A mainstay of our parliamentary democracy in Canada is the tradition of question period. This is when the opposition parties have a chance to tackle the premier or prime minister and the cabinet to ask what is going on. Over the years we have seen premiers and prime ministers who enjoyed talking in this forum, some who hated it but only rarely one who did not show up.
It looks like Doug Ford does not like to debate. He seems to think he is above this approach to democracy. He just does not want to attend. We expect it is all because he does not want to be made to look stupid.
Many thought prime minister Stephen Harper had the best strategy on this because he often sent his parliamentary assistant to Question Period. There was one of these who would stand there and talk endlessly about something else but he had to be replaced when he went to jail for something else. There was another who broke down and cried and said he could not do it anymore. It’s a tough job.
But Dougie is different. He is more like the loquacious con man who is struck dumb when the judge gives him a chance to apologize for his misdeeds. His reasoning must be that if you do not know what to say, why say it?
I think what really annoys Dougie on this is that there would be no questioning of him about getting his friend Ron Taverner appointed head of the Ontario Provincial police, if he had not brought the legislature back into session to send the electrical generation people back to work. Maybe Dougie thinks he should be omnipotent.
Mind you, there are not too many Ontario voters eager to let Dougie have any more power. There is no telling how long that list is that he consults to see how much trouble he should cause each day. He is certainly not finished getting even with his old enemies at Toronto City Hall and cutting them down to size. And he is nowhere close to letting his builder friends pave over the Toronto Greenbelt. Dougie is a man with a plan.
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Copyright 2018 © Peter Lowry
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