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.

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.

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

Duncan denies power plant part of casino expansion on hot seat after firing of OLG CEO – Windsor Star

He has failed Ontarians, and demonstrated he is a man whose ethical bar is so low one could trip over it. I don’t see how Premier McGuinty expects to continue to govern with this overgrown school yard bully running around the Cabinet room, throwing cash at the firms that are run by his former employees, and prepping his Cabinet colleagues, and possible leadership contenders for a political stabbing they simply won’t ever recover from.

Caplan should have resigned too, but not for eHealth. He was the Minister of OLG until him and Smitherman traded scandals Ministries.

I’ve said before that when Andrea Horwath and Tim Hudak agree on something – the Premier should listen. I don’t believe there has been a time when they’ve agreed on something that I have disagreed, and expect many Ontarians have a similar experience to their agreement on issues.

Ontarians deserve a government that isn’t going to blow over a billion dollars on back pats for their friends, while failing to live up to the job. Electronic health records are serious business. They will save lives and create a more effecient health system by ending duplicated tests, over prescription of drugs, and the dangerous situations that arise from a lack of information in the doctor/patient relationship. If the Premier, Smitherman or Caplan actually cared about this important goal, they wouldn’t have turned the agency responsible into a scandal ridden piggy bank for their friends.

As for Minister Smitherman not feeling ‘Survivor’s guilt’ over Caplan’s firing – you need a sense of densency and integrity to have a conscience that would compel you to feel guilt. The Toronto Star put it best when they said about Minister Smitherman’s handling of the Green Energy Act: ‘George Smitherman couldn’t find the political high road with a state-of-the-art GPS.’

Perhaps Dalton McGuinty needs to find his spine and point Minister Smitherman in the direction of the nearest exit, before Ontarians opt to do the same for the Premier.

90% of 680 News listeners would agree.

With the impending HST – a tax that will screw up any economic recovery underway when it adds 8% to the cost of nearly everything; the eHealth scandal; OLG scandal; and the other issues all flapping around with blame squarely laying at the Premier’s feet – I’m not sure the Liberals could win this under any circumstances.

I have gone canvassing in St. Paul’s and the voters are angry. The HST, government waste and arrogance seem to be the key drivers of anger with the Premier. Eric Hoskins’ name recognition is weak and voters seem fairly neutral on the merits of his candidacy.

Liberals will say, ‘But Eric Hoskins is a really good guy’. That isn’t a point I will argue, but politically speaking he is proving to be a coward. No one deserves to be represented by a coward. Who seeks to be a voice for a community hides from a debate? What Liberal panders to a large ethic community by promising to support religious funding for private religious schools – especially after McGuinty’s handling and voters response to that issue in the last election? We all know that isn’t a position that is going to change simply because Hoskins thinks voters are stupid enough to believe his election will change the ridicule the Premier put that idea and its supporters through during the 2007 campaign. It goes deeper – this is the second time Eric Hoskins as sought office this year, and neither time has been in his community. What does Eric Hoskins have against local representation? A community needs a strong, local voice. One that is prepared to stand up and go to bat for the residents. No one cares about the anti-democratic mechanisms and fear tactics party leaders call ‘caucus solidarity’ – they want a voice for them. As Rick Johnson said in the last By-election Ontario saw ‘local matters’.

When a government is failing it’s people, it should be replaced. There is no doubt Premier McGuinty has failed beyond belief in his second term. Voters in St. Paul’s have an early opportunity to tell the Premier enough is enough and this is one former Ontario Liberal hoping they do just that this Thursday. I know members of Save the Toronto Bluffs – an organization close to my heart will be out speaking with voters between now and then about the importance of a local voice, and the Liberal party’s refusal to allow any communities to have one.

While I do not hold a membership in any provincial political party, I frankly hope Sue-Ann Levy cleans the Liberal’s clock in this fight, and will be doing my part to ensure that Toronto has at least one MPP in advance of the next election who has the courage to stand up and defend the interests of real people against the abuses of this government.

Members of Save the Toronto Bluffs will actively participate in Sue-Ann Levy’s election as MPP in St. Paul’s in hopes of sending the Ontario Liberals a message, and finding a voice at Queen’s Park that will stand up for the City, where the Ontario Liberal’s Toronto caucus has so badly failed.

I anticipate criticism from Ontario Liberals for this move, but my response is simple – we were participating in a bureaucratic process for months before the Premier and Minister Smitherman decided to come to the public aid of a law breaking, irresponsible developer (Toronto Hydro Energy Services). The Premier and Deputy Premier chose on their own to attack residents, resorting to name calling and distorting our arguments and we’ve stood up and will continue to, until they are defeated or back down. Considering John Gerretsen personally signed off on Toronto Hydro’s illegal application, it’s clear the Ontario Liberals still aren’t listening, so residents will once again turn up the heat and continue to, until Scarborough’s waterfront MPPs find their spines, stand up for residents, or are defeated.

Members of Save the Toronto Bluffs frustrated at the lack of representation Toronto’s timid Ontario Liberal MPPs have provided, are calling on St. Pauls voters to heed their warning and elect someone who will stand up for their community and our City at Queen’s Park.

‘We’ve seen first hand how poorly Liberal MPPs respond to community concerns that don’t line up with the ‘party line’. Toronto doesn’t need an 18^th Liberal MPP who won’t stand up for their constituents or our City. Said John Laforet. ‘Sue-Ann Levy has a proven track record of being outspoken, and her election can only help Torontonian’s voices to be heard at Queen’s Park.’ Laforet continued.

On August 11th, members of Save the Toronto Bluffs staged a protest of Premier McGuinty’s visit first visit to Scarborough since he and Minister Smitherman attacked Scarborough Bluffs residents for opposing Toronto Hydro’s Lake Ontario wind proposal. Last week, the government, ignoring all community concerns, accepted Toronto Hydro’s application.

‘Members of Save the Toronto Bluffs have tried for a year to convince the Provincial government a project like this does not belong in our drinking water, so close to a sensitive natural shoreline and especially without an environmental assessment.’ Said Barry Matthews, Vice President of Save the Toronto Bluffs, a group representing thousands of Scarborough residents who oppose Toronto Hydro Energy Services proposal to install a wind farm 2km off the Scarborough Bluffs. ‘Our pleas have fallen on deaf ears, have been met with indifference from local MPPs and have seen members of Cabinet resort to name-calling while passing legislation specifically intended to deny residents a voice.’ Matthews continued.

The Progressive Conservative Party is the only party that stood up for Scarborough Residents during the debate on the Green Energy Act, a law that stripped environmental assessments, community participation and city planning legislation from renewable energy projects.

Save the Toronto Bluffs is endorsing Sue-Ann Levy in hopes of sending a clear message to Dalton McGuinty ‘listen, or be defeated.’

Members of Save the Toronto Bluffs are planning to go canvassing in support of Sue-Ann Levy in hopes that an upset win for her could see all Torontonians with a voice a Queen’s Park.

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I don’t know much about Hoskins except that he has an impressive resume and has done a lot of good humanitarian work. As a City Hall watcher, I am more familiar with Sue-Ann Levy and the strength she brings to opposing what she sees as being harmful for the City or all around bad public policy. The NDP has yet to nominate a candidate as their nomination meeting had been scheduled for September 9th. They will need to speed up their process if they are to compete, something I hope they will do as many of the points the NDP have been making since Horwath’s election as leader have been well put and make a lot of sense to a number of Ontarians.

This will be a dog fight and one that will be fought on a number of issues that favour the opposition. The average income in St. Paul’s is over $100 000 with the median income being closer to $60 000. It can be expected if the average income is over $100 000, and half of resident’s household incomes are over $60 000 that the HST will be a non starter with many as folks with incomes that high are certainly consumers and many due to income will not even be eligible for the money the Provincial government will be handing out to try to ease the pain of this tax increase.

As a heavily urban riding with a number of condo developments, it can be expected condo owners will also overwhelmingly be opposed to the HST as it adds an 8% tax to their monthly maintenance payment, effectively creating a ’13th month’ for the Provincial government’s share.

There is also the matter of E-health, the economy and the general malaise Ontarians tend to have with a second term premier mid way through.

Considering both the Ontario NDP and PC party’s have been carrying very similar messages on the negative impacts of the HST on condo owners and everyday Ontarians and speak in near unison on the e-health scandal and each are calling for a stronger focus on the economy (obviously from different perspectives), if the NDP nominate a quality candidate that matches the calibre of Hoskins and Levy, democracy will be well served on the streets of St. Paul’s.

I’m not calling this for anyone at this point, I’m just saying it’s going to be one heck of a fight, and if Levy brings to it what she’s brought to her column over the years at City Hall – it will certainly be passionate and hard fought.

I know this Torontonian looks forward to watching this play out.

Chris Chopik – Green Party of Ontario

Eric Hoskins – Ontario Liberal Party

Sue-Ann Levy – Ontario Progressive Conservative

Ontario NDP Candidate to be named

Wind turbine protesters stake out Liberal barbecue

By: Eric Heino

August 13, 2009

They had been waiting for him for months.

Upset Guildwood residents, along with sympathetic protesters across Ontario, gathered outside the Miller Lash House at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus on Tuesday, Aug. 11, eager to vent their discontent to Premier Dalton McGuinty over a proposed wind farm.

There was a great deal of resentment for McGuinty’s Green Energy Act, which protesters viewed as removing their rights to have input into projects planned in their neighbourhoods – specifically, the possibility that 60 wind turbines could be erected off the shore of the Bluffs.

Residents began expressing their opposition a year ago to a decision by Toronto Hydro to place an anemometer in Lake Ontario to test the viability of a wind farm. The testing would take about two years and if it proves successful the wind farm could go ahead.

Many of the approximately 40 people at this week’s protest said they felt insulted by McGuinty’s February speech in which he referenced Bluffs residents and vowed not to let NIMBYism stand in the way of renewable energy projects.

In Scarborough for the first time since making the comments, McGuinty was scheduled to attend a private barbecue for Liberal MPPs at 6 p.m., but angry Bluffs residents had already congregated an hour beforehand.

“We are here to send a warning. The premier is here to get his members revved up for the 2011 election and we’re here to tell him that we’re revved up too,” said John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of grassroots organizations from across the province.

Shortly before the political gathering was to begin, however, Ontario Provincial Police officers arrived and asked all protesters to leave the university property or risk being arrested.

As a result, the group headed to Old Kingston Road. After speaking with OPP officers, Laforet called on the Toronto Police officers stationed at the university hoping they would defend the protest. But the protesters were told to move off the site while the university administration assessed the safety of the situation.

On Old Kingston Road, the protesters continued to wave banners and chant “Protect the environment, no turbines in the lake” as passing motorists honked their horns.

At 6 p.m. the police officers once again approached Laforet and took him aside.

“The fact of the matter is that this is a private event and where that extended to is the issue of debate here,” said one of the officers. “That has been resolved and you are welcome back on the site, but the actual facility that they are using is out of bounds.”

With Laforet and others at the main entrance, half of the group walked back to the property. Nobody had yet seen McGuinty, but when Scarborough Southwest MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti arrived at the barbecue he stopped to speak.

“You need to stand up for Scarborough! We need your voice,” shouted one angry protester.

“I’m going to pass these concerns along to the premier and we’ll see what he says,” said Berardinetti in response.

Rapid-fire questions were shot back, shouting over Berardinetti’s voice.

Berardinetti brushed off a party official trying to bring him inside, responding, “This is more important.”

Berardinetti, before he left to join his party members, assured the protestors he would speak with the premier. He was handed an envelope containing information prepared by the protesters and Berardinetti confirmed the next day he’d personally delivered it to McGuinty.

Laforet returned to the Miller Lash House and explained that McGuinty had entered through the back of the building. By 7:10 p.m. the crowd began to dissolve. Laforet declared the evening a success and decided to call it a night.

Reached the day after the protest, Berardinetti urged patience.

“Residents do come first and I’m their voice at Queen’s Park,” he said. “Their concerns become my concerns, but remember that I don’t always get my way, either. I can be just as angry as those protesters, but that doesn’t mean that the cabinet ministers or the premier will agree with me.”

I explained that I knew Dalton McGuinty didn’t like democracy but that this was a little far even for him, especially because we were there over his attack on our rights as citizens under the Green Energy Act. That’s when I was told I would be arrested if I chose to stay on campus to protest Dalton McGuinty. I asked the officers for their names and badge numbers and told them that I was calling Campus Police as they were the authority responsible for securing the campus and protecting my right of free speech and I would not be letting the Premier, or them interfere with it, simply because Dalton McGuinty is too cowardly to face his citizens. His response was to ask me how I spelt my name and what my birthday was.

I called Campus Police and asked that they send an officer to enlighten the Premier’s bodyguards and to protect my right of free speech from this assault. An officer arrived, spoke to the bodyguards and came back to tell me that I in fact did not have the right of free speech tonight because the Ontario Liberal Party had rented a building on campus and it was private property. I pointed out that the University of Toronto free speech policy wasn’t ‘for rent’ and even if Dalton McGuinty wanted to prevent me from exercising my rights, I do still have them and would not be letting anyone take them away by threatening to arrest me. That’s when the University of Toronto campus police told me that I would have to leave the property and he was simply acting as an agent for the University. He added that if I did not, I would be arrested.

I offered a quick lesson in media relations to the Premier’s bodyguards and the Campus Police and advised them that when the media arrived those three gentlemen and Dalton McGuinty’s new, frightening low in tolerance for democracy would be the new story considering we were present anyways over his attack on our rights and never assumed he would dare try to remove our constitutional rights. I advised campus police, I would ensure this issue stayed alive on campus because this went against everything the university and democracy are supposed to be about. I had was three guys looking back at me, each with the power to arrest me, at least two prepared to do so, even if I knew I had fundamental rights as a Canadian and as someone on the University of Toronto campus exercising free speech. They didn’t care. Not tonight at least. Dalton McGuinty was in town.

So I looked at them and said ‘the police are supposed to protect people and their rights. Who is one supposed to call when it is the police taking away rights you know you have and they won’t listen?’ Blank stares all around. I asked the Campus Police to tell me who suspended the free speech policy for the Premier’s visit and asked if he could get that individual on the phone as this was sure to become a major embarrassment for all involved. I voluntarily removed myself from the property and protesters set up along the driveway as Liberal guests began arriving.

Media arrived, the bodyguards split and I explained what had just happened, while the campus police officer looked on from within the grounds of this newly private, protest free zone. About fifteen minutes later, a representative from the University of Toronto came out to tell me that we would be allowed on campus and that the free speech policy was in effect. The reporters came to listen to the conversation and I asked why I had been threatened with arrest on campus for exercising free speech, why campus police did nothing to prevent that from happening and why the sudden change. He was answer-less.

After hearing the news, I crossed the road yelling to the protesters ‘free speech has been restored, we’re now allowed back on campus’.

At the end of the day the following was clear. Dalton McGuinty’s bodyguards were wrong when they attempted to intimidate me. Campus police was wrong when they concurred, and the University of Toronto was wrong for allowing the Premier to think he would be entitled to a protest free environment. That is not how democracy works.

The threat of arrest for exercising your rights is a very frightening prospect. The only reason to control protests is to control the message. The reality is Dalton McGuinty doesn’t have as rosy a picture in Scarborough as he would like or would like to project, and it is clear that this Premier’s view of democracy is one of personal entitlement for him, and not something those who disagree should be allowed to participate in.

If we’re to maintain our democracy we must always question authority, and challenge things we know not to be true. We must stand up for justice and fairness and not let guys like Dalton McGuinty try to use his bodyguards as some sort of constitutional right busters. They were wrong from the start, and clearly counting on the fear of my impending arrest to make me comply with what was not a legal request. But I didn’t. I stood up. And I stood up again to the next person who tried to intimidate me into doing what the Premier’s people wanted me to do, but could not legally force me to. It took that standing up to make Dalton McGuinty’s bodyguards to back down on an order that clearly came from well beyond the realm of the OPP.

Being arrested in defense of free speech is something I would be prepared to do if I was not confident that the University would bend under pressure and reason. Frankly, from the road as I waited for the name of the individual who decided to suppress free speech for the Premier, I was looking down the driveway and planning how I would slowly walk back in, up the middle of the road, very purposefully in my step to call their bluff, relying on the fact that even if I was arrested, any court in the land on any day would recognize the clear violation of my charter rights, and the University of Toronto’s free speech policy and blame for that violation would land at the foot of Dalton McGuinty, a man who proves how much he dislikes democracy with each bill he passes to limit it, each use of public money for partisan gain, and each attempt to intimidate people into giving up their rights.

Last night was not McGuinty’s night. Free speech won out in the end, but only because I stood up and refused to be intimidated. That is the lesson for everyone. Stand up for yourselves, and your rights. Question authority and don’t bow to pressure.

It is clearer to me now than ever that Dalton McGuinty is not deserving or fit to be Premier of Ontario. Forget about the HST, doubling the debt, E-Health, and all the rest of his scandals. The fact is that Dalton McGuinty is a man who attacks democracy at every turn and that is far more serious than even the worst policy decision he makes. Those can be easily fixed. Erosion to our democratic system cannot.

Think about it.

Do something about it.

Last night I did.

When Dalton McGuinty came to Scarborough six months after he and his Deputy Premier launched an unprecedented attack on Guildwood residents, residents stood up and made good on that pledge. With just a weekend to plan, we were able to get as many protesters as the Premier had guests at an Ontario Liberal Party BBQ intended to get Scarborough Provincial Liberals excited about the next election.

While the Ontario Liberal Party BBQ was organized by staff from taxpayer funded government offices at Queen’s Park, the food was provided by Enbridge – a wind farm developer, and the Premier tried to use his bodyguards to intimidate us into leaving – resident’s stood strong and sent their message loud and clear.

I am proud to have worked with so many Guildwood residents to organize this event. It was great to be joined by members of the community, members of the sailing community and to see folks whose lives have been personally affected by the wind installation at Ripley come out to tell Dalton McGuinty that all is not well for him and Ontario Liberals.

We were so clear with that message that CityTV led with tonight for the 11pm news. Below is that footage and some pictures taken by Jessica Laforet. If the video doesn’t work click on this link to CityTV News and watch the clip on their website.

Slide show of pictures: