Birthday celebration for local MPPS
There may be gloom in the land — labour strife, spending scandals, persistently high unemployment — but on the first anniversary of being elected to the Ontario Legislature under the NDP banner in Essex, Taras Natyshak said being an MPP is “everything I thought it would be.”
Political life at Queen’s Park has been “fast-paced ... exciting and challenging and rewarding and frustrating -- all at the same time,” said Natyshak.
A survey in the summer showed the newcomer was third in his party for the time spent asking questions in the legislature, only behind NDP leader Andrea Horwath and the party’s health critic.
“I’ve been surprised by that ... he’s been quite active in the legislature,” said Cheryl Collier, a University of Windsor political scientist. It shows the leader has confidence in him, said Collier, who suggests it’s perhaps because both share a more moderate, centre-left political approach.
When he’s not on his feet at Queen’s Park, Natyshak can be seen meeting constituents at home, said fellow U of W political scientist Lydia Miljan.
Collier and Miljan said Windsor West Liberal MPP Teresa Piruzza’s first year has been low-key and much more typical of a newcomer.
“I’m not super-surprised by that,” said Collier. She said the local area already boasts Liberal powerhouse MPP Dwight Duncan ( Windsor- Tecumseh), the finance minister, and with a minority government to preserve, “you’re not going to put a rookie in a position that’s going to cost you.”
Nevertheless, Piruzza is “competent and living up to expectations,” said Miljan.
With all the political turmoil currently swirling around the minority Liberals, including their introduction of a wage-freeze bill, the government is always at risk of collapsing, but the local observers predict that even the city’s two Liberal representatives have relatively little to fear with any sudden election call.
“I think if there was an election, locally, it’s pretty much entrenched,” Miljan.
Despite “lots of scandals” swirling around the Liberals, “the opposition parties haven’t been able to capitalize on it,” she said. The official opposition Tories, who lost a hotly contested seat in a by-election last month, “haven’t been able to articulate a good policy alternative,” Miljan added.
Natyshak said he’s pleased with what the NDP has been able to accomplish, including changes to the Liberals’ budget bill that sees the highest income earners paying more taxes.
Kingsville’s Lloyd Brown-John, a U of W professor emeritus in poli-sci, isn’t pleased.
He said there’s been a relative lack of mail-outs and communications from his new MPP.
“You represent me, so for goodness sakes, communicate with me,” said Brown-John.
Natyshak said he recently sent out a flyer but that his office has a “finite budget” for mailings. He said he’s making extensive use of social media, where he has more than 4,000 Facebook friends and posted Youtube videos that have been viewed by thousands.
Piruzza said tough decisions have had to be made, but that it’s been “a whirlwind of a year” and that she’s having “a great time.”
Told of a Tory news release Friday claiming 30,000 more Ontarians are without a job compared to a year ago, Piruzza, without missing a beat, responds that the same survey also showed that “more people are looking for work ... that’s a positive trend.”
A spokeswoman for Duncan said he was unavailable for comment Friday.