“If I have the privilege of serving as Premier, I will strike a commission, consult with the public, create pilot projects, and place a bill before the [Ontario] Legislature. But that bill will only proceed with the support of the people, through their elected representatives. MPPs will be allowed a free vote, so they are at liberty to vote their conscience and represent the wishes of their constituents. In this significant way, the public can be more involved in the decision making.”
Official Tory speak Translation:
"Blah...Blah...Blah... I'm changing policy because things aint going so good... Blah... Blah... Blah..."
John Not-So-Tory's political career has just ended tonight. Not only has he confirmed the suspicion many had of him that he would govern by opinion poll, but he showed a complete lack of "leadership" - you know the thing he was supposed to be better at than Dalton McGuilty.
In John Not-So-Tory's own words: "As Premier, I will be guided by the same values that have served me so well throughout my life – to keep my word, to work hard for what matters and to be accountable for my actions."
"I will strive to talk straight and talk sense because citizens deserve no less from their political leaders. It comes down to a matter of trust – political leaders need to trust their citizens to understand that some problems take time to solve. "
He hasn't kept his word, he's changing policy on the fly, both of which lead to absolutely zero trust earned.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Tory's number will sink even lower as a cause of this major strategic blunder.
I disagree. I think he proved that he is much more of a leader than Dalton McGuinty. He listened to the people, he was flexible and he respected democracy.
ReplyDeleteI know Tory headed Kim Campbell's last campaign. Do we know if the famous "an election is no time to talk about policy" line was John Tory's? 'Cause it seems to me it kinda fits with his latest "Vote for me and I promise we won't implement this central policy that I think is extremely important and a fundamental matter of principle".
ReplyDeleteLooking at the more liberal leaning blogs one finds titles like "Leading through following" and "John Tory: Leadership if necessary, but not necessarily leadership". It'll be interesting to see how much that kind of sentiment seeps into the public conciousness.
Finally the election's worth paying attention to though! Will Tory get DESTROYED (and lose his own seat by 15 points) or will he perform a MIRACLE. Since I'm not scared by the prospect of either case, it'll be fun to watch.
I Very much agree with you Joanne. I think - and fear - that this may have been electoral suicide so close to the election, but he swallowed his pride and acknowledged that while voters want a change of government, the policy was very unpalatable, thanks in part to the Liberal spin machine. John Tory is showing his humility, something I've been waiting since 2003 for Dalton to do.
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