July 28, 2010

Re: McGuinty, why should he be voted out?

A letter by Anela Jadunandan

You've highlighted 10 blunders made by Premier McGuinty and in the words of your headline "Why should he be voted out?" I’m wondering then "Who should be voted in"?

I shudder when I think back of the days and lasting repercussions of Mike Harris’s government. We only have to look at our Federal Government to see shades of “Mike”---and that is with a minority government. I sometimes think of the provincial liberal government much like a teenager---happy to have them around, but at times they do things that infuriate the family.  I still believe that Mr. McGuinty is a “decent” leader. Yes, I too am angry at the way in which they’ve squandered money on e-Health and his trip to Israel without due consideration for what is happening to people in the Gaza. But, are we ready to be ruled by the Conservative Party?  If not, what are the chances of the NDP?  If the answer is “negative” to both these questions bearing in mind that a federal election could be upcoming and the federal Liberals are sure not ready for this –then what choice do we have? Do we just stay away from the polls, which is often the case?

To be fair to the McGuinty government, they did drop the sex education proposal and changed the rules on eHealth and agency accountability. And by the way, isn’t the HST something that was introduced by the Federal Conservative government?  Does any leader make 100% of their decisions that please 100% of the people? Yes, McGuinty does make mistakes, but he still mostly listens to his electorate.  I do hope our provincial government is making extended effort to correct many of these follies before it’s too late.

Your article listed 10 things that went wrong with Mr. McGuinty in power. Had it been the Conservatives in majority power for the last 2 elections, I’m willing to bet the list would be much longer!