Dalton McGuinty Resigns

What else would I write about this week? Dalton McGuinty resigned. In today’s column I offer my perspective on this most recent development in the politics of Ontario. 

Whether you like or dislike McGuinty it would be a mistake to under-estimate his abilities as a politician. He won two majority governments and came within a whisker of realizing a third mandate. The point I am trying to make is that his resignation is a calculated, intelligent political move. It is a desperate move to save his party. 

Much has been made about McGuinty’s decision to prorogue the legislature. Of the 132 bills tabled during this 40^th legislative assembly started on November 22/2011, 109 have died. This is very unfortunate. For example, the Ambulance Amendment Act introduced to prevent a reoccurrence of the Orange scandal is gone. A valid point is how is democracy best served by having our elected representatives not in the legislature? 

While I disagree with the prorogue of the legislature I understand why the Premier took this course. I also believe there may be a significant benefit to Ontarians by not having any government sitting in Toronto. The Liberals are getting hammered on a daily basis (justifiably so) in the legislature. I am not going to list the specific problems for the Liberals. Information on this subject is available on an unrelenting daily basis. What did McGuinty have to lose with closing down the legislature? Remember that beside the death of 109 bills, the nine permanent standing committees are gone. The daily attacks on the Liberals have ended. The contempt motion against cabinet minister Bentley (cancelled power plants Oakville and Mississauga) is eliminated. Only 50% of Ontarians exercised their right to vote. Dalton McGuinty believed the benefits of a prorogued legislature outweighed the negative publicity. I believe he made the right choice. 

I mentioned the possibility of Ontarians benefiting by not having any politicians sitting in the house in Toronto. I agree and disagree with unions (depending on the situation) on a continuous basis. It is safe to say labour relations between the Liberals and the public sector unions are very poor. This is not a wage freeze issue. I work in the public sector and I have yet to speak with any union member that does not support or believe that a wage freeze is necessary. You cannot arbitrarily eliminate collective bargaining. The Ontario legislature will not be in session for the next 4 -6 months. It will be replaced by a Liberal leadership race. I predict that several of the Liberal candidates are going to advocate for a different labour course than the one pursued presently by Dalton McGuinty. There has been rampart speculation in the press for the last two days about private meetings between different public unions and senior Liberal officials. 

David Orazietti issued a press release on the resignation of McGuinty. The statement that I found most interesting was as follows. David stated “on a personal note, we’ve accomplished much in Sault Ste Marie in the last nine years”. To me this statement indicates the future approach David is going to adopt when he runs for re-election. In the past locally the Liberal Party has always stressed the advantages of having a member of the party in power. This is a personal opinion, but the Liberal brand recently has been associated with large deficits, scandals etc. Actually, the main strength of the Liberal Party lately depends on the public’s dislike of the Conservative leader and/or distrust of the NDP. David Orazietti’s future success will be best served on his past accomplishments and his daily efforts for this community. 

As stated above, Dalton McGuinty is a smart politician. He knows his career as Premier has run its course. I read an article comment somewhere on the internet that went as followings: 

“Moving a couple of power plants for votes……

$700 million and counting.

Not seeing Dalton’s mug in a classroom photo-op anymore…..

Priceless.” 

I believe the above example captures the electorate’s attitude towards the Premier. I personally don’t agree with the suspension of the Legislature. Politicians get paid big bucks to face the “music”. 

As I see it, Dalton McGuinty being an intelligent politician, did the smart thing for the Liberal Party by resigning and proroguing the Legislature. Please note I used the word “smart”. The right thing to do for the sake of democracy was to resume the Legislature. Then again, politicians never let such mundane things such as truth, facts, and doing the right thing interfere with personal political interests.

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