Who won what? How do you compare $660 million from the federal government to $1.4 billion from the province and say Toronto Mayor Ford won? What did he win? And for someone to win, you have to assume somebody lost. Who lost here? And as a former Scarborough resident, you have to be annoyed at people who infer that being from Scarborough, you are stupid.
And to suggest that Scarborough residents do not know that the funds for transit come from the same taxpayer pockets makes this a silly game. Sure, Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray made a foolish play when he unilaterally announced that the province would pay for a two-stop surface subway extension to replace that silly tramway that carries people from the subway to Scarborough Town Centre. That was a dumb play.
Murray left himself wide open for the one-two puck handling of Prime Minister Harper and Finance Minister Flaherty. Harper made the break-away and Flaherty flipped the puck into the net. And Toronto Mayor Ford was the noisy spectator. Premier Wynne should put Murray out of his misery and replace him in goal.
Maybe Murray is getting all his advice from former MPP George Smitherman. George might be able to give Glen some advice about his electoral district but he proved in the last mayoralty campaign that he knows nothing about Toronto suburbs.
Just think of how much more effective Murray’s announcement would have been if he had been backed at the event by all the Liberal Members of the Legislature from Scarborough. He could have even talked to them about the announcement and received some good input. And there must be one or two of the municipal councillors from Scarborough who would also provide some advice.
But then Wynne and her Whigs are always trying to wing it. And they are running out of options. Some political adviser to Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has finally got through to him and Timmy is now supporting Wynne’s pathetic program. The Tories have figured she will run out of initiatives in less than a month and will have few alternatives to calling an election for November.
After all, Wynne has never listened to the Liberal Party in Ontario and seems to have no interest in looking to the party for any policies or democratically selected candidates. You have to admire her loyalty to those who got her to her present position but they might just leave her out on that icy ledge for a long cold winter.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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