By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wynne’s real ‘conversation’ comes at polls
Sun Media political reporter Jonathan Jenkins said it best in a tweet from the weekend Ontario Liberal leadership convention: “Prepare to have a lot of ‘conversations’. It’s one of @Kathleen_Wynne’s favourite words.”
We could be wrong, but politicians who like to have ‘conversations,’ and who go on about the “issues around” things, often tend to be those who avoid blunt realities.
Kathleen Wynne had barely taken the baton from Dalton McGuinty, becoming Ontario’s first handoff premier in a decade, before she filled voters in on ‘conversations’ she’d like to have.
For example, she wants to disabuse anyone of the notion she can’t be leader for all Ontarians hailing from Toronto, a rarity in the premier’s office. Fair enough. She also wants to quickly call the legislature back to work, by Feb. 19.
So far, so good. It was the Liberals, after all, who pulled the plug on the assembly for their hurry-up changing of the guard. And, then, the eyebrow-raiser — Wynne says Ontarians don’t want an election and she intends to make the minority Liberal government work.
Given a choice, most voters are prepared to cut new leaders a brief honeymoon. But Wynne’s elevation to premier was no marriage sealed by the electorate. Ordinary voters didn’t choose her — her party did. And handoff premiers in Ontario tend not to fare well when voters are left out of the arrangements. The only other two in the last 28 years, Ernie Eves and Frank Miller, went down like flaming sambuca.
How long Wynne gets to stick around without a mandate from Ontarians, well, that’s a ‘conversation’ voters will take up with her. (Source: Brantford Expositor)
FEEDBACK
Letter to the Editor:
Hope i never become famous so this cartoonist never has to do my caricature.
Dougeroo, Jan 29 2013, Comment left at Spec.com
L. Campbell, Dundas
cornfedhutch, Jan 31 2013, Comment left at Spec.com
egghead2614, Jan 31 2013, Comment left at Spec.com
terminator, Jan 31 2013, Comment left at Spec.com
If you want to make a statement, make sure it has meaning. Why do some people always have to read between the lines? Sometimes what you see is what you see.
Carolyn Beckett, Hamilton
Glenn Simpson, Hamilton
As I usually do, I read my Hamilton Spectator and I came across the letter relating to the editorial cartoon of Jan. 29. Naturally I went to my back issue of The Spec to see what I had missed and what had upset the letter writer so much.
I have to tell you that I didn’t miss a thing. But, I think the letter writer did. The cartoon had nothing to do with Kathleen Wynne, her sexuality or her wearing of a tie or any homophobic thinking.
If the letter writer had looked closely she might have noticed that the cartoon was actually of Dalton McGuinty wearing a Wynne mask indicating that it will be ” oh my God, let’s hope not ” a continuation of McGuinty’s corrupt, inept government. That Wynne’s statement of carrying on McGuinty’s legacy is a warning to all of us to watch her lips. If they’re moving, look out; you know what that means.
As far as respect goes, if you’re an elected official, you seem to be fair game for cartoons. It goes with the territory. I think the letter writer was trying to read something into the cartoon that wasn’t there. Please keep up the good work. I love the cartoons. Ted Weir, Beamsville
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I’d wondered as well, if The Spec’s Jan. 29 cartoon was trying to take a shot at Kathleen Wynne being a lesbian, but it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t. When one looks closer at the way ‘Wynne’ is drawn, they can see that it is in fact the cartoon of Dalton McGuinty, wearing a mask of Wynne’s face. In other words, the joke The Spec was trying to make is that Wynne is basically McGuinty with a new face.
Stephen Bryce, Stoney Creek