The resignation of Dalton McGuinty as Premier of Ontario, effective on the day his successor is chosen, presents those of us who believe in private enterprise with a very dismal prospect. The way things are going, it seems that Andrea Horwath of the tax-and-spend crypto-socialist New Democratic Party, will win the next Ontario election to become the fifth female premier.
I say this for two reasons. First, I believe that, like his friend and ally, Jean Charest, Mr. McGuinty quit because he could see the writing on the wall. The Liberal reign at Queen's Park is ending with a whimper; the party needs to renew itself in opposition, like its federal counterpart, which is, in fact, near death.
Secondly, I see no chance that Tim Hudak, the Conservative leader, can win, because he clearly lacks the skills -- starting with an instinct for the jugular -- needed to deliver a victory. Maybe -- just maybe -- the Tories will find a way to dump him in favour of Frank Klees, a much more telegenic politician who has effectively crusaded against the scandalous waste of our tax dollars in the ORNGE air rescue service fiasco. Regardless of who leads the Tories, history tells us that Ontarians seldom like to elect a premier who belongs to the same party as the governing party in Ottawa, where Stephen Harper is the ultimate Imperial PM.
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Moreover, the federal and Ontario NDP have efficient political machines in Ontario. The enormous downside of a Horwath victory, of course, would be that, except for supporting the concept of a united Canada, her economic and social policies are distressingly similar to those of Pauline Marois, the separatist- socialist who now governs Quebec in the wake of the Charest implosion.
Both leaders believe you can create a Nirvana by imposing higher taxes on the business and professional citizens whose labour create the jobs big governments destroy in their statist zeal. And, importantly, given that McGuinty, the self-proclaimed education premier, declared war on his core supporters, Ontario's badly-rewarded teachers, it's a safe bet they will return to their NDP roots.
Like him or not, McGuinty has actually managed a huge enterprise, Canada's biggest province, whereas the biggest thing Mr. Trudeau has managed is a high school drama class and -- or so he insists -- a Twitter site with some 160,000 fans. McGuinty's other asset would be having a more positive image than Justin Trudeau in Quebec, the one-time Liberal bastion, where Trudeau's leadership announcement -- which got World War III-like headlines and photographs in the Anglo press -- was buried in the French media.
Oh, and by the way, will the Liberal Premier, Christy Clark of British Columbia, please turn off the lights?
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..he has some great construction project ideas for Canada along with just the right connections to get them done ......
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....I take it this would be in the Lightweight Division.
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...Disgraced Provincial Failure vs the Paris of Hilton of Outremont ...... oh yes .. and they can throw Bob Rae into the mix .... the Former Disgraced Provincial Failure ...
Uhh, no. They believe that the wealthier a corporation or individual is, the more they should invest in making the marketplace more competitive, not less (as the conservatives believe).
As for McGuinty running for the leadership of the LPC, he has the right I suppose but he doesn't stand a chance and after such an abysmal record and weaselly squirming out of his role as premier, he should think long and hard about tainting the leadership race because it will only serve to fuel the Harper Inc. propaganda machine. I wouldn't vote for McGuinty ever again, nose held or not.
dream on.
Mcquinty is surfing a wave of catastrophy.
And when it breaks over Ontario......
We'll all be in over our heads.