Archive for the ‘Ontario Politics’ Category
Toronto Star: “Murray will succeed George Smitherman as the MPP for Toronto Centre.” Huh?
I am going to start by saying I don’t dislike Glen Murray. I heard him speak for the first time in 2003 about infrastructure and municipal governance in Canada and he made a lot of genuinely good points and appeared to ‘get it’. When he ran for the Federal Liberals in Winnipeg in 2004, I was hopeful he would win, because he seemed like the kind of guy you’d want in the House of Commons.
When he was feeling out a bid for Mayor – I was at least interested to see what kind of issues he would take on, and the approach he would offer.
But my piece isn’t really about Glen Murray, just how his candidacy is being developed and covered by the media.
The headline announcing he is running for the Ontario Liberals reads ‘Ex-Winnipeg mayor a cabinet shoo-in?’
In the same article there is a photo of Glen Murray with the following caption ‘Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray, smiles alongside Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion in this January 2004 file photo. Murray will succeed George Smitherman as the MPP for Toronto Centre.‘
The timeline for this is long and drawn out a bit. George Smitherman isn’t going to resign until February or March 2010 when he will officially announce his candidacy for Mayor. Once Smitherman resigns, the Premier has quite a bit of leeway in determining when exactly a by-election would happen. The earliest would be April or May 2010 – but could be June, July or August.
The ‘Cabinet shoo-in’ bit bothers me because it’s essentially saying to Toronto Centre voters – elect this guy to get closer to the action. The ‘Murray will succeed George Smitherman as the MPP’ bit is beyond presumptuous and again unfairly tries to influence voters in Toronto Centre to just accept the outcome being suggested.
Perhaps the most abhorrent part of this whole thing is the following ‘While he is not officially being handed the nomination on a silver platter, sources said at least one potential candidate was “being strong-armed and getting lots of pressure not to run.” Classy.
If a candidate is being set up as a Cabinet Minister in the making, a guy who has already won, and someone who can’t be challenged for the nomination – at what point are Toronto Centre voters involved in this process at all? So far, I count two Toronto Centre voters opinions being heard – Glen Murray’s and George Smitherman’s.
Rigourous nominations, hard fought elections and MPPs serving their local communities are all good things, and should be the focus of any provincial local election campaign. Nominations bring communities into the process and create an active, local organization of neighbours working to elect a candidate that was democratically chosen to represent their party on the ballot. Hard fought elections drive voter turnout, engage the public and require MPPs to work hard to stay elected. Engaged constituents expect results.
The Ontario Liberals and the Toronto Star should let the process play out in Toronto Centre and stop trying to influence unfairly.
4 Comments »Queen’s Park Speaker Suspending Any MPP From the Legislature Until the End of the Sesson is Anti-Democratic
Speaker Peters action in suspending two MPPs from the legislature until the end of the session (after the next Throne Speech) is anti-democratic and hurts the interests of all Ontarians, especially those whose representatives are forbidden from entering the House, or participating in debates on their behalf. The Speaker preventing an MPP from doing their job for a period that could last until the next election makes all other matters of Parliamentary privilege seem trivial.
The saddest part of this story? This was all because they were relentless in calling for public hearings into the HST – something the Liberals are still refusing to allow. Liberals refuse to listen to Ontarians at hearings and now have MPPs suspended for fighting for them on it.
Yes defying the Speaker is bad – I get it. But it is not without precedent. In fact – Former Speaker Alvin Curling created the precedent for defying the Speaker’s order and what was his punishment? Nothing. He left when he felt like it. The Harris Government’s response? As far as they were concerned the crisis had been averted and Curling was able to take his seat again the next sitting day. When these two MPPs rise – they will be forbidden from re-entering the House for the remainder of the session.
I have never heard of the Speaker suspending an MPP from the House before for more than the remainder of the sitting day, let along until the session ends. I find that I can sympathize with William Lyon Mackenzie for seeking to throw out the whole system after having been expelled from the Legislature by his political opponents, winning the by-election to replace him only to be expelled again. They essentially ended any facade of democracy by routinely denying his constituents the right to send him to the Legislature and rail on against the government of the day.
Exclusionary politics is a dangerous thing, and something the majority needs to recognize. Something this Liberal majority has forgotten.
The Speaker has gone too far here in denying these MPPs the ability to do their job. They have a right to be in that legislature, and for the Speaker to deny the will of those who sent those representatives to Queen’s Park is probably the most anti-democratic thing I’ve ever seen happen out of that legislature in my life. Ejecting MPPs for the session and preventing them from carrying out their duties because of their attacks on the Government is a new kind of low in anti-democratic behaviour.
I often wonder how far Ontarians will let their democracy erode before they do anything about it – and sadly I think Speaker Peters took a major step in that direction today and it will go unnoticed unless the Progressive Conservatives do something about it.
My advice would be pretty simple. They eventually have to leave the legislature. Even with access to a bathroom and food, this can’t go on too long. When they do, MPPs Murdoch and Hillier should thumb their noses at the Speaker – resign their seats and work full time to re-gain them – while hammering the Liberals on the HST, and their anti-democratic behaviour. Turn it into a William Lyon Mackenzie-esque ’screw you’ with a taste of his Grandson’s ‘Byng-King’ thrown in for fun.
I am sure each would win their seats back, and probably by higher margins – and they’d get to batter the Liberals in the process, slamming the HST, defending democracy and neutering the Speaker that went too far. Not only that, but they’d wake Ontarians up, because this is the kind of political blood and guts the media loves and that the Tories have been having difficulty dishing out since McGuinty has been Premier.
Let’s put it this way, if I was an MPP and I found myself expelled until a new Throne Speech – I would be out on the hustings, defying the Speaker and the Government and working to remind everyone it is the people, not someone elected by a Liberal majority that decides who sits in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Liberal MPPs should remember that if they would like to continue having the responsibility of sitting in the legislature themselves.
9 Comments »Video of Dwight Duncan on OLG Windsor Energy Centre Scandal
I have to say, you know it’s bad news when you have so many scandals your scandals begin to overlap to the point that the media frankly can’t adequately cover them all. This is the current state of the Dalton McGuinty Ontario Liberal government at Queen’s Park.
This entry is about the OLG deciding (or being decided for) to build a power plant to power the casino in Minister Duncan’s riding. Don’t ask me why, I see this as being epically stupid too. The fall out has been pretty grim, and the government is refusing to release any details to the opposition on this file (I guess they aren’t allowed to expose more than three scandals at a time). Minister Duncan has handled the situation so well the Province is being sued for $355 million by the developer/operator of the plant in addition to what the former CEO is suing for over wrongful dismissal. I don’t think there is anyone else involved in the deal who could sue that isn’t already.
Why the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission decided it was in the business of building power plants in the riding of the Minister responsible for OLG is beyond me, especially considering it was the old Minister (George Smitherman who dropped this responsibility like it was hot once the odeousness of scandal started creeping up from the basement) who was all into the building of unnecessary energy projects.
That being said – I think we now know why Minister Smitherman dropped this like he did eHealth before it when things got messy.
Anyways – I’m not going to make this too heavy. Here is a video that shows Minister Duncan working out an answer to some of this in the legislature. If you’re still confused after watching (and you’ll probably be laughing at how ridiculous or crying at how irresponsible these people are) there are links below to media stories on it.
Duncan takes heat over $81M, OLG-owned power plant in his riding – Hamilton Spectator
Opposition questions $81M price of OLG power plant – Toronto Star
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