Ontario?s Liberals have finally discovered something it seemed they would never learn ? they can stand up to their domineering federal party. The Ontario Liberals have been overshadowed, and occasionally stomped on, by their usually successful federal party longer than most can remember.
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DOWD |
The federal Liberals have governed for 47 of the last 62 years and act as if this is their divine right.
The provincial Liberals have governed for just seven of those years ? they are very much the poor relatives.
Federal Liberals once even picked Ontario party leaders, the last being Andrew Thompson, who had been an aide to prime minister Lester Pearson.
Federal Liberals often are said to attract the best and brightest in Ontario because they offer opportunities for cabinet posts.
The plundered provincially?oriented Liberals broke away into a separate organization three decades ago trying to prevent federal Liberals dominating them.
But the federal Liberals have continued plucking promising Liberals from the legislature.
Federal Liberals have never hesitated to let down their Ontario cousins. Prime minister Pierre Trudeau and finance minister John Turner let their rivalry burst into the open eight days before one Ontario election.
Turner resigned, complaining of differences on economic policies, and Liberals appeared a party in turmoil. This helped Ontario Liberals lose the election.
The federal Liberals also have been a handicap to their Ontario party in elections almost routinely, as opponents argued they would allow the province to become a branch plant run by powerful federal Liberals.
David Peterson, the only Liberal premier in six decades until Dalton McGuinty in 2003, called the federal Liberals a ?millstone.?
McGuinty found the Ontario Liberals can have an impact on their successful federal cousins inadvertently ? he certainly was not looking for it. He got in trouble last year by breaking a promise not to increase taxes and failing to pin blame on the outgoing Progressive Conservative government, which left him a massive deficit.
The Ontario Liberals? broken promise became a symbol of Liberal abuses in a federal general election. The federal Liberals won only 75 seats in Ontario compared to 100 the previous election, so McGuinty helped them lose their majority.
McGuinty recognized the impact he could have and recently claimed the federal government collects $23 billion a year more in taxes from Ontarians than it returns in services and demanded it start reducing this.
McGuinty has said he will not hesitate to press his claim in a federal election. It could make federal Liberals uncomfortable and hurt their chances, but his responsibility is to his province.
Some federal Liberals also have said they are worried McGuinty?s criticisms could hurt them in an election and don?t want to fight the Ontario Liberal premier as well as the federal opposition parties.
This is an issue with a lot more twists and turns ? but the Ontario Liberals at last are getting some of their own back.
Eric Dowd is a member of the Queen?s Park press gallery.
