Neither age nor adversity nor the perspective of parenthood has softened the heart of Ontario Conservative Leader Tiny Tim Hudak. As he explained to his followers the other night, he knows what is right, far right. At the annual Ontario Conservative Party fund raiser, he promised to stay the course of Michael Harris-style cut and slash conservatism.
Hudak is like an old damaged vinyl record of the past, stuck in a groove repeating his mentor’s mantra. He is going to crush unions on our behalf. He is going to get rid of palatial public pensions. He would put an end to the Rand Formula to goad the hated unions. And his business supporters get to keep more of their profits.
What is amazing about this discourse is that companies paid over $2 million dollars into the Conservative Party in Ontario coffers to listen to this bilge. In offering them a return to the ideology of Michael Harris’ Ontario, Hudak is asking them to accept the discord, the anger and the union strife of the time that was so unnecessary.
What is particularly galling is the sham of Hudak’s position on the growing gridlock in Toronto. He thinks the Ontario government can produce magic money. Hudak was part of a government that saved money on testing municipal water supplies and killed people. It had a simple solution to health costs: it fired nurses. It downloaded highways on municipalities. And yet, Tiny Tim is promising to build subways and highways for us and save us money at the same time.
But we are not to worry about the cost. According to Timmy, Ontario can rest assured that his government would be vigilant in its quest for new investors in Ontario. He would “upload” the Toronto Transit Commission and regional highways such as the Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner and ‘400’ series highways to be looked after by the province. By working with the new investors, Timmy can see new highways being built and new subways serving Toronto.
What is puzzling about all this is that Timmy’s little girl might be getting a bit too old for fairytales but Ontario business leaders can attend a dinner and listen quietly to this guff. You would think in a province of over 12 million, reasonably well-educated Canadians, they could find a provincial Conservative leader with a little more on the ball.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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