Spinnin’ and winnin’

Have you ever had an “ah ha” moment? In my lifetime I’ve had many moments where the little cartoon lightbulb in my imagination clicks on and I “get it.” Yup, sometimes I really do “get it.” This past Sunday morning, while drinking my coffee and reading the newspapers, I had one of those moments. It wasn’t actually a moment, it was more or less a confirmation of what I’d always suspected. Dalton McGuinty is a Spin Doctor. Ah ha! Now, before you start laughing and snorting, I knew the meaning of the words “spin doctor.” I just didn’t really have a feel for the meaning and avoided using that phrase. The Urban Dictionary has guided me through many a definition. I just couldn’t get comfortable turning a phrase that included the words “Spin Doctor.” But, I’ve gone and done it.

Spin Doctor. Maybe it’s a hackneyed phrase like “buying in” or “leveraging” or “sacred cow” or “proactive” or “thinking outside the box” and “pushing the envelope.” Spin Doctor could be a tired phrase. I don’t know if it is. But now I recognize a Spin Doctor at 10 paces. Dalton McGuinty is the Doctor of the Spin and he’s been doctoring the spin, big time, all spring and summer. He has been responsible for the creation of a public education mountain where there once was a molehill. If only he could work the same kind of monumental, enthusiastic magic for the province’s economy. But what makes him a SD is that he thinks he is doing just that with his crusade to save the Ontario taxpayers from something that was never really on the radar (perhaps I should have found a better phrase than “on the radar”). Teachers, as a group, were prepared to accept a wage freeze, yet Dr. McGuinty has just inked the final touches on legislation to order teachers back to school in September. Teachers had already agreed to a wage freeze. But, the provincial Liberals said “no” to their offered freeze and opted to create a bit of junk legislation. It’s an interesting piece since you and I know the public school teachers of Ontario never actually left the workplace. A piece of legislation orders the teachers back to work. Huh? And, effectively, removes their bargaining rights for two years. No wage increases. No strikes. No nothin’. Oh, some parents and caregivers and a few teaching professionals. There never was a threat of a walkout or a strike. Nope. As a matter of fact, public school educators and educational assistants were poised to stand in front of the very chalkboards Mr. McGuinty has been using as a backdrop in his quest to win a by-election in Kitchener-Waterloo by showing Ontario’s teachers to the naughty chair in the detention hall. McGuinty’s legislative timeline will be timed to put Ontario right for the very next Provincial election.

But, y’all know this, right? You know it’s about a highly visible target, Ontario’s educators. Teachers are scapegoats for a provincial government that has slowly and steadily steered the province into a monumental deficit and blistering credit downgrades. And teachers have often been spanked in public for their salary and benefits negotiation acumen and have had the metre stick aimed in their direction because of this. Oh, the educators of Ontario will be back in the classroom on September 5. Dr. McGuinty had better be on his toes; there are 120,000-plus public school educators in the province. That number doesn’t include teaching assistants. That’s a lot of voters, Dr. McGuinty. A lot of votes potentially lost to gain two seats in Kitchener-Waterloo.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca