Article for Publication – Local Newspaper
Laurie Scott, MPP
Haliburton-Victoria-Brock

June 7, 2006

What do we want and expect from our Federal, Provincial, and Municipal representatives – a big question I know, especially coming from a politician.  Times have changed from Confederation when your representative in parliament was a wealthy landowner who possessed the ability to raise and fund a militia.  There is an entire bureaucracy now that grew and developed as the roles and responsibilities of government changed through the years.

The bureaucracy is there to maintain and manage the government as political parties come and go.  That begs the question – do we need another bureaucratic manager or do we need a leader?  I would argue that we need a leader, not a manager in the role of Premier in the province of Ontario.

Leaders are there during times of crisis to reassure the citizens that everything is under control, to maintain order and to calm their fears.  In the absence of true leadership there is chaos. “Dalton McGuinty once again showed a complete lack of leadership in dealing with the Caledonia situation,” said John Tory, Leader of the Official Opposition. “This is a pattern of behaviour with this government. Dalton McGuinty first tries to ignore a situation, hoping it will go away. When it turns into a crisis, he tries to blame someone else. This province is fundamentally suffering from weak leadership.”  

Caledonia is only one in a series of examples that Mr. Tory could have cited.  Take for example, the TTC’s (Toronto Transit Commission) illegal job action last week.  The Minister of Labour knew the night before that this strike was going to take place. Neither Mr. Peters nor the Premier took any action to warn or prepare the hundreds of thousands of commuters about this sudden strike.  Are those the actions of a leader, someone that takes charge, and takes responsibility, I think not! While the Premier may not have been able to rectify the labour dispute, he certainly could have mitigated the resulting damage by informing commuters and giving them an opportunity to make alternative arrangements.

This past weekend, we were all taken by surprise at the revelation of suspected young terrorist cells operating within our Province.  Are you comfortable that Premier McGuinty is the man to lead us through a crisis of that nature? If the bird flu pandemic fears are realized will Premier McGuinty be able to act quickly, calm fears, keep the public informed and safeguard our frontline health care workers?  I am not sure.  I have not observed a glimmer of that type of leadership in Premier McGuinty.  I do know for certain that John Tory would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the citizens of Ontario when a crisis reared it’s head, I can testify to that, because we have witnessed it time and again.  That is a hallmark of a true leader.