -- a quite talented one actually...apparently now labelled "photojournalist."

I don't believe that knowledge of f-stops and shutter-speed translates directly to competent political analysis though.

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... on McGuinty leaving:

“On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like to thank Premier Dalton McGuinty for his contributions to Ontario and to Canada during his time as leader of the province.

“Our two governments have worked together to serve Ontarians, from implementing Canada's Economic Action Plan to keeping the auto industry in the province of Ontario, and I salute Mr. McGuinty's many years of dedicated public service.

“On a personal level, I extend to Mr. McGuinty my very best wishes for all his future endeavours.”

 

[The Bread Guy]

I wonder if, given the 20,000 'new' documents, the opposition were considering citing Premier McGuiny for contempt, too ...  :nod:

Also, maybe this file may be coming to bite harder in the butt than first thought?

 

[a_majoor]

NP points out that the Premier's true intention is to silence the legislature for up to six months. I hope the few remaining investigative journalists (only at NP and Sunmedia, sadly) and a legion of bloggers keep the LPO's record front and center for the voting public to remember. Time to erase the legacy of failure:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/10/16/scott-stinson-mcguinty-silences-legislature-in-parting-gift-to-his-successor/

Scott Stinson: McGuinty silences legislature in parting gift to his successor

Scott Stinson | Oct 16, 2012 9:45 AM ET | Last Updated: Oct 16, 2012 10:27 AM ET
More from Scott Stinson | @scott_stinson

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette I'm going to tell them I want to spend more time with my family, Dwight. It's not true, but what else is new?

When Dalton McGuinty announced last night at around 6:30 p.m. that he had asked the Lieutenant-Governor to prorogue the provincial legislature, the instant reaction was: guess he’s not quitting.

Prorogation is a big deal, big enough to have warranted the surprise evening caucus meeting, big enough to have merited calling the media in to the government caucus room to witness the premier’s remarks.

Then he went and quit anyway. Coupled with the cleverly timed leaks from Liberal insiders that speculated about a possible McGuinty run for the federal party leadership, it was enough to distract most of the attention from the prorogation itself.

Shutting down the legislature, which is what the move does, is worrisome in its own right for what it says about the importance of our elected representation. If the thing can just be shuttered and the government left to chug along in the hands of the bureaucracy, then why did we have that election only a year ago?

The response from provincial Liberal supporters is, not surprisingly, almost exactly the same as the response from federal Conservatives back when Stephen Harper sought and obtained a prorogation in 2011 (and before that, in 2008). They say the minority government is unworkable, and so best to close it down and sort things out, then bring it back when the air is clear and we can all get on with our business. Opposition politicians are outraged that they are now being prevented from doing any work — and no less outraged that the prorogation allows the government of the day, as was the case federally, to elude further scrutiny of scandals at the committee.

Related

    Matt Gurney: After nine years, McGuinty made a mistake he couldn't explain away

    Kelly McParland: McGuinty quits as premier, leaving his party to peer over the edge

Fans of irony will note that the cheerleaders of one side have more or less switched teams this time around (with the exception of the NDP, which is outraged all around.) It’s been suggested to me that it’s unfair to lump Dalton McGuinty in with Stephen Harper, however, because there are clear differences with the Ontario premier’s situation. He’s not planning to survive the prorogation, for one, and there’s no immediate election in the offing.

Both these arguments are true, but I don’t see how they reflect better on the premier. Whatever one wants to say about the affront to democracy caused by the last prorogation on Mr. Harper’s watch, he at least staked his government and his job on the outcome of the ensuing election, although it didn’t immediately follow it. Canadians had an opportunity to reject his justifications for it and put someone else in charge; instead they handed him a majority government.

Ontario voters have no such opportunity. Mr. McGuinty’s wish, explained Monday night, is that it will be up to whomever replaces him as premier to bring the legislature back. That could be several months from now: the Ontario Liberals have to determine how and when to hold a leadership race that is coming out of nowhere first.

In the meantime, the scandals that have been front and centre in the Liberals’ terrible fall will not be fully explored. This can’t be emphasized enough: it is possible that the government position on the cancellation of two gas plants has been fully explained, but there is more than enough reason to believe that further embarrassments would have been unveiled by a Finance Committee probe of the affair. The final cost to taxpayers could be revealed as far higher than the $230-million cited by the Liberals. And the amount of political influence on the decision could be firmly established as wide and deep.

Mr. McGuinty said last night he was motivated simply by a decision to spend more time with his family and a desire to see his party begin an important renewal process.

It’s an altogether too innocuous explanation for a prorogation that is a deeply cynical move.

National Post

From NP comments:

McGuinty's legacy

1) Health Registry Scandal cost taxpayers about $1.5billion

2) Air Ambulance Scandal cost taxpayers about $500million

3) Literally lied continually to get elected and broke every promise he
ever made, yet the doorknobs of Ontario still voted for him? Its why I
left!

4) Created Full day Kindergarten when he knew we could not afford it

5) Spent $9 billion (actual figure)in the early stages of Alt Energy,
knocked coal plants down, before he had a viable plan to maintain
stability in the grid. Pays farmers 85c a KW (not 085c but 85c!!!!).
Then Ontario wonders why electrical bills are going up? The $9billion
now has a net asset value of about $1.5billion because he bought crap at
the highest prices.

6) Spent $1billion a year paying NY state to take our excess energy,
because he did not negotiate overages at the onset. The dumbest move by
any Premier in 50 years!

7) Created a Hydro Grid in Ontario that no longer has any "variable
power sources like Coal that could be shut down or idled in times of
excess energy

8) decided that Gas fired would be best for variable energy. Got 2
almost built and cancelled both projects to get elected. Cost to Ontario
taxpayers will be in excess of $500million no matter what you here.

9 Took wait time for healthcare for major problems from 16-18 months to 12-13 months and now they are back to 16-18 months

10) Spent a fortune bribing Doctors and Teachers only to retract the
freebees because he finally realized that Ontario Cannot afford it!

The list goes on, but this guy's legacy is of a loose cannon

 

[krustyrl]

This sums it up.....

 

[Proud_Newfoundlander]

If there was an election I couldnt see any party getting a majority, but i wouldnt be surprised if the Liberals narrowly lost the official opposition spot

 

[vonGarvin]

From Sun Media:

 

[ArmyRick]

LOL at "my work here is done"!!!