Posted Mar 21, 2006, 2:47 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,634
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I figured Gord would have something to say about this. Here's his column today in classic Gord fashion....
Tory firing cheap shots
By Gord Henderson
The Windsor Star
Mar. 21, 2006
By all accounts, Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory is a nice guy and a sensible, middleof-the-road politician.
So it’s more than a little disappointing to see Tory, a guy who promised civilized discourse when he became opposition leader, wallow in the sleaziest kind of partisan warfare in repeatedly slamming the $400-million Casino Windsor expansion.
Worse, he embarrassed himself Sunday with his nutty — make that downright squirrely — comparison between government funding for — research on flying squirrels and a provincial investment in Casino Windsor that includes a convention centre, a hotel and a 5,000-seat theatre.
His handlers obviously see Windsor as the ideal whipping boy. After all, this city hasn’t elected a provincial Conservative in decades and the recent federal election confirmed it remains a Tory wasteland, so there’s no downside in cheap shots.
Better yet, Windsor boasts two senior ministers, including Finance Minister Dwight Duncan. Where better to sock it to a Liberal finance minister who’s preparing to deliver a budget than on his home turf where he can be spanked for shameless pork-barrelling.
So the temptation is obvious. But I expected better from this former CFL chairman, wealthy lawyer and respected business executive who landed the Conservative leadership as a consolation prize in 2004 after finishing second to David Miller in the 2003 Toronto mayoral race.
After all, this straight arrow told reporters following a byelection win in Orangeville a year ago, where he replaced former premier Ernie Eves, that he wanted to “restore people’s faith in the political process by setting a positive example.” In an earlier exchange, he said Ontario is “not looking for leadership that chooses to divide people for political gain.”
Dividing people
Surely his idea of setting a positive example and not dividing people didn’t include shamelessly deceiving Ontario residents by spouting hypocritical and inflammatory nonsense.
As a businessman, Tory surely understands that in a competitive environment a business which fails to reinvent itself is doomed. Without this $400-million investment, Casino Windsor would fall further behind its three Detroit rivals and the government’s billion-dollar stake in it would be compromised, along with several thousand jobs and the hundreds of millions of primarily U.S. dollars that have been dispatched up the 401 to pay for health care and other needs.
The future of a key Windsor industry and its vulnerable employees — both of which will take a huge hit when smoking is banned at the end of May — is at stake and Tory has the gall to compare it with boinking rodents? Talk about inappropriate.
A Tory mouthpiece told The Star that the government should spend its money on health needs rather than a hotel. “We cannot justify spending $400 million on a swanky casino hotel . . . when is the government going to have some priorities?” demanded Brendan Howe.
Swanky hotel? What rubbish. Tory and his tiny Tory terriers can’t be so thick as not to see that this is about building convention/entertainment facilities that will restore our casino’s allure and make it once again a great revenue producer for the province.
Other Ontario cities, including Toronto and Ottawa, have received or are in line for huge sums from senior governments for convention facilities. And there hasn’t been a peep out of opposition critics. So what makes Windsor different, apart from its failure to elect Tories?
Speaking of hypocrisy, the Conservative regimes of Mike Harris and Eves bent over backward to boost casino gaming in Niagara Falls which, wonder of wonders, just happened to have Tory representation.
In 2003, months before the provincial election, Eves announced — to the consternation of some gaming officials — that Niagara Falls would become a two-casino city, with Casino Niagara staying open along with the glittering new Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort.
I’m curious. When will Tory, the Tory of Tories, denounce the $500 million Mike Harris committed to Toronto waterfront improvements? And when will he slam the $1.5 billion that the Duncan budget is expected to include for a 6.2-kilometre Toronto subway line extension?
Don’t hold your breath. The Toronto area has clout. It can make or break a government. Far better to focus on a soft and inviting target like Windsor where the political fallout is minimal.
You’re a big disappointment, Mr. Tory. You truly are.
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