General

Two Cents on Tory

I met John Tory once, when he came to the OC for an ed board meeting during the 2007 election. He struck me, as he seems to strike everyone, as a thoroughly decent, intelligent, and thoughtful man. My impression then is that he would have made a much better premier of Ontario than Dalton McGuinty. Forget about his supposedly “disastrous” policy on schools; at least his was honest, unlike McGuinty’s.

My main concern now is not what will happen to John Tory, or to the Tory party. It is what is going to happen to Ontario. At his press conference today Tory gave a warning to the media, saying that there remains a need to keep the McGuinty government’s feet to the fire. But here’s the thing: we’re not the opposition, the Tories are. A big reason why the province is in such a fix is because Ontario has not had a credible opposition for the past six years. And with Tory losing the by-election and stepping down, it will remain so for probably the remainder of the current mandate. It’s a terrible situation for the province.

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