It is rare that a politician(?) such as Doug Ford can remind me of a snatch of a poem such as the one published by Robert Frost in 1923. The haunting words are “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”
What brought Dougie’s problems with promises to mind was a question posed by a judge the other day about whether the Ontario premier might have checked with his government’s lawyers before passing a law regarding the number of councillors to be elected in Toronto. The problem was this new law came into effect after the election race was already underway.
While we would certainly not question the right of Dougie’s government to make the change, there is some concern about his timing of the change. I suspect that might be where the judge also hangs his hat when making a ruling. And there just might also be a question of liability. Dougie talks a good game about savings but does sometimes tend to be somewhat cavalier with taxpayer money.
But the question of legal advice from the new government’s lawyers had an element of humour to it. You know, of course, that the new attorney general of Ontario has never practiced law in Ontario. I am not sure if Caroline Mulroney ever passed the Bar Admission examination in Ontario? I am not aware of any reciprocal agreements regarding the right to practice between Ontario and the State of New York, where Ms. Mulroney trained in law and worked, briefly, for the State Attorney’s office.
Mind you, it is hard to think kindly of the voters in York-Simcoe who voted for an elitist such as Mulroney. She and her husband bought a $2.5 million country estate in the electoral district after the sitting conservative MPP told her party she was not seeking re-election. It is a bit of a stretch to try to think of Mulroney’s $5.3 million-plus Forest Hill home in Toronto as a pied-à-terre. Though when you consider her children go to private schools, you wonder at her suitability to be a politician.
Now that she has seen Dougie in action as premier, one would also wonder if she has not been rekindling her ambition to be premier of Ontario. These interesting times we live in are fraught with possibilities.
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Copyright 2018 © Peter Lowry
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