Wishing for it might not do the trick for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. She desperately needs to win at least three of the five by-elections in Ontario this Thursday. That would leave one each for Hudak’s Conservatives and Horwath’s New Democrats. That assures that their jobs are safe and Wynne can then go into a general election early next year with some confidence.
Maybe she can. Kathleen Wynne has never been tested as a cross-Ontario brand. We have no idea as to her performance in a general election. And anything less that three seats staying Liberal in these by-elections spells trouble for Wynne as Premier. There are lots of questions.
If job creation is the measure that Ontario voters are going to use, she has already lost. She also has the anchor round her neck of the cancelled gas-plants in Mississauga and Oakville. There are still too many of the same players in that sandbox.
What makes little sense was an e-mail to Liberals last month signed by Jane Rounthwaithe, Kathleen Wynne’s partner. It was a stick in the eye to anyone the least bit homophobic. The pictures of Wynne and Justin Trudeau at the Gay Pride parade said it much more effectively if the story was inclusion.
For Liberals across Ontario, the problem with Wynne is that they are in the dark as to where she wants to lead the party. Leading it out of trouble would only be the first part as the party does need some positive direction. Her problem is though that she needs to be able to attribute her policy directions to the membership of the party. Her remarks last week to the other premiers suggesting that the Senate of Canada could just be reformed instead of abolished did not seem to be a general discussion topic at any Ontario Liberal policy conference in the past 30 or 40 years.
And, as has been mentioned before, the news media describe Kathleen Wynne as a left-leaning politician. The problem is that too many left-leaning Liberals in Ontario have never got that e-mail. We would be delighted to welcome her to our midst—should she every bend in that direction.
The only things shoring up Premier Kathleen Wynne are Tiny Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath. This is not a wealth of choice.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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