An old friend down in Windsor has posited in a blog that Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa is running a covert campaign for Kathleen Wynne’s job. While it is a mildly amusing hypothesis, you have to remember that the Windsor area of Ontario thrives on putative political putsches. And the Liberals in the area have yet to forgive Wynne for defeating Windsor’s own Sandra Pupatello for the job of Premier.
But to accuse Charles Sousa of plotting anything more complex than where to eat lunch is paying a disservice to the gentleman. With Charles, what you see is what you get. He lacks duplicity. He lacks ideas. He is a banker for goodness sake.
Frankly, Charles could not scurry fast enough over to Kathleen Wynne’s side when he saw how the voting was going at the tightly controlled convention that chose her. He had obviously been offered the finance job for his obeisance and he bought the deal. Our Morning Line had positioned him at 9 to 1 odds and he seemed to agree with us. And the only reason we gave him those good odds was because he is also a nice guy.
But he has disappointed us in the finance portfolio. By agreeing to force down the automobile insurance rates to please the New Democrats, you know that the insurance people are just going to deliver less on claims. Consumers are going to lose and we can all blame Charles.
And he is continuing to ignore the need to sell off the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) stores to the private sector. Just because Tory Leader Timmy Hudak’s henchmen have convinced him to get on that bandwagon is no excuse not to do it. Charles is ignoring the best way to solve the deficit problem and look like a hero at the same time.
While he obviously does not have the final say in who heads what board, he has not helped the situation at Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) and at the LCBO by appointing safe, uninspiring chairs to two critically important boards.
Neither Charles nor Kathleen Wynne have stimulated very much in their first six months in their jobs. At a best guess they have another six months to get their act together. And there is little hope if they continue down the path where they are now headed.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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