The Ontario legislature is back in session and the spring sitting promises to be a minor overture to the provincial election this fall. However the premier decided to take his show on the road instead of staying for what promises to be an eventful time at Queen’s Park.
From Ottawa Citizen
McGuinty’s staff say the premier would use those days to deliver a speech on his government’s accomplishments in its first seven years in office.
But longtime Queen’s Park observer David Docherty says there is some irony to the premier’s new approach. As an opposition leader, McGuinty railed against the then-Conservative government’s indifference to the legislature.
“It’s a very different kind of strategy for someone who was elected on a pledge to bring back relevance to the legislature,” said Docherty, a political-science professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. “It was McGuinty who brought in rules saying cabinet ministers had to be there 75 per cent of the time. So it’s odd now that going into an election year he’s decided not to be in the House to answer questions but would rather be on the road taking it directly to the so-called people.”
From a optics standpoint this is a bad decision, this looks like the premier does not want to deal with the daily grind of slings and arrows in a increasingly feisty legislative session.
