Ontario Cons in Contradiction

Lisa MacLeod, Con MPP for Nepean-Carleton, and John Tory, lame-duck leader (pending the resurrection of some guy named Flaherty who will soon become the one true leader) of the Ontario Con party, had better put their heads together to create the semblance of a coherent message.

On page B1 of Ottawa's premiere news rag, April 1, 2008, MacLeod wants the Liberal government to be investigated to determine if they interfered with the 2006 Ottawa civic election by stating, in the answer to a media question, that any change to the approved transit plan in Ottawa would need to be evaluated by the Provincial government, which was putting $200 million into the plan. The answer was correct according to the terms of the provincial/municipal agreement, but MacLeod calls it political interference.

Her comments were in no way timed to match the April 1 appearance of John "the Screamer" Baird in front of a parliamentary committee; he being accused of hijacking the municipal election by leaking confidential contract documents of the transit deal and then pulling the federal funding from the project He is also answering questions about an alleged meeting with the new mayor of Ottawa who has been charged with trying to buy off another mayoralty candidate with money and a promise of a federal job, such job being one of the many doled out by Baird.

Do, dah. Do, dah.

Ms MacLeod, methinks that you doth complain too much.

But what of John (Help me, I need the job.) Tory. On page B3 of the same news rag, Tory complains that the Ontario Liberals did not put strings on a recent $14.6 million grant to Ottawa, earmarked for infrastructure repair. The city decided to use $10 million of it to overcome its budget deficit. Tory thinks that the city needs to be micromanaged a whole lot more by Queen's Park.

So MacLeod complains that the Ont Libs are interfering in civic affairs while Tory complains that they are not interfering enough.

That's a pretty balanced view, I suppose.