Second-Rate Province to Re-Elect Second-Rate Premier
October 5, 2007 · By Aaron Unruh
And why we should care:
Indeed, it is arguable that the entire country, not just Ontario, has a stake in the Oct. 10 election. As one Canadian writer put it in a very fine column about Mr. Tory this week, Mr. Tory’s archetype is former Ontario premier Bill Davis, “the ultimate consensus politician, who presided at a time when Ontario had more stature in Confederation than it does now.” Given the manner in which premiers’ meetings have descended into unsightly orgies of interprovincial money-grubbing in recent years, it would be nice to see Canada’s largest province put forward a leader who could draw these squabbling men into something like common purpose. It is hard to imagine anyone in this country better able to do that than John Tory.
John Tory is undoubtedly the better man and I’ll be voting for him on Wednesday. But it’s also true that Tory’s undoing was his choice to repeat his old boss Bill Davis’s mistake of extending public funding to more religious schools. It was a logically consistent and courageous stand to take (compare and contrast with McGuinty), but it was bad politics. Tory made his own policy the central issue of the campaign when it should have been McGuinty’s record. A real missed opportunity.
Second rate province? You flatter us.
Wait til the next equalization talks. Brian Tobin has nothing on Dalton McGuinty!
Get ready, ROC. You’re going to pay!
Bwha-ha-ha!!!
Ha ha, nice headline. Shame Tory screwed it all up so badly; re-electing corrupt and lying politicians is bad, bad, bad news. I’m a bit taken aback that Ontario is dumb enough to take McGuinty back on.
I remain hopeful that the polls are wrong. Unfortunately Ontario voters have proven themselves pretty stupid more than once…
Bob Rae as Premier.
Jean Chretien sweeping most if not all the Federal seats.
I have to agree with some of the other commenters here. Tory has no one to blame for himself. Which makes me wonder about your contention that he has the political skills to bring provincial leaders together for a common purpose.
[...] that the second-rate election has been pretty much decided, it’s time to begin looking to the entertainment value of the [...]