Here is another one … NDP’s Andrea Horwath.
Right after Kathleen Wynne was elected Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, Horwath came out and offered to support Wynne’s minority government on condition that the Liberals call for a Public Inquiry into the Gas Plant Closure Fiasco which occurred just days before the recent Election.
I thought to myself that this was a principled and clever move on Horwath’s part despite the fact that I sincerely think the Liberals should be defeated at the earliest possible moment given their mismanagement of all affairs provincial over the course of the past 9 years.
It was principled in the sense that the previous Grit Leader had undemocratically shut down the Provincial Legislature for the sole purpose of avoiding this brewing scandal.
Clever, in the sense that it was the Grit Campaign Team which made the decision to close these nearly completed plants and dear reader, the same Kathleen Wynne was the Co-Manager of the Grit Campaign.
But this was all not to be.
Wynne thought over Horwath’s offer for about… 30 seconds and said no to the Public Inquiry but yes to having a committee of Queen’s Park look into it.
And Horwath took about the same time – 30 seconds in accepting Wynne’s self serving reply.
Horwath’s acceptance is redundant since we already had a committee of the Legislature looking into this scandal when the House was unceremoniously prorogued and given the Liberal minority status, it would be easy to reinstitute this committee without Wynne’s help. Moreover to continue with it, will only drag things out passed an expected election date later this year.
A Public Inquiry is needed to really get to the root of the issue ever bearing in mind that it could in the end result in criminal action.
So Horwath goes from winner to loser quicker than you or I can say Jack Spratt.
Now Horwath has tacked on some other demands including an increase in the monthly welfare stipend –does she not realize the province is broke?
Plus she wants to force car insurance companies to drop their rates by 15%. Why stop there – what is wrong with a 50% drop or even 75%?
What is wrong of course is that these are private sector companies which should not be compelled to fix their rates based upon some bureaucratic dictate. Socialism anyone.
I am old enough recall the disaster of wage and price controls implemented by the then Trudeau Government – as in Trudeau the elder which occurred in the early 1970s. Controls did not work then and they won’t work now.
If the public wants their insurance rates to drop – then it should look to the cheapest provider and then watch how fast the competitors fall into line.
What I take away from all of this is that the NDP seems likely to prop up this bunch of losers known collectively as the Liberal Government of Ontario.
And this in turn will result in a couple of more losers – to be specific – you and I, as we have to contend longer with the status quo.
As I see it…
‘K.D. Galagher’
