BLOOD ON THE FLOOR...

So said the Pundits about Premier Ford's Cabinet Shuffle yesterday.

But Ford missed one...Himself and to a lesser extent ...He missed firing his Chief of Staff Doug French.

That said I see French as another dead-man-walking thus his firing will come sooner than later.  With respect to Ford himself, that will naturally not come now but will be left to either his Caucus in the medium term or to the Electorate in the longer term.

So why do I say that.

Thursday's blood-bath came about as a result of Ford and Co. first year in office which though Ford himself said it had been a great success and although he was quoted as saying he had the best Cabinet ever, his actions yesterday prove that to be all puff and nonsense.

And Dear Reader, if anyone one person is responsible for the slips, retractions, and poor policies generally, it falls at the feet of the Leader - aka Doug Ford.

So let's look at the main casualties:

First the size of Cabinet ...it went from 21 to 28 and startling increase of some 25%.  How do you rationalize this in an apparent time of restraint?  Well you can't.  And how to do face Toronto Council when your first job as Premier was to drastically reduce their ranks?   No can do as well.

Rumour had it that Vic Fedeli was toast and would be dropped  entirely from Cabinet.  He who held the Party together when Star-Crossed Brown imploded. And He who would have made the best candidate for Premier...indeed it was his for the taking if he only wanted it.   Fortunately, although a major demotion, Ford kept him on as Minister for Eco Development.

And then there is Ottawa's Lisa MacLeod - humiliatingly demoted to the next to useless role of Tourism, Culture and Sport.  Macleod was one of Ford's biggest cheerleaders and now I would suspect you will not see her stay on for the next election.

And another Lisa...Lisa Thompson who was unceremoniously dumped from the Education Ministry and ended up in Government and Consumer Services whatever that happens to be.

Where the two Lisas went wrong is they followed Ford's instructions to their joint detriment.

And then there is Caroline Mulroney...she who traded on her famous name or to some ...her infamous name similar to the only thing Justin Trudeau had going for him in the last Federal Election.  Just for the record, I personally subscribe to the infamous descriptor for both.

Now one thing Ford did not do -  and I mean did not do---he left Christine Elliott in place as Health Minister though he hived off certain of her heretofore responsibilities.  Elliott should have been Leader instead of Ford.  Word has it though that she sustained a serious fall and head injury recently so her time too maybe be limited.

Bottom-line here, I am not enamored with the Ford shuffle.  For year two he needs to take more responsibility for his own leadership which primarily entails getting rid of the debt / budget deficit  and showing his pride and his team's pride in doing so.  In other words, they all need to quit pandering to noisy little self interest groups and work for the hardworking taxpayer.

As I See It...

K.D. Bell




The second major person in Cabinet was Christine Elliott

HERE IN CANADA WE HAVE OUR OWN PIZZA PARLIAMENT

Italy is often mocked for the number of Parties it has in its Parliament ...six (6) to be exact.

But Dear Reader, so do we ... permit me to list them:

1.  Liberals

2.  Conservatives

3.  NDP

4.  Greens

5.  Bloc

6.  Madd Max's Peoples Party

And if you count the independents, we actually have one more than Italy.

Why do I raise this, you might add?

A person very close to me has great trouble believing that Justin Trudeau will be defeated in the October 21 st Election - despite  my assurances to her that JT is a dead-man walking.

The main reason I say this is because his greatest opponent is none other than himself and as such - he goes from blunder to blunder.   Many of these have been discussed in my earlier blogs.  Those blunders are so numerous, he simply does not have the time to undo the damage they have caused him.

So despite the fact that Two Thirds of the Canadian Electorate is centre left and only One Third is centre right , the latter is being bolstered by Trudeau's blatant ineptness which alone will ensure a Conservative victory.

But there is another important factor at work to doubly ensure his electoral demise --- Our Pizza Parliament of course.

Five of the above-noted Pizza Pieces reside in the Centre Left Spectrum so the usual advantage to the Left (read Liberals) is split 5 ways to Sunday.

That leaves but two Centre Righters and that is split between the Tories and Madd Max.  However recent polling shows that split to be 34% to 1%.  Ergo the People's Party will not be a factor in the Election. Bye Bye Max you will be missed since you are the only real conservative in the mix.

Bottom-line, the Conservatives will win a majority government this year but will not win a majority of the votes.  That majority of votes will go to a very splintered left. 

Pizza Anyone ?

As I See It...

K.D. Bell