Tell us more about Premier Kathleen Wynne. During the current fiasco at Toronto city hall and the Senate scandal in Ottawa, the Premier of Ontario has been getting a free ride. That is cause for concern. And an even greater concern is that we have absolutely no idea what she stands for or what she hopes to achieve as Premier of Ontario.
And what is particularly disconcerting is that when she wants to hide in plain sight, she does another photo-op at a day-care centre. There are two million stories in the big city and Kathleen Wynne’s is just one of them.
After listening carefully to some of her speeches, it is still impossible to tell if Kathleen, the politician, is right wing, left wing or simply confused. The Toronto Star labels her as left-wing but there is very little whole cloth on which to sew that label. Her riding voters know her as reactionary. It is what brought her to their attention. She has done little to change their attitude.
When she celebrated her first 100 days as Premier last week, Wynne pointed to the teachers’ unions as an accomplishment. She might want to give that relationship time to heal before testing it. It is not like the negotiations with the Ontario medical Association, as we still have no idea what peace in that territory cost.
We already have an apology from Wynne for the close to a billion dollars that buying off the gas-fired power plant NIMBYs cost in Mississauga and Oakville. Wynne might have a reputation as a negotiator but it must be fun going around with her pockets full of our cash with which to negotiate.
Wynne is no farmer’s daughter but she has made her first inroads with the farmers by restoring some our funding to horse racing. It is interesting to note that some of the provincial farmers’ organizations are giving her the benefit of the doubt. She is finding a receptive audience to her talk of restraining the proliferation of wind turbines.
Where Wynne might be failing is with members of her own political party. And if New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath ever grows a backbone, a weak, unenthused provincial Liberal Party in Ontario will not save Kathleen Wynne’s new job. She won the job by manipulating the inner workings of the party. She has no real mandate from Ontario’s Liberals. They might not give her another 100 days!
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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