Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, broken promises, taxes

What do the Liberals have to do to get voted out of office!?

By Klaus Rohrich

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Just when you think that maybe, just maybe, we'll see Dalton McGuinty's Liberals go down in flames or at the very least wind up in a minority, along comes John Wright and his Ipsos Reid polling organization with news that the Liberals have a good chance of being re-elected.

Not to put too fine a point on it, one wonders what McGuinty would have to do to incur the wrath of Ontario voters; molest a child? Deal drugs? Smoke a cigarette?

This is the guy who solemnly promised Ontario voters that they would not have to pay "one cent more" in taxes under his regime. That election promise, along with 229 others was broken the minute he took office, instituting a so-called "health premium", which cost Ontario taxpayers up to $900 per year more.

On the tail of the Adscam scandal that nearly didn't derail the federal Liberals, McGuinty's crew has a scandal of its own, called Colle-gate, named after Michael Colle, the Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. (Don't ask why Ontario needs a Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) It appears that according to Ontario's auditor General, the Libs suddenly discovered that they had an extra $32.4 million dollars laying around and felt that since an election was imminent, it might be a good idea to pass that money out to Liberal friendly immigrant groups. Never mind that many of the groups didn't even ask for the money, and some, like an unnamed cricket association received $1,000,000 while they applied for a mere $150,000. All this largesse with nary a bit of oversight to make sure the money is used for what it was initially intended. But hey, it comes from the taxpayers, so who cares?

McGuinty is also responsible for enactment of the City of Toronto Act that gives draconian taxation powers to Toronto politicians, although they will not exercise those powers until McGuinty has been safely reelected. The City of Toronto Act, one would think, would be a turn off for Toronto voters, but according to the Ipsos Reid people, that's where McGuinty's crew is strongest, as well as in the various 905 areas surrounding Toronto.

I have long held the belief that there is a pathology among Ontario voters, much like the co-dependent pathology that exists in some abusive domestic relationships, where the abused remains in the relationship because of some inner need for abuse. The way Ontario voters have behaved over the past twenty years leads one to believe that they need the abuse. It's like my friend Art Weinreb wrote in these pages recently, the people of Ontario love their taxes and can't seem to get enough of them.

Ontario voters have punished the Libs only twice during the past two decades. Once when they turfed the cynical and corrupt regime of David Peterson in favor of the inept and bumbling regime of Bob Rae's New Democratic Party, and again federally when they reluctantly handed a minority government to Conservative leader Stephen Harper, following the Adscam revelations by the Gomery Inquiry and the lackluster performance of Paul (Mr. Dithers) Martin.

It's often said that we get the government we deserve. Nowhere is this adage more profound than in the Province of Ontario.