Someone noted that there has been little said lately about the dysfunctional antics at the Ontario Legislature. You should shed a tear for the news media people who have to be there. They have to cover Premier Dalton McGunity, Tiny Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath as though they were real people doing a vital job for Ontario. Even these stalwarts of news media pros have had enough and are talking about the coming election.
It could happen. It will probably be more by accident than design. Horwath and Hudak would never get together and plan anything.
But what an election would prove is very little. You still have the same three leaders and there is no spot on the ballot for the category called ‘None of the above.’
Both the Liberals and the Conservatives missed their chance to dump their leaders. The problem is that, without opposition readily apparent, parties do not fire their leaders. The leader of the party holds too much power over their members. The only independent MP or MLA in Canadian politics is one who has already decided to retire from politics.
But it was interesting the other day when some members of Tiny Tim’s Conservative caucus decided to boost their ‘Right to Life’ ideas against their leader’s explicit instructions. It indicates that some of his Ontario Landowners supporters are becoming tired of his lack of leadership.
It is not that Tiny Tim has not been trying to show some leadership. Why the other day he stabbed his good friend Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in the back and made it party policy to take major transit decisions away from the city. This is not going to win him many city votes. And probably not too many rural votes either.
Meanwhile, NDP leader Andrea Horwath is chortling over the teachers heading for the Supreme Court with Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals over their right to strike. She has to be very careful about what she wishes for. She hardly wants to polarize the voters.
If we citizens get lucky, someone will lock all the doors at Queen’s Park on the outside while all the MLA’s are inside. We could send in enough food to keep them going until they learn to play nice with each other. It’s a cheaper solution than an election.
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Copyright 2012 © Peter Lowry
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