Get Out Of Our Turf!

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan unveiled his latest budget today at Queen's Park. There's not much to it: a billion more for infrastructure, some money for skills training and some small tax cuts; in short, nothing that will make Ontarians remember this budget a week from now.

More disappointing was the federal government's response. Yesterday, in Toronto, Jim Flaherty gave a long speech were he criticized the Ontario government's handling of the economy and gave a list of expectations for the new budget. He then rented one of Harper's many pitbulls, the obnoxious Pierre Poilievre, and made him the governments official spokesperson on the budget (Poilievre is of course, a great expert on the economy, having dropped out of his university program at the University of Alberta to work in Stockwell Day's office).

Visibly, the Conservatives have made it their policy to attack the Ontario government. Why? Nobody knows, but they obviously think it will get them votes.

What I'm starting to get fed up with, though, is Ontario's reaction. I mean, there is such a thing as a provincial jurisdiction, and the Ontario budget is clearly a provincial jurisdiction. The federal Finance Minister therefore has no say in its content, and should be sent packing if he tries to interfere. Yet Ontarians have been largely passive. They've let Jim Flaherty cheaply throw attacks against their Premier, regardless of whether or not they were legitimate.

It's time for the the McGuinty government and Ontarian people to start getting mad. Think of what if would have been if Flaherty had turned up in Edmonton or Québec City instead of Tonronto. Ontarians don't need to be always fighting, but they should make it clear that they won't let themselves be exploited.