By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON October 7, 2011 – We said at the beginning of this election that for the Liberals to win the Tory voters had to sit on their hands and some of the New Democrats had to hold their noses and vote Liberal. Neither of those things happened in Burlington and the city is basically where it was when this all started – a women representing the riding who is younger than the one we have and in need of a mentor to show her the way around the Legislature.
The Lady Jane is on her own now – even though there are people who know Queen`s Park exceptionally well, who talk of mentoring Jane McKenna, she would be wise to seek her own counsel an not let any of those who have been that route take her under their wing.
It was our view that McKenna was woefully unqualified for the job she now has, but she is the member for Burlington and we accept the will of the voters.
McKenna could of course make a name for herself and change the course of history in Ontario by giving Dalton McGuinty a call and crossing the floor of the Legislature to sit as a Liberal. The party would be grateful and groom her as a parliamentary secretary and promise that if she could learn that job she would be made a junior cabinet minister in a couple of years.
The Legislature needs to elect a Speaker. The Liberals just have to sit tight and not put up any candidates and let the other parties fight it out for the job. The Speaker doesn`t vote – except in a tie vote but if The Lady Jane crosses the floor there will never be any tie votes. McGuinty would have the government he needs to run the province the way it needs to be run for four more years.
Laura Secord, who came from a part of the province just to the west of Burlington, and look at what she did for the province ? Possibilities here Jane. Think about it.
Assuming you do cross the floor, you would do so on the condition that McGuinty give you an unconditional guarantee that the hospital will be funded – do that and you`ll have the seat until you are well into your eighties. You might manage to beat Hazel McCallion`s record for political longevity.
Give Regional Chair Gary Carr a call, he was once the Speaker at Queen’s Park, – he`ll tell you what you have to do to cross the floor. He`ll forgive you changing your political colours if you get the hospital for Burlington. While you`re at it – ensure as well that roads don`t get built through the Escarpment – and gosh they just might put up a statue of you somewhere in Spencer Smith Park.
We are looking at a possible Great Moments in Ontario history here Lady Jane.
Minority governments have worked for Ontario before and with a strong enough Liberal government in place to put up a good Cabinet things will go well for the province. Ted McMeekin may well get a phone call from the Office of the Premier and be asked to return to Cabinet now that Sophia Aggelonitis is no longer a member of the Legislature. She took a real drubbing whereas Ted McMeekin did just fine up against a very popular public personality.
The Liberal government of course does have a situation on its hands. It didn`t quite have a majority when things settled down for the evening and everyone went home. There might be some recounts, there might be a seat that slips from one side to the other but that isn`t something the Liberals want to count on.
Ted Chudleigh, representing the northern part of the city is going to have to cultivate his soil a little more attentively – don`t think he expect Indira Naidoo-Harris to do quite as well as she did. Chudleigh is an old hand at the game and if he polishes the apples a little more and delivers something for his riding he should be all right next time around.
Redistribution, which will be in place for the next federal election and if this new Ontario government can stay alive for a four year term that redistribution will apply to the province – so both Halton and Burlington will see changes in their boundaries for the next election.
And that next time could be sooner than we want. If we end up with a minority government its days will be numbered. We have a very spunky leader of the New Democratic Party in place and she is going to make Tim Hudak, who will be Leader of the Opposition, wonder at times if he really has that job. Andrea Horwath has found her mojo and she won`t be doing any backing down.
Tim Hudak has some serious re-thinking to do on some of the positions he took during the election. Ontario has a number of very serious financial problems to deal with. This is not the time for the Opposition to be obstructionist.
But it could be the time for a woman who does have one very strong personality trait going for her – the woman has chutzpah – this is time to let it really work for you, for the city and the province Jane McKenna.
