Not gone yet

Arrogant to the finish, Dalton McGuinty has decided to pick up his ball and go home. He is quitting his job as Premier and taking the opposition’s ability to question and probe his government with him.

For he didn’t simply promise to quit on Monday; he also asked the Lieutenant Governor to prorogue the legislature—which effectively shuts down the provincial assembly and moves the business of governing inside the Premier’s office. Now he gets to do the things the way he wants—beyond the daily questions and criticism of the Opposition— even if it’s just for a few weeks or months. He couldn’t get away with it before. Now he can.

By doing this the most immediate benefit to McGuinty is that he gets to shut down hearings into his decision to move a pair of gas-fired electricity plants out of the GTA (one to Sarnia, the other to Bath) in order to save seats before these hearings could get under way. Caving to the bleating of his MPPs in Oakville and Mississauga, even as the Mississauga plant was partly constructed and rising out of the ground, was a crass political move that will cost Ontarians at least $230 million in wasted tax dollars.

That much even McGuinty doesn’t contest. It could be much more. Now that the Premier has gone underground and taken the assembly with him— we may never know the full cost of this bit of arrogance.

It is a fitting end I suppose, hunkered in a small room in a large castle surrounded by a handful of trusted advisers. One may imagine him over the next few months summoning emissaries from the various forces arrayed against him—the doomed king seeking to broker peace in order to save his realm. But there is too much betrayal and scorched earth in his wake.

As his past decisions begin to bear fruit in the form of ballooning debt, crushing electricity costs, and a widening chasm between rural and urban Ontario, he is beginning to feel the walls close in on him.

He has proven his word means little. So he will attempt to buy his way out of his corner, with taxpayer dollars—behind closed doors. Yet McGuinty clings to the notion that his is a noble cause. There is no doubt in my mind that he believes he has governed wisely and in the best interests of Ontario residents. That history will judge him well.

This is when he becomes most dangerous. He has demonstrated he will do or say anything to grasp at power—even if it is for a few more days.

The cheers that went up over South Marysburgh on Monday night may be premature. While the prospect of a new Premier, presumably absent the authoritarian zeal of the outgoing Premier, is a positive development for the preservation of the County’s south shore from industrial wind development—McGuinty isn’t going away just yet.

He has promised to stick around until his party picks a new leader. In the meantime he is going to tie up some loose threads. Publicly he has said he wants to negotiate a wage freeze with public employees.

Yet a mind that is so clear—so free of conflict and outside influence—is certain to be tempted to finish some business, especially without the pesky oversight of opposition ranks. That is why the folks from Gilead Power, wpd and other wind factory developers are working the phones this morning—seeking an audience with the king. They know the future of their projects hinges on what McGuinty does next. It is too soon to start the victory parade just yet.

Even as he prepares to exit, it is informative to listen to McGuinty’s words again. In justifying his rationale for shutting down the legislature and committees on Monday night, the Premier said he wants to pursue his plans, “free of the heightened rancour that has sadly too frequently characterized our legislature of late.”

He leaves wagging his finger and scolding opposition members. He is seemingly oblivious or blithely ignorant to the fact that the stench they are digging up is coming from his own decaying government.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca