There is a television advertisement running these days of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne running. It should have a warning on it to tell kids not to try this at home. Maybe the Premier can close county roads for her run to be recorded. Try running like that in the city and you would have imprints on your ass of automobile grills. She is not even running in the correct lane, against the traffic.
In the voice-over dialogue, she is not the slightest bit winded. She tells us she loves running. Maybe she should prove that and run for election. Waiting for next spring and to have an election when her government’s budget is defeated is a cheap political evasion.
And do you not love how she evades problems?
Wynne lives in Toronto and obviously does not understand the city. She tells us she got into politics because she did not agree when former Premier Mike Harris and his government amalgamated Toronto into a single city. He took a city that was not working and made it worse. And Kathleen Wynne disagreed with Harris’ part solution. What she had was no solution. And she has none now.
It was 40 years ago that we fought tooth and nail to bring party politics to Toronto. It was so damn obvious then what would happen—and by God, has it ever happened. We foolish young politicos at that time wanted a mayor who was responsible to the majority of councillors. That is what is called responsible government. What we have now—thanks to many years of myopic politicians at Queen’s Park—is irresponsible government. Nobody wants to admit the solution to the problem is to have the candidates for mayor run as councillors and then let the elected councillors pick their mayor. That causes party politics.
The solution has been there all along and Kathleen Wynne cannot run from it. If the Ontario Government would just once live up to its responsibilities, the province would have stepped in a long time ago. Toronto has become ungovernable. Council has been a constant contest between the inner city and the suburbs since Mike Harris left it in the present mess. A council that constantly wrangles about priorities cannot function. A council that hates its leadership is self destructive.
But Premier Kathleen Wynne says she does not know what to do. Opposition Leader and Conservative Leader Tim Hudak does not have a clue what to do. New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath does not seem to have a clue about anything.
Run Kathleen, run. You can run but you cannot run away from it.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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