A spectre is haunting Canada, a growing crisis that left unaddressed could tear this country apart. The questions it raises go to the heart of our existence together as a nation; the issues it touches are fundamental, yet pregnant with ambiguity.
I speak, of course, of the prime minister’s failure to meet with the premier of Ontario. For, like, a year. As an exclusive front-page investigation by the Toronto Star revealed Friday, “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spent more time with Russian President Vladimir Putin this year than Premier Kathleen Wynne.”
The implications are as obvious as they are troubling. To be sure, Ontario has not invaded a neighbouring country and has pledged to use its nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes. But as the premier herself has said, “I think that it is only rational that the prime minister of Canada would want to talk with the premier of Ontario.”
The trouble has apparently been brewing for some time. In August, the Star reported on the premier’s exasperation at not having spoken with the prime minister in the “78 days” since she was re-elected. (“To be fair to him, I haven’t specifically asked for a conversation.”) By early November, the paper was reporting the two had chatted the previous month, but before then “had not talked in more than six months.”
A couple of weeks later, things reached Defcon Four: It was reported the premier had just written the prime minister a letter demanding a meeting. Worse, it emerged that she had written him a similar letter in September, to which he had only just replied. (Can you believe it? What was he doing all that time, besides sending troops into battle and closing a trade deal with Europe and giving a speech at the United Nations and travelling to China and meeting the G20 and ducking the odd bullet?)
You can see the premier’s dilemma. Here she is with a clear, focused agenda — described at various times in recent weeks as involving pensions, infrastructure funding, federal-provincial transfers, internal trade, a possible Chinese currency trading hub in Toronto, the Ring of Fire mining project, Employment Insurance, and violence against aboriginal women — and yet the prime minister refuses to meet in person with her. I know what you’re thinking: Why doesn’t she just pick up the phone and call him? But then how would she be able to tell if he was smirking?
more har
Coyne: Perhaps it’s no mystery why Prime Minister Stephen Harper would pass up on meeting with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne
*sidebar* I like when douchebag politicos do a 'press release' or otherwise 'announce': I've written a letter to someone...as if this is suppose to publicly shame the recipient somehow.
good for you. now get back to work.
I speak, of course, of the prime minister’s failure to meet with the premier of Ontario. For, like, a year. As an exclusive front-page investigation by the Toronto Star revealed Friday, “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spent more time with Russian President Vladimir Putin this year than Premier Kathleen Wynne.”
The implications are as obvious as they are troubling. To be sure, Ontario has not invaded a neighbouring country and has pledged to use its nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes. But as the premier herself has said, “I think that it is only rational that the prime minister of Canada would want to talk with the premier of Ontario.”
The trouble has apparently been brewing for some time. In August, the Star reported on the premier’s exasperation at not having spoken with the prime minister in the “78 days” since she was re-elected. (“To be fair to him, I haven’t specifically asked for a conversation.”) By early November, the paper was reporting the two had chatted the previous month, but before then “had not talked in more than six months.”
A couple of weeks later, things reached Defcon Four: It was reported the premier had just written the prime minister a letter demanding a meeting. Worse, it emerged that she had written him a similar letter in September, to which he had only just replied. (Can you believe it? What was he doing all that time, besides sending troops into battle and closing a trade deal with Europe and giving a speech at the United Nations and travelling to China and meeting the G20 and ducking the odd bullet?)
You can see the premier’s dilemma. Here she is with a clear, focused agenda — described at various times in recent weeks as involving pensions, infrastructure funding, federal-provincial transfers, internal trade, a possible Chinese currency trading hub in Toronto, the Ring of Fire mining project, Employment Insurance, and violence against aboriginal women — and yet the prime minister refuses to meet in person with her. I know what you’re thinking: Why doesn’t she just pick up the phone and call him? But then how would she be able to tell if he was smirking?
more har
Coyne: Perhaps it’s no mystery why Prime Minister Stephen Harper would pass up on meeting with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne
*sidebar* I like when douchebag politicos do a 'press release' or otherwise 'announce': I've written a letter to someone...as if this is suppose to publicly shame the recipient somehow.
good for you. now get back to work.
Mike Hansen @MikeHansen613
Sheila Gunn Reid @SheilaGunnReid 
