EDITORIAL: Reflections on the provincial election

June 19, 2014 · 0 Comments

I was glued to the television last Thursday night (like most of you) as the first female Premier of Ontario was elected into office.

Kathleen Wynne, leader of the Ontario Liberals, is fascinating to watch. She moves her hands just enough, she looks into the camera when spoken to, and she’s never personally to blame for any mistake her party has ever made.

I followed her campaign for 40 days from my living room, watching her party’s popularity rise and fall in the polls and watching her get obliterated during the televised debate – observing her reaction, or lack thereof, as former Tory leader Tim Hudak (who announced that he will step down, effective July 2nd, after Wynne won the election) pull the rug out from underneath her, reminding the public of the billion plus the Liberals lost in recent scandals, throwing off the rest of her performance.

With the Wynne Liberals taking 58 of the possible 107 seats in the Legislature at Queen’s Park, the 40th General Election will most certainly go down in the history books as a perfect example of a dark-horse campaign, with a sidebar on what third party smear campaigns can do for your election platform.

Supported by unions, government workers and teachers, Wynne has a lot of promises to fill and an even bigger pit to dig Ontario out of. Fancy pensions and “A Mandate for Change” are all well and good, but will Wynne and her Liberals be able to pull it off without significantly raising taxes and cutting existing programs? I don’t think so.

With their new majority government, the Liberals have a serious shot at making important change. Big, strategic decisions that will shape the future of this province forever are well within their grasp, however, as high up as she can go is as far down as she can fall – taking the people of Ontario with her on what is sure to be a roller-coaster ride of horrors. Will the damaged relationships with MPP’s of other political affiliations (at Queen’s Park the Liberals have 58 seats, PC’s 28 seats and NDP 21 seats) be a recipe for disaster for Ontario? After all, the Liberals have already demonstrated their power hungry and irresponsible ways.

Will the voices of all non-Liberal MPP’s go unheard? After all, these are elected officials too. The answer to this question, unlike certain gas plant documents, will be hard to hide.

I wish Kathleen Wynne and her fellow Liberals all the best with their budget (which she promises to implement in the next few weeks). I hope her promise of good paying jobs, improved roads and infrastructure, reduced tuition fees and strong retirement pension plans will be well supported by those who elected her and that she’s able to keep her promises in an open, transparent and positive way. The people of Ontario are at your mercy now Kathleen, wield your sword with care.

By Wendy Gabrek