By Pepper Parr
March 29, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Premier Wynne is going to take part in Ted McMeekin’ s nomination event in Hamilton on Sunday. Ted is the member for Ancaster – Dundas – Flamborough – Westdale who has served as the stand in for Burlington when we need some help at Queen’s Park.
Ted McMeekin, on the right, supports Karmel Sakran during the 2011 election. Sakran lost but McMeekin won and was returned to Cabinet when Wynne became Premier.
McMeekin has solid Burlington roots and one of those whose political pedigree goes all the way back to the days when Bobby Kennedy was running for office in the United States and McMeekin was one of the political junkies that did some of the door to door work to get him elected.
When Burlington was beavering away at getting the funding for the re-development of the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital – that’s what it was called then – McMeekin was the go to guy.
He wasn’t’ a Cabinet Minister then – Sophia Aggelonitus had that plum but she lost to a New Democrat in 2011. McMeekin however was always there for us.
Last week the MPP for Oakville, Kevin Flynn was made a Cabinet Minster and given the Labour portfolio which means Burlington is now bracketed by Cabinet ministers.
If you listen to the Burlington provincial Liberals they will tell you that Eleanor McMahon, the nominated candidate for the Liberals in the expected any day provincial election that she will become a member of Cabinet just as soon as she can get herself elected.
Eleanor McMahon, Lineal candidate for Burlington in the next provincial election. Will that be a spring election?
As accomplished as Eleanor McMahon is – and she has a very impressive resume (much better than Kevin Flynn’s) there is no way that Halton is going to have two MPP’s and with Ted McMeekin a stone’s throw away that would put a lot of Cabinet clout in our part of the world.
Not going to happen.
That will mean a bit of a change in the way the Eleanor McMahon does her door to door campaigning and morale will slip a bit once the reality of the Flynn appointment sets in.
The ironic part of all this is that it was the cancellation of a gas-fired energy plant in Oakville that is causing Premier Wynne so much grief. And that problem is not going to go away anywhere soon.
In September of 2009 the Ontario Power Authority accepted TransCanada’s bid to build a 900-megawatt natural gas-fired power generation plant in Oakville. Oct. 7, 2010 the Ontario government announced the cancellation of that power plant.
October 6, 2011 the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty hold on to their seat in Oakville.
Oct. 8, 2013, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk pegs cost of cancelling the Oakville gas plant at between $675 million and $815 million. Estimated total costs of cancelling both plants reaches the $1-billion mark.
Kathleen Wynne was a member of that government and sat at the Cabinet table – it is a stretch to say that she wasn’t fully aware. It will be a struggle for Wynne to continue to form the government. The budget that is scheduled for some time in the spring will tell the tale. If the Liberals can give the New Democrats what they will demand for their budget support, Kathleen Wynne will live another day and have time to re-build the close to decimated support the Liberal government once had.
Given enough time she has a chance – unless of course there is yet another scandal.
Meanwhile the Burlington Liberals press on with a good candidate in a tough situation.
Ms. McMahon may very well be a good candidate for the Liberals and appears to have the backing of the Editor here.
Getting elected may be a bigger hurdle than being “book ended” by a couple of other Cabinet Ministers. Its probably a little premature to be even thinking of Cabinet posts at this time.
It would be of value to find out what Ms. McMahon’s position is on a few things. I for one, would like to know her position on Ontario’s debt. That is a question that all constituents should be asking their MPP’s everywhere. Also, and because she running as a Liberal, her evaluation of Dalton McGuinty’s legacy would provide a worthwhile perspective.
The last wo paragraphs should have read:
We will never get accountable governements until people stop voting for a parity simeply “Because I am a (insert party here). I always vote (insert party here).”
Even if someone has a particular political leaning eventually you have to say “Anybody but my (insert party here), because they don’t have my support. One day they will again, but right now they don’t because of (insert scandals and or boondoggles here).”
The problem for McMahon is not that there are already two cabinet ministers on the bookends.
The problem is that she isn’t going to win.
And the cabinet won’t be red either. It may be blue or it may be orange. But it sure as heck isn’t going to be red.
And if Horvath props up this government at budget time then her time in the sun as opposition leader has to come to an end too.
How long can we go on with this scandal/boondoggle riddled government?
Mr. Parr, I am glad you have acknowledged the gas plant scandal, albeit a brief discussion.
But what about the deleted email scandal and the fact that the Liberals paid far in excess of the legal amounts required to cancel the gas plants. There is much more to this story than that. Could you please write an article with your analysis? Or Perhaps Mr. Rivers could do it.
You are far too lenient with this government. But I suppose this is to be expected from card carrying supporter of the Liberal party.
Surely you must be growing weary of supporting this government. Unless you truly believe their policies are exceptional, their behaviour exemplary, and truly worthy of continued support for them to govern us the way they have for 10 years, that is, with contempt for the Ontario taxpayer.
We will never get accountable governments until people stop voting for a party simply “Because I am a . I always vote “.
Even if someone has a particular political leaning eventually you have to say “Anybody but my , because they don’t have my support. One day they will again, but right now they don’t because of .”