Lisa - the old-line politician

Lisa McLeod, the MPP for Nepean Carleton just couldn't wait to pounce all over the new provincial budget. From her safe chair at Queen's Park where the government is not likely to call an election if the opposition does not support them (contrast that to Ottawa, Lisa), the mighty mouth from Barrhaven chooses to bad mouth everything that moves - but not moos, that would upset her rural vote.

But let's not just centre on poor young Lisa. Her interim boss at Queen's Park, some guy named Runciman or something, has called the budget worthless. He says that the harmonization of the PST with the GST is the right thing to do but giving rebates (to offset the cost) to families under $160,000 per year is a bribe. Is he actually saying that the government should NOT give the rebates. Will he stand in front of a microphone and say that? I doubt it.

But there is another Con, a potential leader of the provincial party, that has a bit of a problem. Christine Elliott MPP is the wife of federal FinMin Jimmy Flaherty. Jim is in favour of the budget. Chrissy hates it. Want to be a fly on the wall in that master bedroom?

Is the provincial budget good? Given the times... yes. Can it be improved? Yes. Is the harmonization a good thing? Yes. Will it reduce costs in Ontario? Yes. It will reduce manufacturing costs and marginal tax rates for business, and will encourage companies to establish and expand in Ontario.

And that is a good thing.

Is Maria burned out?

Maria McRae, a strong proponent of Light Rail and chairperson of the Transportation committee, derailed the entire LRT program last night.  She was concerned that the federal and provincial government money would not be forthcoming so she voted against a recommendation of the current plan and then sneaked out the back door to her hearse car.

What's next, Maria?  You still have a chance to kill the emergency plan for the swans.

Let me set the stage for this issue.  Prior to the last municipal election, John "Screamer" Baird killed the N/S LRT plan to help elect a right-wing city council.  "Go back and figure it out then come back to me with something that I like," spouted Johnny.  Nobody blamed the Cons for the delay in the project or for the $57 million law suit the city faces by cancelling the contract with Siemens. 

The provincial government, when the plan was killed by Johnny, told the city that they will not get any funding, although the money has been set aside by the government, until they decide what their new plan will be.  For that, McGuinty was crapped all over, especially by our favourite local MPP, Lisa Head-in-the-Clouds.

Now the city has a new plan to put forward to the feds and provincial governments to have them decide on funding and what does the Transportation committee do?  They voted to send it to council without a recommendation. And Maria casts the deciding no vote.

Give it up, Ottawa City Council.  At this point in time I am ready to ask the Government of Ontario to dissolve council and install a trustee to run this city.

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.

Jan Harder - Ottawa Councillor for Ward 1 thru 22

Sometime after the last municipal election Jan Harder decided to change her approach to politics from in-your-face-sucker to team player. I think she looked at MPP Lisa MacLeod, thought she saw her own reflection and didn't like what she had become. Just my opinion.

However the new Jan Harder is starting to slip back into the bad old ways. When Maria McRae was new on the job, last term, Jan would turn up at every Maria door opening. Now that Steve Desroches is the new guy on the block - and he had the gall to take over part of Jan's old riding -she's all over him like stink on crap.

And now she has someone old, but new, in her sights. Ward 21 councillor, Glenn Brooks was on vacation this week. Some concerned Manotickers, part of Glenn's ward, decided that they needed another bunch of public meetings to bitch and complain about the proposed Minto development in the tiny, perfect village of Manotick. Since Glenn was away, they asked Jan to organize and chair the meetings. Jan was more that happy to help out. In fact, she even invited Glenn to attend.

So you are saying... well, Jan just jumped in to help out, right? Wrong, this Manotick fight is over 2 years old. It has been discussed, bitched about and explained more times than Wade Reddon scores in hockey.

Jan just figured that she could put Brooks in his place.

Larry's been charged

Mayor Larry O'Brien has been charged with two criminal counts with respect to the Kilrea misunderstanding. Should he step aside as mayor until this case winds its way through the courts?

According to the voice of raisins (correct spelling), Michael Harris at CFRA, he should resign. On his program this afternoon, Harris, cited case histories from Lower Podunk and East-Central Mongolia, to support his assertion that Larry is guilty until he is proved innocent.

I disagree, as usual. What Larry does is entirely up to Larry and only Larry.

While on the Larry subject, does anyone else notice the number of Cons being mentioned in this investigation.

John "the screamer" Baird's lunch habits are up for examination. He was apparently having lunch with a constituent at Hy's when he was seen in the presence of Mayor Larry. How come we can't know the identity of the constituent? And who paid for lunch?

Pierre Poilievre's communication guy's name has been raised as someone who might know something in the case.

Now it appears that Lisa McLeod, the mighty Con MPP, may be an accessory after the fact in this affair. According to the Ottawa Citizen, she knew about a $20 or 30,000 offer to Kilrea by Mayor Larry, but forgot to mention it.

I wonder if the Ottawa Citizen has calculated how many extra newspapers have been purchased since they broke this fetid story?