Giving Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne any credit for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s win in Ontario the other day is like suggesting that a windmill helped create the wind. There is little question but that politically Ontario’s premier needs Justin Trudeau far more than he needs her.
In the appearances the Ontario premier made in support of the federal Liberals during the campaign, the people were there to support the candidates. The premier was not even window dressing. She was just another huckster.
In the coming month, the new Prime Minister will be asking the premiers from across the country to meet with him to plan a joint approach to the Paris meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference at the end of November. If he can achieve unanimity with the premiers, the world will see a surprisingly different Canada at the conference.
What Wynne wants mostly from Trudeau is for the federal government to take over the file on an improved Canada Pension Plan. While any change will require the approval of the other provinces, Trudeau and Wynne can double team to make the sale. Despite the Ontario-only version of this being much further along than any federal involvement, Wynne will have had more thorough analysis of costs and will want to bow out.
Wynne’s government is also counting on relief from the federal government on infrastructure spending. The other premiers will be competing with her for the money. As much as she might think that Ontario should get to the head of the line, there is really little Wynne can offer Trudeau politically. She has her own problems.
The honeymoon is long over between Ontario voters and Wynne’s Whigs. While the opposition will continue to scratch the scabs of the gas plant fiasco, inflame the rural arguments against clean energy, Wynne’s people are doing more harm to themselves with the wrong turn on Hydro One. Privatizing and selling off part of Hydro One will be the Sword of Damocles hanging over the Ontario Liberals.
We need to separate Wynne and Trudeau in our minds. They are not the same kind of Liberals. There is always the doubt that Wynne is liberal. We know for sure that she is no leader.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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