At Home in Hespeler

I was in Toronto last week for one of my very seldom visits. While I have read a story or two of the stench of rotting garbage on the streets, the disgusting mess of litter on the sidewalks, I found that not to be true.  Was there a slight odour of garbage, left out on a summer day? Certainly, but that’s as expected in a dense metropolis. Garbage will accumulate, and it will offer a distinctive scent if left on the sidewalk for a summer afternoon waiting collection. So no, Toronto wasn’t disgusting just because the public union said it should be so.

Yet I’ve started to hear the old legislate them back to work canard. One hubby and the Mrs. radio show in particular yesterday was pushing for the province to legislate CUPE back to work. Other op-eds are starting to mention, casually, the possibility.

The instinct to force the union back to work usually comes from my side of the political aisle. Conservatives, who tend to dislike the unions anyway, are often quick to say, legislate them back to work. The pressure will come from Conservatives, the NDP will oppose any such motion.

The Toronto inside workers strike is now over two weeks old. In 2002 the provincial government of Ernie Eves legislated Toronto’s striking workers back to work by this time.  Permier Dalton McGuinty, who was then leader of the opposition, led the fight to have them legislated back. In arbitration, the union won a ruling on job security, the main issue in the strike. This time, McGuinty appears to be leaving the strikers alone: in Windsor a similar strike has been ongoing for almost three months.

The Premier is right: let the workers strike. Toronto is not falling apart, in fact they seem to be managing quite well. It is likely the workers were happy to go on strike, fully assuming they would be legislated back after a few weeks, and would then win in arbitration. That’s been the modus operandi for as long as their has been garbage strikes, and it has failed the public good. Let the workers strike, let them learn what we private sector union workers know: once you walk off that job, there’s no guarantee you go back. It is the one reign on unions behaviour and demands. Let the unions action have real consequences, and next time they’ll think twice; next time they’ll consider how many years of sick days they’ll need to bank to make up for the days lost to being on strike.

And here’s some good news for beleaguered Torontonians: as of today it’s that number is one… and counting.

unions 2002 strike, CUPE, Dalton McGuinty, David Miller, Ernie Eves, Garbage Strike, Liberals, Mel Lastman, NDP, Progressive Conservative, The Motts, Toronto

It is being reported through twitter that Tim Hudak has defeated Frank Klees 5606 to 4643.

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Afterthought: Tim Hudak has garnered 55% of the third ballot votes to defeat Frank Klees. Just under 500 of Christine Elliot’s 2900 second ballot votes went to Hudak, while a significant 1400 went to Frank Klees. It was not enough however, and Tim Hudak is the next leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario: a job that will come with daily venom, vicious innuendo spoken of you and, God forbid you should ever win an election, the noisiest 1/2% of the population will burn you in effigy on a daily basis. Congratulations Tim.

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Update: Joanne at Blue Like You, Sandy at Crux of the Matter and United and Strong are all reporting the Hudak victory now.

Tim Hudak Christine Elliott, Frank Klees, human rights, Human Rights Comissions, John Tory, PC, PC leadership, PC leadership convention, PC leadership vote, Progressive Conservative, Randy Hiller, Tim Hudak

I received a call this afternoon from Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Tim Hudak, ostensibly to thank me for endorsing him in my post last Saturday.  I have been hearing that Hudak is an easy to like kind of guy, and it couldn’t be more true.  I have never seen him in action, but based on one phone call I have no doubt he’s a guy who knows the politicians art of working a room.

The conversation moved quickly and smoothly, ranging from what kind of dog I had (she was being noisy), to my thoughts on the future of the auto industry, human rights commissions, the past and future of the Ontario PC party and my local PC MPP, Gerry Martiniuk, whom is a Tim Hudak supporter. The conversation involved me desperately trying to scribble the odd note, scribble being the operative word.  Here’s a brief recall of the conversation.

Hudak seems to consider the HRCs a big issue, and he had examples at hand of the abuse of the system, including an Ontario town (I can’t recall which one) that has had a eight HRC complaints against them by one citizen, one of his complaints being there isn’t a sidewalk in front of his house (next year he’ll complain he has to shovel the snow on his new sidewalk).

On blogs, Hudak pointed out that the press gallery is shrinking dramatically at Queen’s Park. The net result being there are not enough reporters covering the government and are thus less able to hold their feet to the fire. It’s the blogs that are picking up the slack, and as such, the blogs are becoming more important.

As for the race for leader, he and I both agreed it was a good race, that saw some ideas emerge from all candidates. It was a healthy process, and Hudak is confident he can win. On the vote itself, he said they had scrutineers in every riding on Sunday, they felt the vote was going well, and about 3o% of party members voted Sunday. The rest will have the opportunity to vote Thursday, the results, of course, will be announced Saturday.

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get in some question I had prepared, such as inquiring about his four steps to solve the doctor shortage. His ideas are: expanding capacity at medical schools, flexible retirement for physicians, recognize foreign credentials and increase incentives for Canadians studying abroad to return to Canada to practice. However, I feel a big part of the problem is David Peterson/Bob Rae’s old ban on extra billing, and was curious if he’d given any though to rescinding that.

e-health Ontario is another area I would have liked to quiz him, as well as: Caledonia; his favourite Led Zeppelin song (that says a lot about the man); Mike Harris: help or hindrance?; flat tax; the $1,000 newborn baby fund; the HST; who runs PerezHudak.com, and will any known rap artists be smacking him around in the near future?; his solutions for the manufacturing crisis.

While I didn’t get to ask him all that, I did get to tell my son he had been talking to the man who could be the next Premier of Ontario, I had a good excuse for not getting the vacuuming done, and I had a pleasant conversation with a genuinely nice man. I believe he would be an excellent leader, and like Joanne before me, “my interest in Ontario politics has gone from mope to hope and excitement.” And yes, I too am starting to think the PC party might have a chance.

Tim Hudak baby fund, Blue Like You, Bob Rae, Caledonia, David Peterson, Gerry Martiniuk, HRC, HST, Human Rights Comissions, Human Rights Tribunals, Joanne's Journey, Led Zeppelin, manufacturing crisis, Mike Harris, Ontario Human Rights Commision, Ontario Politics, PC, PC leadership, PC leadership convention, PC leadership vote, perezhudak.com, Premier of Onatrio, Progressive Conservative, Queens Park, Queens PArk press corp, Tim Hudak

Today in Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock a by-election is being held to keep John Tory as Progressive Conservative leader or finally dump him like the guy who makes Joe Clark look astute that he is.

If you are a conservative voter in that riding, consider voting for Freedom Party candidate Bill Denby. For that matter vote for the NDP candidate or the Liberal candidate: vote for anybody but John Tory.

If you are a Liberal Party supporter, I would recommend you vote for Tory. He’s your best shot at never losing another election. If, however, your leanings are small government freedom loving conservative, even if Tory wins, you lose.

In Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock today, vote for change. Vote for anybody but John Tory.

by-election fever, John 'Red Green' Tory, John Tory, Ontario Election Bill Denby, Brock, Dalton McGuinty, Freedom Party, Haliburton, John Tory, Kawartha Lakes, Liberal Party, Ontario, Progressive Conservative, Red Tory