Of all of the contentious and debatable things making headlines right now – apart from Sir Orange Head of US-land – there’s one thing that should have us all taking up pitchforks and torches and raiding Queen’s Park.*
Our Premier and her finance minister cooked the books about hydro. We suspected it. The opposition parties accused them of it. But when Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk finds that they lied and used fancy math, you know it’s a fact.
In Lysyk’s words, the accounting practises the province used to hide the true debt of their hydro reduction plan is akin to you or I counting our credit card debt as an asset. Her findings were so outrageous and reflected so poorly on this province’s Liberal government that she consulted Auditors General in other provinces and had them check her work. They came to the same conclusion.
What now, Ontario? The last time the Liberals screwed up this badly, by cancelling the unpopular gas plants and costing us more than $1B, Dalton McGuinty threw himself on a grenade and pushed Kathleen Wynne out front before the election. The minority Liberals came back with a majority. What next? Shall we make Wynne our Queen?
I’ve voted for every major party over the years. My far-right colleagues say I’m Liberal but I’m really more centrist. This isn’t about the party that’s in power, it’s about a bad government that has reduced hydro bills in the short term and tried unsuccessfully to hide from us that it will cost us more in the long run, for about 30 years at least. So, what are we going to do about it?
*Please note the “taking up pitchforks and torches and raiding Queen’s Park” reference is not literal. Do not buy a pitchfork or a torch and never, ever raid Queen’s Park. It will turn out very badly for you. Thank you.
And what are we going to do? Good question but there is no good answer since none of the other parties are worth putting into power. The Conservatives fucked things up in the late 90’s, the NDP in the early 90’s and we have weak leaders with even weaker supporting benches. If your motivation is to get into power and then get re-elected and stay in power, then your focus is on the wrong thing, but we don’t vote for the right thing because it can prove painful, at least in the beginning. Oh, did I happen to mention union influences?
Unfortunately, the answer to your question is, “not a damned thing”.
When a government is under criminal investigation over multiple issues – gas plants and the cover up, Ornge, and bribery over a Sudbury election – one would expect that the public would show their dissatisfaction at the polls. The fact that they did not sent a clear message to the Liberals that they can get away with anything and, the more egregious the violation of trust, the more highly they will be rewarded. What other message could they possibly take?
Canadians, Ontarians in particular, spend far too much time guffawing about the antics in the big white house south of the border and ignore – nay, reward – far worse behaviour by our own governments. Trump is limited to 8 years. Meanwhile, the Ontario Liberals are passing their contempt for the people down the line of succession. What’s worse? Up in Ottawa, Justin Trudeau is eyeing them in admiration.