Tag Archives: Dalton McGuinty

COMMENT OF THE DAY: So, you’re saying McGuinty has the record, then?

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/03/18/amsterdam-prostitute-red-light-district-fokkens.html

Albeit somewhat overshadowed by Pope Benedict’s resignation, two legendary ladies also announced their retirement earlier this year.  Amsterdam’s oldest practitioners of the world’s oldest profession, twin sisters Louise and Martine Fokkens (I kid you not—their family name’s clearly befitting of their chosen field!) are both calling it a night at the age of 70.  Let’s just say that after 50 years in the business, they’ve probably seen more penises than a prostate surgeon (which has to be the worst job ever).  One CBC commenter has done the math, and let’s just say they’ve had more sex in a day than Lemmy has in a week:

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Well, Dalton McGuinty has screwed over almost 13 million people in less than 10 years, so I guess he wins. ;)

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: So, an NDP MP crosses over to the Bloc… and it’s all the Liberals’ fault! Blame McGuinty!!!

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/harper-slams-ndp-after-claude-patry-crosses-floor-to-join-bloc-quebecois-1.1175707

Claude Patry made waves in the House of Commons by switching sides today, announcing that he’s always voted in favour of Quebec independence and that the Bloc Quebecois would better suit his ideals.  Reactions ranged from “He’s a traitor to Canada” to “There should be a by-election” to, well, this guy, who took the opportunity to take shots at Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals.  Come again now?

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Furthermore, even if the OQLF was entirely composed of card-carrying PQ and Bloc members, saying they’re destroying democracy by asking a pasta place to change its menu from Italian to French might be a bit of a stretch…

Meet the new boss, same minority government as the old boss…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Although she’s yet to officially be sworn in as the 25th premier of Ontario, yesterday Kathleen Wynne “received the official nod to form government” (as per The Globe and Mail).  Once she dots the ceremonial i’s and crosses the official t’s, she’ll become, in one fell swoop, both the first female premier and the first homosexual premier in Ontario’s history.  Somewhere, George Smitherman just threw a hissy fit…

Of course, while she’s yet to assume official duties, the Toronto Star is already praising Wynne (surprise, surprise) with an editorial entitled “Unlike Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, Ontario’s future premier Kathleen Wynne is an adult.”  Could we expect any less from the newspaper whose secret slogan is “Rob Ford sucks more that a great big bag of blow jobs!”?  Of course, The Star are known Liberal supporters, too.  You could put a red tie on Bob Rae, and they’d be suddenly singing his praises.  Erm, case in point.

For a province with a recent history of putting up with its leaders past the breaking point, then promptly turfing them out of office (see Rae, Bob; Harris, Mike), the appointment of Wynne to the premiership smacks of an Alberta coronation.  Of course, in Canada’s economic engine, power changes hands through a PC leadership race, not a provincial election–and that’s exactly what happened here, only on the centre-left instead of the centre-right.  (Keep in mind Alberta also has a Regressive Conservative Party, aka Wildrose.)  I suppose it’s our punishment for not voting out McGuinty when we had the chance.  Instead, he gets to bow out, semi-gracefully, although his eventual obituary in the Toronto Sun will probably still spell his last name as McQuitty, heh heh.

Not that the official opposition parties offer much of an alternative, mind you.  Tim Hudak’s stump speeches are starting to sound like a beer vendor at the Rogers Centre, while any public appearances I’ve seen from Andrea Horwath make me think that her PR team really wants her to be Jack Layton.  Even in some zany alternate universe where the two sides join forces, the NDPC party might not unseat the Liberals.  Mind you, they would currently have one more seat in Queen’s Park under such an improbable scenario…

So, does this mean that the Libs are now Onatrio’s Natural Governing Party?  Well, perhaps until an inquiry is called into those cancelled power plants, that is.  One need look no further than Quebec, where Jean Charest’s nine-year reign come to a crashing halt after bringing in the Charbonneau Commission–although the student strike certainly played a factor as well.  But if Charest fell on his sword, losing his seat a la Ignatieff, McGuinty’s leap landed on a limp pool noodle.  But hey, it wasn’t even the first time an unpopular Ontario premier left someone else to clean up his mess.  As you may recall, Mike Harris didn’t finish out his last term, either.  (Ernie Eves?  He got beat in the next election like a rented boy at Boy George’s house–by McGuinty, no less!)

Then again, if we return to the McGuinty-Charest parallel, the next election would see the Liberals narrowly lose power… to a separatist entity.  Rathnelly Republican Party 2015!!!!

Sooo, it seems the rumours of Rob Ford’s demise have been slightly exaggerated…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

fordstillmayor

In case you haven’t heard the news–which means you must live in cave out in Oshawa, or something–Rob Ford is still The Mayor of This City.  Apparently, Ford won his appeal today based on a supposed technicality.  As per CTV News, Ford couldn’t be found in conflict of interest because City Council didn’t have the right to force him to repay that princely sum of $3,150 in the first place.  No, really.  “Given that the imposition of the financial sanction under Decision CC 52.1 was a nullity because Council did not have the jurisdiction to impose such a penalty, Mr. Ford had no pecuniary interest in the matter on which he voted at Council,” the appeal judges wrote.  Uh, alrighty then.

Mind you, most editorialists and experts I’ve read seem to agree that scrapping Ford over such a small sum seems rather silly.  Despite what the letter of the law might say, forcing a mayor out of office over less money than I make in a month would turn Toronto into the laughingstock of the country.  If Rob Ford hasn’t already succeeded in doing so, that is.  (One more year!  One more year–till the next election!)  Don’t get me wrong, he’s highly entertaining, but I can’t bring myself to take this guy seriously anymore.  Anyways, I’ve already covered this topic not so long ago…

Yes, I admit I voted for the guy, but I promise not to make the same mistake again.  Now, wouldn’t it be funny (and by funny I mean eerily surreal) if this Ontario Liberal leadership convention ended with Dalton McGuinty retaining his position, thanks to some bizarre court ruling?  Would any concerned citizens sue him?

On that note, Clayton Ruby and his client have vowed to take their fight to the Supreme Court.  I hope he’s working pro bono, or Paul Magder’s gonna hafta sell a lotta fur coats this winter…  Whoops, wrong Paul Magder.  But still, one could only hope the SCOC would have better things to do–like telling wealthy Quebeckers they don’t have to pay alimony to their unwed common-law partners.  If I ever decide to not marry the girl of my dreams, we’ll be moving to Quebec.

But hey, at the end of the day, demography carries the term.  After all, Rob Ford won the last election fair and square, so he has the right to fight until the next one.  What’s that, his campaign finance audit is due any day now?  Well, balance sheeeet!  This guy might not even need a second term to set the record for most lawsuits against a sitting mayor this side of Chicago.  (That’s 1,400 km south of Winnipeg, in case you didn’t know…)

What’s worse than Jean Charest, Dalton McGuinty and some young guy from PEI?

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Well, according to the Fraser Institute, that would be Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger’s fiscal policy.  In a report entitled Measuring the Fiscal Performance of Canada’s Premiers 2012, the right-wing think-tank gave Selinger the lowest grade of any sitting premier with the data available at the time—including the likes of McGuinty, Charest and former Alberta premier Ed Stelmach, who have all since resigned.  Sure, it’s partially a matter of partisanship; the Manitoba NDP leader’s policies clearly don’t jive with the conservative institute.  But nevertheless, some of the scores awarded to Selinger would leave me somewhat worried if I lived in our neighbouring province.

On Government Spending, where they note that “Premiers who increased spending faster than economic growth and the rate needed to compensate for inflation and population growth performed worse on this component than their counterparts,” Fraser gave Selinger a grade of 0.0 out of 100.  He did not fare much better on Tackling Debt and Deficits either, putting up a total of 12.7 points.  Of note, Stelmach, the former Progressive Conservative leader, didn’t fare well on spending either, with a score of just 28.6 points.  Hmm, is it any wonder he didn’t last in Wild Rose country?

Not surprisingly, the top-scoring provincial leaders were all right-leaning, though it’s worth noting that the podium of Newfoundland’s Kathy Dunderdale (71.4 points), New Brunswick’s David Alward (70.4) and B.C.’s Christy Clark (60.8), who finished fourth, just behind Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall, have all been on the job for less than two years.  And yes, the best anyone could do was just less than 72.

Alas, with Charest and McGuinty in the cellar, it seems that familiarity breeds contempt for Fraser, particularly towards Liberals.  On that note, it’s probably worth mentioning that Selinger’s been in power since ’09—but he was Manitoba’s Minister of Finance for a full decade beforehand.  No word as to whether his experience in that position was a factor, though…

FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY: Démissionnaire

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Démissionnaire: Someone who has renounced their functions and/or resigned from their position.

As seen in: « Les libéraux de l’Ontario choisiront la personne qui succédera au premier ministre démissionnaire Dalton McGuinty à la fin janvier. »

(Translation: “The Ontario Liberals will choose the person who’ll succeed resigned premier Dalton McGuinty at the end of January.”)

http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2012/10/20121021-230026.html

DOWN GOES DALTON!!! DOWN GOES DALTON!!!!

Posted by gruesomegreg on

What do Jean Charest and Dalton McGuinty have in common?  Well, for starters, neither is the leader of the Liberal Party anymore.  Charest at least did the (semi-)honourable thing, setting up a commission into the corruption, erm, construction industry, then calling an election whereby he lost his seat in the National Assembly while his party was narrowly forced out of power.  The fact that a handful of his cabinet ministers also chose to resign or not to contest this past election, well, anyone who’s been following the Charbonneau commission closely can start to see why…

But on the other hand, there was no indication that McGuinty would be stepping down when Ontarians went to the polls a little over a year ago.  Sure, many were hoping that he’d lose his grip on power and be forced to resign, but without any credible opposition (even some Toronto Sun readers wouldn’t vote for “Two-Faced Timmy” Hudak), he was only reduced to a minority government–and by one seat at that.  Thus, rather than an honourable discharge, this looks more like Premier Dad took his newly-banned hard ball and went home.  Say what you want about Stephen Harper (I don’t particularly like the guy, either), but he reigned over several successive minorities before finally obtaining his “strong, stable, national Conservative majority government.” *vomit*  McGuinty was swept into power with consecutive majority governments, and when he was finally faced with a situation where he actually had to compromise and work with the opposition, he called it quits after a year.

“And you play only when you control it…” goes the old Edwin song.  The next line?  “And you lie!”  Dalton might not have been the first dishonest politician in the province’s history, but he’s certainly gone a long way in contributing the cynicism and contempt I harbour towards provincial politics.  It never seemed to matter whether his campaign platform was even feasible; you kinda got the feeling that he wouldn’t deliver on half his policies anyways.  Or at least a bitter, jaded, never-voted-Liberal elector like me did.  If McGuinty was to put out an edgy alt-rock album, he could call it Liberal Promises.  What with the CanCon regs, he’d be bound to get at least a little airplay…

Sometime around the last election, I tried to sit down and think of Liberal policies that I could actually, truly thank McGuinty for.  The only one I could come up with?  Making Family Day an official provincial holiday in February.  Nevermind that we always took that day off in Alberta long before I came out here–heck, with the PD Days the teachers would take around that time, it usually turned into a five-day weekend!  Alas, most of Premier Dad’s notable achievements, it seems, were centred on children and education.

Now, I don’t have kids, and I didn’t go to school here–except for my post-secondary education, where I benefited *snicker* from some of the highest tuition fees in the country.  I ended up with a degree that hasn’t gotten me nearly as far in my career as overall intelligence, competence, and simply having the skills to pay the bills (being bilingual helps).  And long before the carrés rouges were marching in the streets of Montreal, a large number of Ontario students descended upon Queen’s Park to protest our much-higher tuition fees.  Whole lotta good that did–they’ve reportedly increased by a couple grand a year since I’ve graduated.  Thanks (for nothing), (Premier) Dad!

Of course, McGuinty’s early exit has led to a fair bit of speculation that he’s in the running for the federal Liberal leadership.  After all, the Grits need a credible candidate to prop up Justin Trudeau and his Legion of Zombies.  But if they think they’ll win back Ontario with Dalton on deck, well, they’re sadly mistaken.  He might be a shoe-in for Minister of Broken Promises, but such an ignominious exit from provincial politics makes for one faulty springboard to the PMO.  (Remember the viral video of that gymnast slamming face-first into a pommel horse?  Yeah, that’s kinda how I see it…)  It’s not every day that I agree with the National Post, but their Michael Den Tandt said it best in a piece entitled Nothing could kill the federal Liberals faster than picking McGuinty as leader: “Dalton McGuinty? Really? They may as well drive bamboo shoots under their fingernails and poke sharpened sticks in their eyes. McGuinty as leader would take the federal party off life support — and flatline it.”

After all, you don’t see Jean Charest running for the federal Liberal leadership, do you?

COMMENT OF THE DAY: If the Toronto Sun had its way, October 15th would become a provincial holiday!

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/15/dalton-mcguinty-stepping-down-as-liberal-leader

Dalton McGuinty shocked the province when he announced his surprise resignation as Ontario Premier last night, in the midst of political scandal and unpopular belt-tightening policies.  On the Toronto Sun’s comments section, where Premier Dad is about as well-liked as an abusive stepfather, there was certainly cause for celebration—a whopping 737 comments’ worth!  Here are just a few remarks from the McQuitty Day revelers:

(Wait, did that guy seriously suggest Rob Ford as the next Premier of Ontario!?  Yikes…)

COMMENT OF THE DAY: And where would you take those reconstructed testicles from?

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/01/us-doctors-grow-ear-on-cancer-patients-arm

A medical breakthrough was just made at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, where doctors were able to grow a new ear on the arm of a woman suffering from basal-cell carcinoma, which has prompted the pundits at the Toronto Sun to suggest some other reconstructive surgeries that would benefit a pair of Ontario politicians:

(I dunno guys, but I don’t think those organs just grow on trees—or arms, for that matter…)

COMMENT OF THE DAY: How do you say Premier Dad in German?

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/12/apology-demanded-for-tory-mpp-mcdonell-comparing-mcgunity-government-to-nazi-regime

Suffice to say, Toronto Sun readers don’t really like Dalton McGuinty.  In another recent Sun story on the provincial deficit, one foaming fellow referred to him exclusively as “Dim bulb Dumbcunt” and “Dalton the douche.”  And then there’s this:

Gee, kinda makes MPP Jim McDonell’s original statement seem rather tame by comparison, eh?