It is almost sad. Only 15 per cent of the Ontario new democratic party voted against keeping MPP Andrea Horwath as leader. The vote appeared to be the result of an online poll taken on a recent weekend during a virtual convention for the provincial party.
Since there was no report of the party making any decisions about where it wants to take Ontario, the choice of Andrea Horwath as leader seems to be inconsequential. She has been leader for more than a decade and one can only assume she is not leading the party anywhere.
It was almost four years ago that liberal leader Kathleen Wynne surrendered the liberal party before the votes were cast in the election. It was serious missed opportunity for the new democrats. Premier Wynne and Andrea Horwath were handmaidens delivering the voters of Ontario into the hands of an incompetent conservative regime.
We can well assume that the new democrats must regret their lack of drive four years ago but why have they not done something about it?
Standing up in the legislature and whining about the lack of action by the government is not the soul role of the opposition in the legislature. The opposition is expected to suggest improvements in legislation. It is expected to suggest constructive action when it is not perceived as necessary by the government of the day. That is the opposition’s role on behalf of the voters.
Ms. Horwath is under the impression that all it takes to defeat the Ford regime is to remind the voters of that government’s inadequate answers to the concerns of Ontario through the erratic shut-downs and conflicting rules during the various stages of the pandemic.
And there is no leadership coming from the liberals in the legislature. They elected a leader and he never ran for a bye-election. He thought he could do the job from outside the legislature. He is the man who is never there.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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