Enough is enough, already. It is not only unseemly for the Ontario Medical Association to be fighting with Premier McGuinty and his Whigs but it is the rest of us who suffer. And what is McGuinty trying to prove? If he thinks he is going to win any kudos by bullying some group, he would be smart to pick a group that does not fight back. Ontario’s doctors are not all that sympathetic a group but they are one with the resources to give McGuinty a hell of a fight.
If McGuinty wants to really learn a lesson, he is going to get it in the upcoming byelection in Kitchener-Waterloo. McGuinty was laughing at how the teachers and nurses’ union group screwed over Tiny Tim Hudak and his Conservatives last year with their $2 million ‘Working-Families’ advertising. He is now going to take his medicine. He will see the merit of stopping third-party political advertising by the time the doctors are through with him.
As wrong as this type of advertising is, McGuinty has only himself to blame. The doctors are going to hammer home the message that McGuinty does not care about the 20,000 people in Kitchener-Waterloo who do not have a family doctor. They will crucify the sacrificial lamb that runs for the Liberals without coming out for any candidate. Voters will probably just give the New Democrat their vote if the Horwath candidate can at least spell his or her own name.
After his poor showing so far in a legislature, in which he is supposed to be the Leader of the Opposition, Tiny Tim Hudak will be whistling past the grave yard trying to save the seat that Elizabeth Witmer held as a Conservative. With the troubles at Research in Motion and major job losses, here is Hudak proposing that Ontario pass right-to-work legislation. That approach might appeal to rednecks that know no better but will never fly with an educated and sophisticated workforce such as you have in Kitchener- Waterloo.
Admittedly, we had high hopes for Deb Mathews when she took over the Health portfolio just before the last election. Maybe McGuinty tied her hands and kept her from doing the job of which she is capable. Surely there is someone at Queen’s Park smart enough to sit down with the Ontario Medical Association or maybe a more representative group of medical specialists and say: Look, we have got to find a way to rein in the rising costs of Medicare before it bankrupts us. You’re the experts. Tell us how?
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Copyright 2012 © Peter Lowry
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