Premier gives Niagara the silent treatment
Premier Kathleen Wynne popped into Welland Friday morning trying to repackage an old story. Politicians do that a lot.
She was in town to re-announce General Electric’s plans to open a new factory in south Niagara. It’s an important subject, to be sure, but it’s also one we’ve known about since June 1.
That was when Welland Mayor Frank Campion and GE spokespeople revealed plans for the 450,000- square-foot factory, making it the largest industrial building in Welland and second only to the entire Seaway Mall in size.
The 200 or so jobs the new GE plant will create are of course prime importance to Niagara.
“This is probably the biggest news we’ve had in Welland for a long, long time,” Campion said at the time. “It’s one of the biggest investments, employment and industrial manufacturing investments that we’ve seen.”
He was right. Still is. And we didn’t need the premier to tell us that Friday. She wasn’t around back in June and she really didn’t need to bother yesterday — because she didn’t take questions on this, either.
Still, that’s the way these things go. Nothing is really official until the premier shows up to give the whole thing a Queen’s Park blessing and smiles dutifully with the local politicians. We get that. What we don’t get is a premier who is happy to shake hands and pose for photos at a media event, but refuses, as she has done for weeks, to answer questions on other matters of importance to those of us in Niagara. For example: Several months ago Wynne said it was unacceptable for two Ontario colleges to be operating men’s only campuses in Saudi Arabia. Algonquin College has since pulled out; Niagara College has increased its presence. What does she think of that? Is she going to intervene? Is she behind it? We don’t know. Niagara Falls council asked the premier’s office to release a report on the alleged sexual misconduct of former MPP Kim Craitor. The Liberal Party lawyers have denied the request. What does she think of that? Craitor himself says he hasn’t seen the report and would like to. She wouldn’t take questions. GO trains are coming to Niagara Falls by 2023. Many people down this way are quite excited about the prospects. But why do we have to wait so long? Isn’t there any way to move the timetable? Bring the trains here while the work is being done? We’ve seen it happen on the Lakeshore West line for years while stations and parking lots have undergone refurbishments. How about the same for Niagara? We don’t know. Tim Hudak has resigned his seat in Niagara West. What are the plans for a byelection? We don’t know. The Region at the recent AMO meeting made a request for lower industrial hydro rates. Is she going to follow through on that? You guessed it – we don’t know. The new hospital in Niagara Falls — so many questions about that and health care in general. We could go on. We wish Wynne would have.
We think it’s great about GE. We’re thrilled to welcome the company to Niagara.
As for the premier’s visit to Niagara, though, she could have mailed it in. Come to think of it, she did.