Scandals aren’t the only trouble with MPP Jack MacLaren
Voters deserve much better than a man who has done little in four years
It’s time for MPP Jack MacLaren to show some consideration for the people of Carleton-Mississippi Mills and resign.
The beleaguered MacLaren should quit, not just because of the sexism and appallingly bad judgment he has displayed, but because he is a lousy MPP who treats his job like a hobby and isn’t engaged with the issues that matter to his constituents or to Ottawa.
In more than four years in office, MacLaren has been notable more for his invisibility than his accomplishments. There is a limit to what an opposition MPP can achieve, but there is nothing to stop him from speaking up, loudly, for the people who elected him.
Stittsville and Kanata are the two main centres in MacLaren’s riding, and he has let them both down. One of the biggest issues in Stittsville is the lack of a public high school. Although the western suburb is now the size of a small city, its students are bused to the village of Richmond. MacLaren did present a parents’ petition to the legislature, but then undercut it by saying he wasn’t enthused about the issue.
The expansion of Waste Management’s landfill on Carp Road is an issue for people in Stittsville, but MacLaren backed the bigger landfill. It’s a point of view that can be supported, but probably not if you are the representative of the people affected.
MacLaren has not established himself as an informed supporter of the technology industry in Kanata. In two elections, he seemed neither to understand nor to care about the industry and its needs. Moving up the extension of light rail is a big priority for the western suburb, one that has been championed by city councillors from Kanata, but not by their MPP.
On provincial issues that concern the city as a whole, MacLaren has been equally ineffective. We are poorly served by a grossly inadequate jail, but MacLaren isn’t publicly pushing for something better, even though he was the lead PC MPP for the city until his recent demotion.
Other local politicians say MacLaren is more interested in talking about the Magna Carta than working with them on local issues. Success in politics requires building bridges to other elected officials and to groups in the community. MacLaren is more like the island than the bridge.
MacLaren should be working with Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon, the federal representative for his riding. And yet she was the one he singled out for a humiliating sexual “joke.”
Portions of MacLaren’s riding are represented by city councillors Allan Hubley, Marianne Wilkinson and Eli El-Chantiry. None of them are fans. Hubley, a fellow conservative, says “As much as I would like to say he’s doing a good job, he’s not.”
Far from working with others, MacLaren actively works against them. El-Chantiry says MacLaren and his staff campaigned for the councillor’s opponent in the last city election. MacLaren did the same thing in Coun. Scott Moffatt’s ward. MacLaren, who apparently fancies himself some kind of power broker, has even been meddling in a colleague’s riding, trying to find someone to oppose MPP Lisa MacLeod.
If you want to contrast MacLaren with an effective opposition MPP, compare him to MacLeod. The legislature is likely to soon pass her private member’s bill on youth concussions. She worked with members of other parties to bring it forward. MacLaren’s big private member’s bill was an attempt to end environmental protection for the Niagara Escarpment. He was the only MPP to vote for it.
PC Leader Patrick Brown has humiliated MacLaren by banning him from the legislature and sending him off for sensitivity training, but what does that do for people in Carleton-Mississippi Mills? They are left with no meaningful representation.
In fairness to them, MacLaren should quit and let voters choose someone better. It would be the best thing he has done as a politician.