Playground talk

Premier Dalton McGuinty was visiting with kids in the playground at Oakville's Oakwood Elementary School when Grade 4 pupil Bethany Pehora, 9, told the premier: "We heard bad commercials about you on the radio," evidently referring to Conservative ads.

"Change the channel," McGuinty suggested.

What were you doing Feb. 8th?

Obviously, someone from the campaign of Liberal candidate Laura Albanese in York South-Weston was asleep -- and may still be snoozing away.

Unless they've fixed it by the time you read this, her web site at votealbanese.ca comes up under the header line at the top of the screen as "Re-elect Laura" in the Oct. 10 provincial election.

Problem is, voters in the long-time Liberal riding voted for New Democrat Paul Ferreira in a byelection last Feb. 8 after veteran Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Joe Cordiano left politics.

At least Albanese's web people got it right on the main page of the site, which says "Elect Laura."

The NDP said it won the riding because of the government's reluctance to push the minimum wage to $10 hourly and a 25 per cent pay increase for MPPs that was rammed through the Legislature just before Christmas.

Albanese is a former newscaster at OMNI-TV.

Street racers, beware Uncle Michael

That's Uncle Michael, as in Michael Bryant, Ontario's attorney general crusading against deadly street racing.

So imagine his glee at being the cover boy of auto parts magazine Performance in Motion.

The trade publication asked rhetorically, "Has Michael Bryant gone too far?" with the A-G's recent comment that he will pre-emptively seize a car and crush it if government lawyers can prove in court the vehicle was tricked out for street racing.

Bryant go too far? It's never stopped him before. Just ask your friendly neighborhood pit bull.

 

Methinks he doth protest (but not too much)

Dressed in a suit and tie, environmentalist Glenn MacIntosh didn't look like a protester.

That's probably why he managed to get off a few lines attacking Dalton McGuinty on Monday as the premier announced Ontario's target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to do it," the 39-year-old founder of Ecosanity.org yelled as he was frog-marched out of a convention hall by security officials.

After receiving a warning from police and being released, MacIntosh admitted the event was his debut "shout down" of a politician, prompted by concerns that leaders must take more aggressive action to fight climate change.

While such demonstrations were relatively common during the tumultuous years Mike Harris's Progressive Conservatives were in power, it was one of the few times McGuinty has been interrupted in such a fashion.

Still, the premier didn't appear fazed by the outburst.

"I'm proud of our democracy and I support that gentleman's right to make his point," McGuinty said to applause from the audience.

Persona non grata

Liberals wasted no time erasing MPP Tim Peterson from their consciousness yesterday.

Barely five hours after he announced he was quitting Ontario's governing party to run as a Progressive Conservative in next fall's election, Liberal apparatchiks printed up new full-colour posters with head shots of their 68 caucus members.

Absent was Tim Peterson, brother of former Liberal premier David Peterson.

So quickly were the posters rushed off the press that the ink was still tacky when they were delivered to Queen's Park reporters.

For David Peterson, the defection was particularly galling, which makes it all the more ironic to note he attended an event for the president of Liberia at the University of Toronto yesterday with dignitaries including Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, whom he helped lure from the Conservatives.

Feeling each other's pain

Premier Dalton McGuinty had some words of solace for his new best-friend-forever Prime Minister Stephen Harper after Ottawa doled out $1.52 billion for transit infrastructure in the Greater Toronto Area on Tuesday.

When the Star's Richard "The Badger" Brennan dared to shout out a question to McGuinty -- in violation of Harper's heavy-handed media strategy -- the premier turned to the PM and flashed a grin.

"Let me just take the opportunity to offer you my deepest sympathy. I understand that Richard Brennan now finds himself on Parliament Hill," said McGuinty.

"But to make matters even worse, he's assumed responsibility as president of the press gallery there," quipped the premier.

"My deepest sympathies."

Harper seemed almost overcome with emotion at the kind gesture.

"Well, thank you for that," beamed the Prime Minister.

Brennan, who badgered McGuinty for years at Queen's Park, is the first person to have been press gallery president at both QP and Ottawa.

And, no, McGuinty did not answer the question because Brennan wasn't on Harper's sanctioned list of questioners.

Oops!

Here’s something that makes you wonder if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

When Premier Dalton McGuinty and his cabinet decided to change next fall’s general election date to Oct. 10 this week, they forgot to change it in copies of "a personal message from Dalton" to hundreds of delegates to their weekend policy convention in Niagara Falls.

In both official languages, it still has the old election date of Oct. 4 — the one that stood for two years before they realized it fell on a Jewish holiday.

In the letter, McGuinty encourages delegates to "engage in a dynamic exchange of thoughts and information."

Let’s hope they get this date thing figured out in time.

Bing Crosby, Eat Your Heart Out

    The courthouse Christmas tree kerfuffle has prompted two Progressive Conservative MPPs to combine their satirical wit in a song.
    John Yakabuski, known for his ability to carry a tune, and Tim Hudak, not known for his ability to carry a tune, wrote up this ditty sung to the tune of the old standby, O Tannenbaum: 

---

Let Us Free the Christmas Tree!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Where can we find your branches?
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Where can we find your branches?

You used to shine in the main hall,
Then they hid you behind a wall.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Where can we find your branches?

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Why must we hide your message?
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Why must we hide your message?

The judge has turned this into a wreck,
By insisting we’re politically incorrect.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Why must we hide your message?

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
We’ll fight to gain your freedom.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
We’ll fight to gain your freedom.

We’ll bring you out from behind the door,
And put you where you were before.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
We’ll fight to gain your freedom

Written by: John Yakabuski and Tim Hudak

PSA Must Stand For Partisan Self-serving Announcement

Given that Education Minister Kathleen Wynne is bracing for the fight of her political life in Don Valley West, where she faces a challenge from Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory in the Oct. 4, 2007 provincial election, perhaps she cannot be blamed for issuing the following press release:

Education Minister Kathleen Wynne Issues PSA

	    Holiday Season A Great Time To Read With Kids

	    QUEEN'S PARK, Dec. 19 /CNW/ - Education Minister Kathleen Wynne is
encouraging parents to spend time reading with their kids during the holiday
season.
	    Radio stations across Ontario are requested to air the following public
service announcement:

	
	        This holiday season, spend some time sharing the joy of
	        reading with your kids.

	        Reading with your children is one of the best things a
	        parent can do to help them succeed.

	        Education Minister Kathleen Wynne wishes you happy holidays
	        and reminds everyone that children who learn to read for
	        fun in the early years are much better prepared for school
	        and life-long learning.


	    Ministry staff are available for interviews on the value of reading to
children.

	    Disponible en français

Headline: Just wait for the punchline

John Tory found himself in an odd situation at a recent banquet for Chinese-Canadians in Markham, a riding his party would dearly love to win in an upcoming by-election.

The Progressive Conservative Leader was asked to read aloud from the podium a letter to the crowd from Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Tory thought about the irony for a moment and agreed, reasoning he was the only MPP at the event.

He read the letter verbatim, even the stuff about what a great job the Liberals are doing, without blinking an eye.

Then he ad libbed a post script after reading McGuinty's salutation.

"P.S. John Tory's a great guy."

Tory sent a note to McGuinty in the Legislature the other day relating the tale.

"It was the only line that got any applause," Tory insisted to reporters. "I told him (McGuinty) he should try it more often."