Liberals stuck in Groundhog Day loop
Re Liberals set $2M target at bagmen’s last supper, Oct. 27 Why is it that every time we elect a Liberal leader the movie turns into Groundhog Day? Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Kathleen Wynne ran campaigns that were more progressive than the NDP. And based on their promises, both were given a mandate by the voters to govern as they campaigned.
But here in Ontario, the premier hires a former Bay Street guy to tell us to sell our publicly owned Hydro One and he is called a czar as if he is brilliant. What else would an ex-Bay St. banker urge other than to give to the rich and take from the public purse?
Not to be outdone, the prime minister campaigned on kick starting the economy by building up Canada’s infrastructure long neglected by the Conservatives with their never-ending austerity mantra. This was to be done by the government borrowing money for the projects at historically low interest rates and hiring private firms to do the work. So what does the prime minister do when elected? Makes another Bay Street banker the minister of finance, who calls for public/private partnerships (P3s) to create the needed infrastructure (think Brampton’s hospital). This being borrowed from the failed logic of another actor in political Groundhog Day, Dalton McGuinty.
It is not enough for the private sector to reap the rewards of billions of infrastructure projects. They also want the goose to keep laying that golden egg and collect tolls/profits on the bridges and roads and rail lines they build because now they have invested their money in the projects and want a profitable return.
Bay Street will never give up. Never. They can never ever get enough public money. I would really like this show to stop. Liberals, stick to your progressive promises.
Stop shafting the public that elected you and expects you to keep your promises or next time we may stop the movie for you and elect the real progressives, the NDP. Stephen Woof, Haliburton, Ont.
When I was a kid, 65 years ago, my mother said, “I told you that I wouldn’t do that if I was you.” I told her, “But I’m not you.”
Your front page spells it out. The intent is clear: one lesson for the voter and another for the Liberals.
Is the bagmen’s last-supper behaviour a brazen disregard for the ethical message, a political message for Ontario’s young people, or is it a brazen sense of entitlement that is becoming normal?
I still remember my reward. What will it take for our politicians to learn?
Go to your office among all your toys or perhaps go without your last supper. Don Graves, Burlington