In opposition Dalton McGuinty was the party
leader with the readiest wit in recent years, but this has vanished
since he became premier.
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| name="valign" top > Eric Dowd |
McGuinty became premier after his party had been
in opposition 13 frustrating years and on his second and likely
last try, so his win should have brought him huge relief and
enjoyment.
But he has found little to smile about in
government, particularly because the Progressive Conservatives left
him a large deficit and inability to pay for many election
promises, and he spends much of his time lamenting he is in a deep
hole.
As opposition leader McGuinty took such shots at
the confrontational Tory premier Mike Harris.
McGuinty poked fun at Harris’s fondness for golf,
saying his idea of long-term planning was booking a tee-off
time.
He said Harris spent so much time golfing in the
citrus fruit state of Florida, he was starting to look like an
orange past its best-before date and out of juice, like his
government.
McGuinty claimed Pizza Pizza had a better system
for delivering pizza than Harris had for delivering medicare.
Harris despite his legendary dourness had moments
of humour. He said the TV program 60 Minutes considered inviting
McGuinty to talk about his platform, but wondered how it would fill
in the other 59 minutes.
Harris also said McGuinty’s Liberals are the
Caramilk bar of politics because they have a soft, squishy centre
that is a big mystery.
Former premier Ernie Eves had a neat reply when
he said McGuinty would raise taxes. “He’s not up to the job of
premier, but he’s got what it takes to take what you’ve got.”
Premiers usually consider it an asset to have a
sense of humour and two even quarreled over who had the
better.
The long-serving Tory premier William Davis
inflicted lame jokes such as saying, after part of a budget
inadvertently became public, “I am always concerned about leaks,
although my primary concern is cabbages.”
David Peterson, then Liberal opposition leader
and later premier, complained Davis’s sense of humour was
deteriorating and embarrassing the province.
Davis retorted, “at least I have one…”
This battle of wits was adjourned after Peterson
insisted Davis’s jokes were feeble. Davis replied, “they are better
than yours.”
Premiers mostly have found it harder to show a
sense of humour when the going got tough. Bob Rae became Ontario’s
first NDP premier when tax revenues were falling and he had many
stored-up promises to keep.
He sighed he felt “like the kid who has been
given the keys to the family car and discovered it’s an Edsel’ (the
notorious lemon auto.)”
McGuinty has nowhere near as many problems as his
predecessors, and he should be able to manage an occasional smile.
It has helped him before.
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen’s
Park press gallery.
