MPP Phil McNeely: Blackberry Bully of the roadways

We don’t know what most Ontario Liberal MPPs were doing early Friday evening, even though some suggest they have been in hiding since Premier Dalton McGuinty added a second tax to his hated HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) on consumer products starting July 1st--Canada Day. But we do know what MPP Phil McNeely was doing--reading Canada Free Press! As he sent a message from his Blackberry, it is likely he was sending it from the road--a mortal sin for everyone else according to the Dalton McGuinty Government. Obviously not one for politesse, McNeely sent a two-word note to CFP columnist Tim Ball, who had written Climategate Investigations Are Arrogant Insults.

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“What Bullshit!” was McNeely’s two-word message. The potty-mouthed McNeely is one of the politicians who serves a provincial government that slapped a new eco tax on thousands of products, including household items like dish detergent, hairspray, batteries, thermometers and even fire extinguishers. Only yesterday, a government official confirmed the McGuinty Liberals tried to keep this tax hidden and made no effort to advertise it. Ontario families saw the same pattern with the $53 million hidden energy tax Dalton McGuinty slapped on their hydro bills in March earlier this year. Blackberry Bully McNeely is hardly a household word. When he’s not cussing columnists on his Blackberry, people hear mostly from him come election time, when he needs their permission to plant lawn signs on their over taxed properties. Googling his name, CFP finds that McNeely came from that well-ignored whine-cellar of Canadian politics, municipal government having served 2000-2003 on the newly-amalgamated Ottawa City Council, representing Cumberland Ward. First being elected to the Ontario Legislature in October 2003, McNeely’s claim to fame on his homepage is the “McNeely Amendment” that helped form legislation banning power walls from convenience stores and retail businesses. “The amendment, which came into effect on May 31, 2008, has helped keep cigarettes out of the sight of children.” (Some other Liberal politician had already saved our kids from porn). This message to McNeely is being sent from our modem stick-equipped laptop on the QEW as we head to Buffalo for basic untaxed staples like dish detergent and batteries! But CFP likes even better the response sent to McNeely’s two-word message by Tim Ball: “What a delight to receive well phrased, perceptive and fully documented observations from our politicians,” Ball wrote. “I presume the Blackberry is paid for by the taxpayer who will appreciate such judicious use.” Ok, Phil you can go back into hiding now.