WHOs ON FIRST? This election will be an Andrea Horwath/Tim Hudak waste of money if the legislature remains the same as before this Abbott and Costello duo otherwise known as Her Majestys Loyal Opposition in Ontario voted down the government. To make this election only slightly less than useless, we need to give one of the three leaders - all of whom have their strengths and weaknesses - a majority with which to govern. Lets leave Dalton McGuinty out of it for the moment and all of us vote for the future not the past. I am going to vote for the best person for the job, the one who shows up for every debate and isnt afraid of the voters, the one who I think is the smartest of the three, the one who shares my small L Ontario liberal values the most, and the one with the most proven record of getting shit down. As a LIBERAL who was ANGRY with Dalton McGuinty and was thinking of (quietly) voting for another party to keep my party honest, after meeting Kathleen Wynne and seeing her on the job, I have to vote for the best person for the job. Lets look at Kathleen Wynne and look a look at the opposition. If you still blame Kathleen Wynne for the former premiers mistakes, think about how things operate at your own work. Even if you accused, in private, your boss of lying or maleficence -what would happen to you? Remember Ministers of the Crown serve at the pleasure of the premier, they can be fired for farting too much. This is my perspective after having been lucky enough to have met many of the smartest and hardest working political figures figures in Stockholm, Kingston, Toronto and Ottawa of the past 25 years: Premier Wynne is as smart as any of these (Right) Honourables: These include Swedish PM Olaf Palme, PM Joe Clark, Minister Flora MacDonald, PM Brian Mulroney, Minister Kellie Leitch, Premier David Peterson, Premier Bob Rae, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, UN Ambassador Stephen Lewis, PM Paul Martin, Ambassador Peter Hancock, Canadian Viceroy Adrienne Clarkson, Deputy Premier George Smitherman, Deputy PM Sheila Copps, Premier Michael Harris, losing leader Michael Ignateff, Mayor Marion Dewar, MP Paul Dewar, Councillor Kyle Rae, Mayor Barbara Hall, High Commission to the Court of St James & Attorney General Roy McMurtry, AG Ian Scott, Minister John Wise of Elgin County, Premier Bill Davis or Leader John Tory et al. She is as a good a strategic thinker as the best political operatives I know - the late J Dewey Vallee, Ian Davey, Jaime Watt, Bob Richardson, Alex Munter Gerry Caplan Tom Arnold Catherine Davey Bruce M. Hicks Leo Teatero Leo Elias Michael OByrne Gabriel Elias or the late Senator Keith Davey. She is one of the most charming person I have met political life since Mila Mulroney - when talking either of them, you feel like you are the only person in the room. Back in my waitering days, it was no guarantee that a VIP would even acknowledge your existence but Mrs. Muroney was the favourite of all of the staff. Mr Hudak - not so charming. Ms Horwath - not sharpest knife in drawer. These are serious times and we need a serious person running the place - and a person who is not so charmless that when he enters the room, the temperature drops by five degrees. Even if sharp as a whip, people who dont work well with others NEVER do well in politics, except by utilizing fear. Politics is the art of the possible, not the perfect. If you cant build a consensus, you cant run food truck, let a lone Ontario. Although I know she must be smarter than I, Ms Horwath is simply out of her depth. She reminds me a lot of former NDP leader Audrey McLaughlin, whose office I interned in after Queens. Audrey was a really lovely person but not a first class mind. Before the haters jump, I have been accused before of not suffering fools lightly, but in my defense, I know and adore a lot of people who would not consider thinking one of their strengths. Just as you wouldnt want someone like me as suicide counselor or care giver - just not in my DNA - we dont want political leaders who have trouble with complex ideas. Tim Hudak could be the smartest kid is in the class, but I just dont trust his promises. He says he can CUT the JOBS of 100,000 and CREATE one million jobs at the same time. If you believe that, please VOTE for TIM HUDAK. If you can prove he can do it without cutting vital programs - I will vote for him. Tim must be the best and brightest of all of us if he can fire teachers, nurses, police, ambulance drivers, food inspector, bridge and road builders, subway and bus drivers, prosecuting crown attorneys, AIDS researchers, hospice workers and other valuable local and provincial civil servants who provide the services that most of us need and still create 1 million jobs. Maybe Mrs Hudak is an expert in the dark art of magic, maybe he will be our first wizard slash premier? Wouldnt that be fun? I hope he wears a cape? I am dying for capes to come back for men. Harry Potter for Premier should be his slogan! I have tried to get my head around the math on this one and I just cant - sounds like voodoo economics to me. At best it is the extreme right wing Dick Cheney/Ronald Reagan trickle down approach - the please let us rich folks get even richer so we can take care of the middle class and the poor paternalism - or at worst a political shell game. I hope leader Hudak isnt trying to distract us with a fake million job promise while with the other hand desecrating our civil society. Ontario premiers from Liberals Mitch Hepburn, Harry Nixon and David Peterson to Progressive Conservatives like Leslie Frost, John Robarts and Bill Davis and the NDPs Bob Rae have all worked, since the Great Depression of the 1930s to build a fair and just Ontario, that is our legacy. That is what the world admires about us the most. Come on Friends, lets make history with Kathleen - first open and proud elected LBGT premier in Canada. Feminist Tory friends, she will also be our provinces first woman elected as premier. Kathleen Wynnes election will make Ontario the biggest jurisdiction globally to elect an openly gay woman. So please consider your Liberal candidates on June 12th and letss all make history together. If you want to make a comment about my essay, you can do so here or go to my website, https://david-vallee.squarespace/blog/ Just click on the comments section tgam.ca/ECeW
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 20:44:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015