Now that the election is over, we can really say what we think of the Ontario government of Dalton McGuinty: very little. As the local provincial Whig riding president said about this blog, “You hate them all but you hate Dalton the least.” She was right.
There is no question that Tim Hudak is a disaster foretelling the end of times. Andrea Horwath started out as promising but never performed. Yet, it is poor Dalton and his Whigs who were destined to disappoint us the most.
Mind you, we did give Dalton the credit for all-day kindergarten. That was something that gained general acceptance. You just did not want to hang your hat on it.
What scared hell out of us was the ponzi scheme Dalton’s Whigs passed called a Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program for renewable energy production. By paying various premiums for the electricity produced by sun, wind, bio-mass and water, the program promised at least a doubling of electricity prices in Ontario. Now that the election is over, the Whigs are starting to look at putting limits on the program.
What the opposition lacked in the election—other than a sense of direction—was a clear understanding of what the emerging issues are that need answers.
And Dalton’s opponents sure missed an opportunity when an otherwise intelligent Health Minister Deb Mathews suggested general practitioners make house calls on seniors. That would be a really great idea if we could just figure out a way to get everyone in the province a family doctor first.
What never got off the ground during the election is the growing anger over the Condominium Act and other later Acts that are overriding the Condominium Act. With more than 500,000 Ontario residents living in condos and the number growing every week, somebody is going to have to start to care. The mess the government is causing might be great for making lawyers rich but all that will do is make condo living affordable for only the very wealthy.
The good news is that most people recognize that Dalton is well past his use-before date. For the next election, the Whigs will have to find another anachronism to lead them.
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Copyright 2011 © Peter Lowry
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