By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, January 9, 2014
Tories accuse Kathleen Wynne of ignoring Rob Ford during ice storm
Premier Kathleen Wynne played politics with the ice storm by shunning Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and dealing only with deputy mayor Norm Kelly, the Progressive Conservatives charge.
“That would have been the natural and appropriate thing,” Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean—Carleton) said Tuesday, referring to having Ford be the “go-to” official.
During last month’s crisis, which left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, Wynne stayed in constant touch with Kelly, ignoring a mayor stripped of most of his powers by city council in November.
Ford has essentially been a chief magistrate in title only in the wake of admitted crack-cocaine use that the Star revealed in May. He has been under Toronto police investigation for his links to an alleged drug dealer.
While Tory Leader Tim Hudak has also expressed concerns about Ford’s personal behaviour, his party’s energy critic was unhappy with the way Wynne politicized the ice storm.
“There’s a democratically elected mayor in Toronto and I think that the people of Ontario — not just Toronto — expect leadership from their premier and not more politics during a crisis and that is what she displayed,” MacLeod told reporters. (Source: Toronto Star)