McGuinty all rhetoric on abortion, or how does an avowed Roman Catholic maintain any credibility on feminist issues?

The recent turn by Ontario Liberals to dredge up the abortion issue is quite fascinating. Is it out of sheer desperation to change the channel? Is it a suicide pact?  A vain attempt to hold on to "progressives" they've manage to fool in the past?

Although McGuinty has done little of the talking, how could one fail to see the glaring contradiction in an avowed Roman Catholic posturing as a feminist? So speaking of "choice", it seems to me a serious feminist Roman Catholic would have only two choices vis a vis this horribly stratified and perverse expression of Christianity, one which has been unfailingly misogynist and conservative.

Choice one: Claim Roman Catholicism but work tirelessly to reform it from within. As a "progressive" Christian, I have often asked some of my female RC friends how they find it possible to remain within such an oppressive, hierarchical structure, particularly an institution from which they are barred "full membership" (not having a right to ordination or to fully preside over the sacraments is not being able to be a full member.) A very compelling response from some of these friends has been 1) I stay because it is part of my story and I want to help change it into the institution is should be. 2) I stay because without me to show love and support, it would be an even worse place for women and the LGBT communities.

Choice two: Walk across the street to any number of truly progressive expressions of Christianity, such as that eminently Canadian institution, the United Church of Canada.

Thus, I'm only being a little facetious when I ask how can McGuinty confidently claim credibility on the "progressive" file, especially the feminist file?

Ontario Liberals are NOT nice, they are "nefarious" (Part II)

As someone who takes language very seriously, I thought I should defend my use of the term nefarious to describe this Liberal government. This government was not only largely ineffectual. Worse, it was recklessly arrogant, unscrupulous, dishonest, and at times utterly reprehensible. This government was elected to bring in sweeping change. It was given, under the current electoral system, what amounted to absolute power at Queen's Park and it was accompanied, for the most part, by a very buoyant and robust economy. Moreover, the overwhelming majority with which this government was entrusted only led to the most acrimonious and inhospitable parliament I've witnessed. Queen's Park was permeated with a sense of entitlement and arrogance that only absolute power can create. Question period has become a complete circus (those who argue against MMP because it would undermine the consensus that happens under First Past the Post should recognize that currently we have the most divisive and pettily partisan legislatures imaginable).

And when we look back at this government's record we see that little has changed in four years and we see a government that even in the twilight of its mandate continues to refuse to take responsibility and to be accountable for its failure to deliver. Since, it cannot stand on its record, this government must repeatedly attack, fear monger, and blame previous governments. For all of this, McGuinty's Liberals should not be rewarded .

So let's begin...

Least on my list of reprehensible actions taken by McGuinty is the fact of his having "broken promises". And for me, the worst broken promise was the failure to close down coal-fuelled power generating plants, most notably Nanticoke. It was disingenuous to promise to close down those plants. Even worse, it was irresponsible to wait until the election year to begin to show signs of being interested in energy conservation and renewable energy. And now, all this government has in store for us is massive investment in nuclear energy. As sad as it is, the air quality today in Ontario would have been better had the Conservatives remained in power, since at the very least it is likely they would have added scrubbers to those plants, plants which will be open for at least another seven years.

On the subject of McGuinty's breaking his pledge not to raise taxes. I've posted some thoughts on the health "levy". I'll simply add that far worse than increasing my taxes, was the regressive type of tax he imposed and that McGuinty expected me to believe that he was caught completely unawares by the deficit left to him by the Conservatives. Again, it was not his breaking of the promise in itself but his contempt for the intelligence of the electorate by promising it in the first place.

Moving on, I also find it insulting when McGuinty attempts to sell the party as anything other than a brokerage party, one that has replaced any kind of ideological core with opportunism and a win at all costs mentality. We are to believe that Liberals are an alternative to fear mongering, nasty Conservatives. Liberals, by contrast, are nice and friendly and McGuinty stands for principles like fairness and accountability. Quite the contrary. This is a party that hires henchmen like Kinsella to shape its strategy and spin its misinformation. It is a party committed to negative campaigning, often negative campaigning in the extreme. I need only point to last year's by-election in Parkdale High Park and the malicious attacks on MPP Cheri DiNovo. See here, here, and here.

If this weren't enough, where the Ontario Liberals, in my mind, become even more contemptible is in their feigning concern for poverty, for ethnic and new Canadians and, even for democracy itself. We all know this is a brokerage party that is ultimately beholden to the rich. Not surprisingly, then, the Liberal government's record on tackling poverty, whether we're talking child poverty, affordable housing, minimum wage, or the "poverty budget", is deceptive and appalling. SlushGate was not only an affront to transparency and accountability, but also a manipulation of ethnic Canadians. Similarly, can we see this government's initiatives for democratic renewal, most notably, its actions around the referendum on electoral reform, as anything but a pretense to democracy?

Lastly, there were in particular two incidents which I consider especially egregious. First, diverting millions of dollars in legal fees to fight parents of autistic children. This was quite widely reported.

Second, and something very few people are even aware of, this government had the audacity to manipulate virtually every firefighter in this province into thinking that it is the Ontario Liberals to whom they should be grateful for having easier access to compensation for job related diseases. In a very carefully staged performance and with great fanfare, the Ontario Liberals paraded firefighters into the legislature to announce the legislation they were about to introduce. With shameless gall, the Liberals quickly escorted the firefighters out before the opposition could speak to the bill, for had they stayed any longer they would have discovered that it is to the tireless efforts of Andrea Horwath that they truly owe their gratitude.

That Andrea Horwath wasn't given the least bit of credit from the Ontario Liberals was one of the most callous and self-serving moments I've witnessed in politics. Many firefighters will vote for the Ontario Liberals on Oct. 10 and few of them will know how they were completely hoodwinked by the government they're supporting.

McGuinty defends record on child poverty: Pllleeaase!

Ontario Liberals' record on poverty has been appalling. Period. Made worse still by their attempts to deceive the public that they have made any significant progress in this area. Most recently, McGuinty has defended his record on child poverty as "real" progress. Bullshit! A Conservative with a poverty agenda is contradictory. A Liberal with a poverty agenda is pure artifice and ruse.

Of all the back pedaling and broken promises of this government, McGuinty's refusal to end the clawback of the national child supplement is among the most egregious. In 2003, McGuinty ran on ending what he argued was a wrong and unjust clawback. Yet, when he became Premier, he refused to stop taking away $1500 per year away from the poorest children in the province. For four years, the Ontario Liberals have continued to rob the poorest children in this province of $1500 earmarked for them. And we know child poverty is only getting worse.

In this year's budget McGuinty announced with great fanfare that his government was finally phasing out the clawback and phasing in a child benefit over five years. The child benefit for this year was a paltry $250, and if I recall, one of the remarks around Queen's Park was that the announced child benefit was less than the cost of the shoes worn by Greg Sorbara when he made the announcement. Regrettably, the clawback has not ended and we'll have to re-elect this government if we want to see it eventually phased out in the next few years. I'm sorry, this is not a record on which to stand. McGuinty ran in 2003 to end the clawback, and he might as well be running on it again because shamefully he's yet to end clawing back money set aside for needy families.

McGuinty, petty opportunist??? Say it isn't so!

When the Ontario Liberals latched like hounds onto the Highway of Heroes idea, especially given that they were in the midst of a vote buying spending spree, who could fail to see the wanton opportunism? The worst part was that it ultimately diminishes what was wonderfully a grassroots and spontaneous show of support for our fallen soldiers. This is one of the best articles I've read on the subject.

McGuinty, an about-face??? Say it isn't so!

I still think the issue of faith based school funding is threatening to overshadow many other key issues in this election. I'd rather have a functional educational system before engaging in the question of how to dismantle and reconfigure it. Nonetheless, it's clear, as it must have been to John Tory's pollsters, that this issue may gain some traction in the 905. Interesting that Dalton McGuinty is now severely attacking faith based funding as segregationist, a proposal he not that long ago seemed open to.  

As if we needed polls to confirm Ontario Liberals are slipping

I've long criticized the Ontario Liberal Party for being unscrupulous, unprincipled, and inconsistent. This den of thieves was among the most ungracious, incompetent, and nefarious governments I've seen. A full mandate with unlimited power and nothing to show for it; except, of course, for broken promises and being ensnared in compromising and embarrassing scandal after scandal. Only makes you wonder what this government successfully covered up. Actually to be fair, a couple of days ago, this government did conveniently conjure up a hefty 2 billion dollar surplus. Great! Now we might finally adequately fund the Ontario Cricket Association.

What does a government do when it hasn't any coherent vision or principles?

It runs entirely on polling.

Why?

Because its only concern is re-election.

This is also the reason that none of us should be surprised at the recent turn to American style negative campaigning exhibited by the Ontario Liberals. Liberals are down 10-12% in Parkdale High Park by-election last fall with less than two weeks to go. What did they do?

Smear the leading candidate with some of the cheapest shots I've seen in politics. And not to be forgotten is that this was sanctioned by Premier McGuinty himself who dismissed it as the byproduct of a close political race. Worse still, Liberal hacks like Jason Cherniak and Liberal strategists like Warren Kinsella continue to operate under the assumption that dirty and sordid politics are effective. They actually took credit for minutely narrowing the gap in that by-election. Or more precious still, claimed that they were really the ones smeared in that campaign (as Cherniak did) and quibbled about how better to implement their fear mongering and negative tactics in the future.

Likewise, none of us should be surprised at Kinsella's choice to completely ignore the issues for the coming provincial election. His focus instead is on branding Tory as a clone of the evil Mike Harris and someone who personally advocates the views of crazy conservatives like Randy Hillier. Similarly when it comes to critiquing the NDP, Kinsella opts for hurling scurrilous charges of anti-Semitism at an NDP strategist and the NDP generally.

The last couple of weeks for the Ontario Liberal government have been marked by vote buying funding announcements (as if this government has any credibility remaining where its promises are concerned) and the talking out of both sides of its mouth (last week the city of Toronto told to get lost, today this government pledges to honour its 2003 promise to upload some of the download to help out cities). With this kind of electioneering, is there anyone who suspects that the Liberals were not already well aware that they were slipping in the polls?????

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Update:

Cherniak's gushing over the surplus announced by the Ontario Liberals. He's a big fan of surplus budgeting. Of course he is, he's a Liberal. We all know how Liberals love surplus funds, especially year end funds which they can dole out to friends with no accounting controls, no paper trails, no accountability, only the hope the benefactors might remember their generosity come election time.

What's that sound that kept me awake all night? Oh yeah, it was Cricket! Cricket! Cricket!

By the way, Cherniak ridicules Howard Hampton's response to the "surprise" announcement of a surplus. I rather think Mr. Hampton has assessed the situation quite accurately. The Liberals are bribing Ontarians with their own tax dollars. According to Mr. Hampton:

“Across Ontario, people are waiting. Families are waiting in emergency rooms for the health care they need. The seniors who built this province are waiting for property tax relief that will let them stay in their homes. Children with autism are languishing on waiting lists for the care they need."

“All these people are waiting because Dalton McGuinty has turned his back on today’s working families. He said he would deliver change but hasn’t come through. He broke his promises."

“Today, I was deeply troubled to learn why Mr. McGuinty is making people wait. He did it so he could try to bribe people with their own money before an election. For four long years, Mr. McGuinty deliberately misled Ontario families about the province’s finances so he could use our tax dollars to finance a pre-election vote-buying spree."

“Mr. McGuinty got it wrong. New Democrats will make it right. We will deliver a fair deal for today’s working families. Instead of wasting your money on MPP pay raises, slush fund handouts and pre-election vote-buying sprees, we’ll deliver balanced budgets, fair taxes and investments that make a difference for people, like the fair deal for municipalities we announced this week that will mean lower property taxes, a two-year transit fare freeze and an end to service cuts.”

Ontario Liberals spend millions avoiding treating children with autism

I don't know what's worse. That another McGuinty broken promise has miserably failed children with autism in Ontario or that this government chose to go to court to attempt to deny the public from knowing how many millions of dollars it spent fighting a lawsuit seeking that this government provide the treatment it promised.
What's worse the cold indifference of this government or its arrogance and smugness? You decide.
I do know Shelley Martel was one of the truly bright lights in women's politics in this country and she will be dearly missed by all who value dedication, dignity and integrity in politics.

Kinsella's Feeble Defence of McGuinty

Reading Warren Kinsella’s defence of the McGuinty government is much like watching Tie Domi skate and stickhandle at the same time. It’s awkward, unnatural and quite hilarious. No wonder Kinsella has resorted to being a goon in his political punditry. Now, arguably every team needs a mindless thug like Kinsella, but only as long as he sticks to being a mindless thug. Otherwise he becomes a detriment to the cause, and thankfully Kinsella seems only too happy to oblige. This is a pitiful defence of McGuinty. About the only thing Kinsella got right was that it will be a tight race.

In his “musings”, Kinsella argues that “Dalton McGuinty is going to be re-elected in Ontario because he most resembles the people who live and work here. And because, at the end of the day, they like him and the job he’s doing.” Essentially, McGuinty is an unassuming, modest, ordinary, Tim Horton coffee drinking, nice guy that resonates with the average Ontarian. Perhaps if McGuinty finds himself out of work in the fall, he’ll begin to resemble Ontarians. But until then give me a break!

McGuinty is leader of one of the most nefarious, arrogant and smug governments I’ve witnessed. He’s vain and ruthlessly competitive. This is the Premier who not only didn’t reprimand the office of the Minister of Government Services (Gerry Phillips) for using tax payers’ money to run a smear campaign against MPP Cheri DiNovo, but he, in fact, publicly endorsed it.

Ordinary, regular Canadian? Uh, don’t think so. McGuinty grew up in a wealthy neighbourhood, son of a professor and politician and nurse. He was raised in pretty privileged circumstances, became a lawyer… Even if he dons a hockey jersey from time to time, McGuinty is certainly no everyman, but in typical unprincipled Liberal fashion tries to be everything to everyone, and in the process ends up being no one. This Premier is renowned for his useless photo-ops (recently with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bo Derek), jet setting around the province in government planes, doling out slush funds to buy back the immigrant vote, and smugly refusing to be held accountable or responsible for anything.

According to Kinsella, the secret to McGuinty’s success: “Undersell what you’re doing, then overperform.” This was the howler in the piece. Nothing could be further from the truth with this government. First, this government has gone back so often on its word that no one knows what it’s selling. It's got some ideas over here and if you don't like those, it has some other ones over there.

But more reprehensible and shameful is that for four years Ontarians had a government with virtually unlimited power in a favourable economy which could have made a real positive difference, but instead did nothing but blame the previous governments and ask for our patience. The Liberals were quite prepared to ram through things that favoured themselves or their friends, like a 31% pay raise or a $40 billion nuclear power project, but they were missing in action on poverty, on housing, on the environment, and on education- even though to hear them tell it it’s completely another story. Fact is, this government not only didn’t overperform, it didn’t perform at all.

Even if the Liberal government didn’t have such a sterling record, Kinsella maintains that at least this Ontario is not the same Ontario we had under Conservative governments and that the status quo will be enough for Ontarians. “You hear that? That’s the sound of social peace. No rioting at Queen’s Park. No people being shot to death for protesting in a provincial park. No welfare Moms being left to die alone in sweltering apartments. Jobs are up, unemployment is down, people feel good.”

When did Kinsella go on prozac? The environment desperately needs to be aggressively addressed, even if as some have said it's too late. This province is on the precipice of a major economic catastrophe, it’s manufacturing sector is disappearing and in its stead has appeared some precarious, casual employment (McGuinty loves to tout the jobs he’s created, but fails to point out that most of those hardly qualify as jobs. They are low paying, temporary, dead end, without benefits…). The poverty and lack of affordable housing in this province is appalling. I’m not sure that people are feeling that good. I see a lot of trepidation and nervousness from homeowners with new mortgages worried about property taxes and interest rates to the working poor, many of whom work several jobs and still can’t make ends meet.

Again, at what point does a government become responsible for its own mandate? Taking shots at the previous Conservative governments might be acceptable early in a mandate, but at the end of that mandate if that government can still only pass on the blame, it should not be rewarded with another term. Period!

Even "Doublespeak" from Premier Won't Save Ontario Liberals

Thought I would untangle some of Dalton McGuinty's doublespeak and translate today's Star article where Dalton McGuinty declares full confidence in Ontario Liberals as Ontario heads towards a fall provincial election.

Actually it begins right there with the word "confidence". The Ontario Liberals have had a disastrous year running up to the election marked by key by-election losses, scandals like LottoGate and SlushGate, lingering criticism over failure to be transparent and accountable, and on and on. From the HydroOne to the Children’s Aid Society fiasco through to ramming through a $40 billion mega nuclear power plant without environmental assessment. Then there's the whole 31% pay raise passed in eight days while selling out the working poor of this province. In fact one of the finest examples of doublespeak this year was Sorbara's calling the 2007 Budget a "poverty" budget.

Fact is the Ontario Liberals are on a sinking ship. Everything that could go wrong has been going wrong, including the woeful irony in which one day following our environment Minister's assurance that the Liberals are doing everything they can regarding lead contamination in Ontario's drinking water, unacceptable levels of lead surface at Queen's Park itself. Just watching the government's behaviour and body language in the Legislature signals that rather than confident, this band of thugs is shaken, resentful and full of trepidation. Even a cursory look at recent polls suggests the Ontario Liberals have very good reason to be worried.

Other examples of Dalton doublespeak:

"In some ways, you might argue that we're victims of our own managerial competence."

Translation: Our managerial arrogance and incompetence, our lack of transparency, and our unwillingness to be accountable as promised and displayed in the management of HydroOne, the Children’s Aid Society, OLG, year end slush funds, needless and extravagant expenditures like Dalton's hollywood style flying habits or spending millions to change the trillium logo across the province will lead to the demise of this government.

"[Liberals’] determination to call upon the best in all Ontarians, to bring them together and to overcome our challenges together… Nobody knows better how to bring people together and call upon what I call that spark of nobility that's found in people."

Translation: Through divisive negative campaigning, dirty electioneering, and running what the media described as some of the worst smear campaigns (notably Parkdale-High Park by-election last Fall which Dalton publicly endorsed), or more briefly, through intimidation and slush funds, the Liberals will prey on Ontarians worst fears and corruptibility to try to form another government.

McGuinty Goes Hollywood

Yesterday, through Freedom of Information, the Hamilton Spectator reported on the extravagant and misleading use of government planes by Premier McGuinty and members of his government. Not surprising this dominated question period at Queen's Park. While this is problematic on many fronts (the frivolity and extravagance of the flights, environmental concerns given the Liberal Party's newfound passion for the environment, transparency to taxpayers...), at issue during question period was not necessarily the legitimacy of using the planes but one of disclosure and accountability.

It only seems reasonable and feasible that the logs from the premier's and cabinet ministers' flights be made openly public and not accessible only through the Freedom of Information Act. McGuinty kept insinuating that the information was available, but forcing the public to access it through the Freedom of Information Act is not in the best interest of government accountability. It was pretty clear the government did not want this information divulged.

But public tax treasury is being used and tax payers have a right to know how their money is being spent. Furthermore, if the government (now and in the future) knew that these logs would be open to public scrutiny, it might use the planes more prudently and not, for example, spend $10 000 flying to Hamilton when it likely would have been more expeditious to drive there. I think the opposition was making a very reasonable request, which not surprisingly was met once again with evasion ad stonewalling.

Libranos, McSquinty, and Furious George making a mockery of Politics

It had been a long time since I had spent an afternoon taking in Question Period from the Ontario Legislature gallery and a couple of days ago I did just that. What I witnessed was nothing short of appalling, scandalous, and disheartening. It was a travesty of civility and collegiality worthy of memorialization by the great Tolstoy himself. The legislature was being conducted by an arrogant, pretentious, and smug government, whose ungraciousness was overshadowed only by its buffoonery.

If it seems like I'm coming down overly harshly on the McGuinty government, there is good reason other than the fact that I don't support this government- yes I'm partisan, none of us isn't so, even if one is impossibly partisan to being unpartisan. There is no opting out of ideology ("you are doing it, but do not know it").

Regardless, in our system of government, it should be remembered that it is incumbent on the government to be gracious and dignified to the opposition. This is one way of curtailing the inherent danger in majoritarian government which Mill called "the tyranny of the majority". And contrary to what I recently heard at an all candidates debate, the opposition is integral to the accountability and responsibility of the government. When Sylvia Watson urged voters to support her because as a member of the prevailing government only she could be of consequence and accountable, she was being patently undemocratic.

Returning to my observations of the legislature. Questions addressed to the government were met with stark rudeness. Most of the time the Libranos didn't even feel compelled to pay attention to the questions being posed. They just carried on indifferently amongst themselves or they shouted down the questions like a pack of jackals- this was most often done by the inconsequential MPP's like Fonseca occupying the rump of the legislature. Alternatively, questions were indignantly deflected or bullishly addressed. Furious George (Smitherman) simply attacks anyone and anything that comes his way. He has the tact of a gorilla, while McSquinty simply pretends to listen to questions and then offers the stock response "trust us, it's complicated, it's the previous government's fault, we're working on it".

Although, I must admit that even I was shocked when he callously dismissed entertaining the reinstatement of a special dietary allowance for a person with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease). He mean spiritedly referred to the extant regulations and flippantly dismissed this poor guy's case (an abjectly poor man living with a grossly debilitating disease whose doctor recommended he supplement his diet with Ensure wholeheartedly ignored. That's appalling!)

OK. Admittedly, there is full complicity of all parties in this sordid and ungracious state of political comportment in contemporary politics. Although if truth be told, I did find the opposition and the third party to be much more well behaved. But so much more is at stake here.

We have here a Liberal government in the fourth year of its mandate. This government was entrusted by the public to mend a failing system. It was given an overwhelming majority and enjoyed a favourable economic climate with which to keep its promises. At what point does this government begin to see itself as responsible? How long can it keep blaming previous governments? In the last year of its mandate, at least in the last year of forming a majority government, the McGuinty Liberals have done little more than break promises, offering up as consolation that it's not their fault, that we need trust them, that they are working on it.... At what point do we hold this government accountable?

Worse yet, they have instead used their majority status to turn our legislature into an inhospitable and uncivil arena of political debate. Our legislature is being run by a government of self-righteous, ungracious and incompetent thugs who have rightly earned the name the Libranos. And I am disheartened, not only regarding the future of politics in this country but also because I too am infected by this contagion and reduced to the same name calling and irreverence that I deplore.

How do we restore basic dignity and ethicality to politics? Perhaps by avowing that this is an important question in the first place.

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Update:
Yet another new bottom reached by the Libranos: Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci during question period earlier this week charges that "Conservatives abuse children." This is followed by half-hearted apology where not for a second does he acknowledge the grievousness of his indiscretion, but does find time to wish his mother a happy birthday. The Liberals' sense of entitlement is revolting. And just when I thought this government couldn't sink to lower depths of callousness and crassness following Ontario Energy Minister's, Dwight Duncan's, suggestion that folks relying on hydro for warmth this winter should just turn down their thermostats, get a nice bottle of red wine, and cuddle up under a warm blanket with someone they care about.