Ontario?s Progressive Conservative opposition leader John Tory has been trying to get politicians to be more polite to each other, but he seems to have lost his enthusiasm.
Tory was chosen leader a year ago and he made it a major theme that members of the legislature should avoid inflammatory language.
He said this would make debates more informative, allow more work to be done, and help create more respect for politicians.
The legislature reached its low point in behaviour a few years ago, although Tory did not mention it, when a Conservative premier, Mike Harris, called a Liberal an ?asshole.?
Tory helped reduce rancor for a while by giving more support to legislation introduced by the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty than Opposition parties normally give a government.
The upper crust Conservative leader also tended to couch his disagreements in unusually mild terms such as ?for goodness sake,? and ?what the dickens is going on,? which probably come naturally.
No one would be surprised if Tory began a remonstrance with McGuinty. ?I say, old chap? or told him an action was ?not cricket.?
But the inflammatory rhetoric never quite left and is getting the upper hand fast. Tory said he was ?shocked and disturbed? McGuinty did not call Prime Minister Paul Martin sooner to discuss appalling conditions on northern native reserves. Tory hit hard saying McGuinty ?abdicated leadership when lives were threatened? and dodges responsibilities so he ?drives people crazy.?
Tory said there was no reason residents should believe even one word of the Liberals? throne speech, because they have done hardly anything they said they would do, which has to be an exaggeration.
Tory said the Liberals are ?shameful? in piling up debt, although he would know the preceding Conservative government aided by claiming falsely it had balanced the books.
Tory called the Liberal government incompetent, untrustworthy and run by ?propaganda artists.?
He issued a list of its ?top 10 broken promises,? but expanded this to 50, many highly debatable.
Tory said the premier has ignored gun violence in Toronto that cost lives and that he has proven time and time again he is incapable of being straight with working families.
Tory said McGuinty has made ?government scandals? the focus of Ontario politics, although the Liberals? are no worse than predecessors.
The potentially most serious, which forced Greg Sorbara to step down as finance minister because police are investigating an allegation he
committed fraud while a company director, has yet to be proven.
Tory said McGuinty lacked integrity because he refused to drop Sorbara from cabinet more than a year ago, when police said they were investigating his company.
Tory charged McGuinty was slow to react because, despite new rumours police were investigating Sorbara personally, it took the premier five hours to announce his resignation from cabinet and replacement.
Tory claimed McGuinty has plunged Ontario into ?a crisis of confidence,? and raised voters? cynicism to an all-time high.
Tory and his Conservatives seem to given up their quest for more polite language -- it may be because they have found it does not attract an audience.
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen?s Park press gallery.
