Excited to see the new cabinet sworn in today. In particular, I’m very happy to see Charles Sousa and Yasir Naqvi as Finance and Labour Minister respectively. I started this blog in 2007 in large part to help support the local campaigns in Mississauga South and Ottawa Centre, so seeing
Continue readingTag: Kathleen Wynne
Pample the Moose: Define "junior", oh great Toronto Star!
Kathleen Wynne’s new Ontario cabinet is being announced today, and my local MP, Liz Sandals, has apparently been tapped to become the new education minister. But that’s not the observation that leapt out at me from today’s Toronto Star article about the cabinet shuffle. Authors Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson note that former Education Minister Laurel Broten has been “demoted” to Intergovernmental Affairs, calling it a “a ministry so junior McGuinty ran it himself for years.”
[ETA: Interesting to note that the updated version of the article calls Intergovernmental Affairs: “barely a stand-alone department because the premier usually handles all its major files personally.”]
To me, this drives home just how ill-served we are by many of our journalists these days. Just because a portfolio is held by the premier does not make it junior or unimportant. Indeed, given how Canada’s system of federalism works (or doesn’t), the role of intergovernmental affairs minister can be quite important indeed. Federally, that role was once held by Stéphane Dion, in the aftermath of the 1995 referendum. Many Canadian Prime Ministers also acted as their own foreign affairs minister. And what does it say that Wynne is planning on running the Ministry of Agriculture herself? Just last Wednesday, the Star ran an article arguing that this decision was a way of signalling the importance of this ministry!
Just to be clear, I do think that the decision to move Laurel Broten out of education is probably a demotion. But to conflate that with implying that the Intergovernmental Affairs ministry is insignificant betrays a woeful lack of perception of how Canada’s system of government operates.
Continue readingPample the Moose: Define "junior", oh great Toronto Star!
Kathleen Wynne’s new Ontario cabinet is being announced today, and my local MP, Liz Sandals, has apparently been tapped to become the new education minister. But that’s not the observation that leapt out at me from today’s Toronto Star article about the cabinet shuffle. Authors Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson
Continue readingPample the Moose: Define "junior", oh great Toronto Star!
Kathleen Wynne’s new Ontario cabinet is being announced today, and my local MP, Liz Sandals, has apparently been tapped to become the new education minister. But that’s not the observation that leapt out at me from today’s Toronto Star article about the cabinet shuffle. Authors Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Kathleen Wynne’s Speech & Some Thoughts on the 2013 OLP Leadership Convention
“I want to put something on the table: Is Ontario ready for a gay premier? You’ve heard that question. You’ve all heard that question but let’s say what that actually means: Can a gay woman win? That’s what it means. So, not surprisingly, I have an answer to that question.
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Ottawa and Hamilton: Significant hospital cuts ahead despite rhetoric from Premier-designate
Dr. Jack Kitts, CEO of the Ottawa Hospital, says he plans to transfer about 5,000 endoscopies to community hospitals and clinics as part of an overall plan to find $31 million in savings towards balancing the hospital’s budget. Kitts announced … Continue reading →
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Wouldn’t It Be Nice?
I have a confession to make: I am a lifelong Beach Boys’ fan. Their harmonies and their idyllic representation of the West Coast lifestyle captivated me as a youth, and still have a hold on me today. One of their signature songs, and certainly one of my favorites, is Wouldn’t
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Lessons Learned
Goodbye Minister of Finance Takhar. Hello Minister Responsible for Seniors Takhar. You win some, you lose some. Or so I hear. Regardless, win or lose, we can all take home valuable lessons from the OLP leadership race – and with no fewer than 5 other Liberal leadership races ongoing in
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Lets review what Kathleen Wynne answered to my five questions (and the blogger conference call)
Now that Kathleen Wynne is the Premier of Ontario (or about to be made formally), I think now might be a good time to review what she said in response to the 5 questions I sent her and some of the other candidates, and see where she might go: The
Continue readingCalgary Grit: As Good as Being There
The mainstream media coverage of this weekend’s OLP leadership convention has focused on backroom deals and electoral implications – but this misses the very human element of leadership conventions, which is where blogs still hold a certain degree of relevance. I therefore encourage everyone to read the following accounts –
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: No Discretion, No Valor
There was a time, when all parties welcomed a new party leader with a standing ovation. There was a time when all parties allowed that leader time to adjust to his or her new position. That time has passed. These days there are no honeymoons. On the day after Kathleen
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Cynical Politics – Ontario Style
It is likely a truism to observe that the value burning brightest in the hearts of most political parties is the passion to get and retain power. Concern for the public good is at best but a very distant secondary concern. We are reminded of this fact by the reaction
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Kathleen Wynne and the Gay Kids
I haven't written about Kathleen Wynne becoming Ontario's first woman and lesbian Premier, for a couple of reasons.One, I hate writing the words "openly gay." You're either gay or you're not. And two because at this point in the 21st Century I didn't think it should be a big deal.But
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: OPSEU congratulates Wynne, calls for commitment to “the 99 per cent”
by Ontario Public Service Employees Union | Jan. 27, 2013: TORONTO – The president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union has congratulated Kathleen Wynne on her victory in the Ontario Liberal Party leadership race and is calling on her to make fairness the guiding principle of her government when she becomes the
Continue readingOntario Liberal leadership: on the numbers
As a Kathleen Wynne delegate to the leadership convention, I will probably take some time in trying to articulate the significance of the win and not rush into a blathering post about how freakin’ awesome it all is. (By the way, Adam Goldenberg really nailed the personal aspect in his
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Wynne-win for Canada! And, is America ready for another white male President?
I welcomed Kathleen Wynne‘s victory in the leadership race for the ruling Ontario Liberal Party this past Saturday, even though I live in faraway British Columbia. And I do mean far away — seriously, the International Space Station is ten times closer to the surface of the earth, than Vancouver
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Convention Math
On Saturday, Maple Leaf Gardens was a cauldron of emotions. There were tears, broken promises, dashed dreams, and shrieks of pure unadulterated joy. That’s to be expected when you bring 2,000 people with very different motivations and beliefs together, and ask them to figure out who will govern a province
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: The Great OLP Leadership Convention of 2013
My first real political convention was the LPC leadership race of 2006, That convention was wild, crazy and ultimately very divisive and angsty due to the length of the race. Some people say that the OLP leadership convention will be the last great delegated convention. I would hope not, as
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: The Great OLP Leadership Convention of 2013
My first real political convention was the LPC leadership race of 2006, That convention was wild, crazy and ultimately very divisive and angsty due to the length of the race. Some people say that the OLP leadership convention will be the last great delegated convention. I would hope not, as
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: The Great OLP Leadership Convention of 2013
My first real political convention was the LPC leadership race of 2006, That convention was wild, crazy and ultimately very divisive and angsty due to the length of the race. Some people say that the OLP leadership convention will be the last great del…
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