The bad news is that the buck stops at your desk, Premier Wynne. Many politicians have gone down over the years because of the same arrogance. It can happen to you. You are not above the law. And if your partner Jane bakes you a cake, tell her not to put a file in it. Sell the book when you get out.
Someone should have warned you that kicking a quadriplegic to the curb was not a good idea. They play their politics tough in Sudbury. And the entire business of that by-election cost you too many IOUs. You blew it. You could have sat back, let the locals have their democracy, made the obligatory appearances and come out a hero.
Why do you think some people refer to your party as Whigs? The Whigs were the predecessors to the English Liberals that died off without Prime Minister David Lloyd George almost 100 years ago. Being called a Whig is not as much an insult as it is pointing out that you are terribly out-of-date. You are living in the wrong century.
If you wanted to buy off the former candidate with some appointment or other, you use someone like the local fund-raiser. He is deniable. Of course you did not tell him to bribe the guy. People like that are expected to be self-important.
But that does not work with your deputy chief-of-staff. Pat Sorbara is not deniable. Her job was to advise you not to do it, not to do your bidding. Is she as arrogant as you? Does she think your office can cover for her when she breaks the law? We do not have many protections for democracy in Ontario but we should respect the ones we do.
And Sorbara’s role in this makes you culpable. She said she was working under your instructions. She has hung you out. You best have your resignations to the Lieutenant-Governor and the Ontario Liberal Party written and signed before the Ontario Provincial Police come knocking at your office door.
But do not feel badly about this. You have lasted two years that Dalton McGuinty could never have delivered to the Liberals. From the corrupt convention that gave you the premier’s job that cold day two years ago until now you have failed to recognize what this province really needs. (Sure, the voters rejected your opponents last year but that was hardly to your credit.)
Ontario and the rest of this great country of ours need a new kind of politics, a renewed democracy and a forward-thinking approach to living in the Twenty-first Century. It is as simple as politicians thinking “what do people need?” They have to forget ideology and make sure people are free. They need to give up the past and concentrate on the future. Our time is far too short on this earth so let’s make life here better.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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