Happy birthday Canada, I love you!

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In association with: Street Advisor Consulting.

Ontario taxpayers bailed out Hamilton again

Mark-Alan Whittle, The Hamilton Spectator

(Apr 9, 2009)

Re: 'McGuinty is council's fairy godmother' (Column, April 3)

After reading about the latest $16.5 million bailout for the City of Hamilton from the Dalton McGuinty Liberal government, I would like to thank the rest of the hard-working taxpayers of Ontario for bailing out our city for the fifth year in a row.

Unfortunately for the people who live here, it has allowed our local council to avoid the hard decisions necessary to right our sinking ship and balance our books without getting millions of dollars from the rest of you.

As old habits are hard to break, I look forward to next year's bailout so we can keep our property taxes the lowest they have been since amalgamation.
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In association with: Street Advisor Consulting.

Tim Hudak runs for Tory leadership

With almost half of Ontario's Tory MPPs standing with him in Toronto, Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP Tim Hudak formally announced this morning that he is running for the provincial leadership.

The 14-year MPP and Mike Harris cabinet minister says he will unite Ontario Conservatives with a shared political vision.

“I believe that when we stand united as Conservatives and speak with clarity and strength about our Conservative principles, we’re rewarded by voters and then we can make Ontario a better place,” he said.

Hudak said his campaign to replace John Tory is supported by 11 of 24 caucus members.

“They’re the individuals that know the candidates the best. I’m thrilled to have these hard-working individuals as part of my team,” said the 41-year-old.

Hudak, elected for the first of four terms in June 1995, said his record over the past 14 years stands him in good stead to take over the party reigns. He was 27 when first elected.

Hudak is a three-time cabinet minister under two premiers. He was minister of northern development and mines and minister of tourism, culture and recreation under Mike Harris. He served as minister of consumer and business services under Ernie Eves.

Fellow caucus members Frank Klees and Randy Hillier have already announced their intentions to try to succeed Tory as leader of the PC party.

Durham's Christine Elliott, the wife of federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, will announce her bid Friday.

If chosen, it will mean that the leaders of both opposition parties come from the Hamilton area. Andrea Horwath is the leader of the provincial NDP.

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In association with: Street Advisor Consulting.

PM announces new investment to help young entrepreneurs start businesses and create jobs

Young entrepreneurs who want to start businesses and create jobs will have better access to start-up loans and other business supports thanks to a new investment in the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) contained within the Harper Government’s Economic Action Plan.

We are proud to put our faith in Canada’s next generation of innovators, job-creators, and entrepreneurs,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who announced details of this funding following a meeting with young entrepreneurs in Toronto.

This investment will help the business leaders of tomorrow create new and better jobs for Canadians today.

The Canadian Youth Business Foundation is a national charity providing start-up mentoring, financing and business resources to help young Canadians, aged 18-34, create their own successful businesses. To date, the CYBF has helped fund 2,800 entrepreneurial companies.

These businesses have created $300 million in sales revenue, $69 million in tax revenue, $33 million in export revenue, and more than 15,000 new jobs. As part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Harper Government will invest $10 million in the CYBF to help them build on these successes.

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In association with: Street Advisor Consulting.

Tory's gentlemanly ways didn't work

"In defeat, defiance!" was Winston Churchill's advice. While true for a nation staring in the face of an intractable enemy, for outgoing Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory it was his characteristic poise and grace that he chose to display in the aftermath of last week's by-election loss. Sadly, his defeat marked the end of a political career that came to be defined by its unfulfilled potential and promise.

Various pundits have already drawn comparisons with Robert Stanfield, calling Tory "the best premier Ontario never had." As advisers to Tory in his early days in office, we can certainly relate. But his loss leaves as many questions as it does answers for the next leader of the PC party and for the state of political discourse as a whole.

John Tory is a fundamentally decent man. Incredibly hard-working and generous with his time, he maintained an overarching vision that all Ontarians should be given an equal opportunity to succeed in life and the tools necessary to do so. He never wavered from fighting for that ideal.
Tory didn't come to Queen's Park to make a name for himself, nor did he come for the money.

With the noblest of intentions, he entered politics precisely because he believed he could make a difference. And he did so by bringing a new way of doing politics to the table. For the Ontario PC party, it meant growing its base of support and tapping into the incredible energy and potential of new Canadians, students and urban and rural families alike.

As often frustrating as it was to try to convince him to take a more aggressive political attack, or to engage in the type of tactics that far too often drive the political news agenda, he would counter with devastatingly frank assessments of why he believed he was at Queen's Park. We quickly learned that civility was in; crass partisanship was out.

Tory never did master the sound bite. Nor did he much enjoy the thrust and parry of the partisan sandbox that masquerades as question period. But that race-to-the-bottom style of politics isn't Tory. He never wavered from his firm belief that Ontarians deserved more from those they sent to Queen's Park to represent their best interests.

His was not a mission of gaining partisan advantage at any cost, rather of attempting to show all of us – especially those of us inside the party – that a new way of doing politics could be achieved. In the end, sadly, this contributed to his undoing. The easy sound bite and casual smear may mar civil debate, but they get ink. The type of gentlemanly politics practised by Tory, while laudable, never proved effective. Strangely, voters routinely lament negative politics, but they weren't prepared to vote for the one man who made it his personal mission to change it. One need look no further than Ottawa these days to know that Tory may have been on to something.

Despite his defeat, much should be taken from Tory's time at Queen's Park. He has left a permanent mark on the body politic in Ontario. He showed us that partisanship does not define political greatness; that decency still can have a place in politics; and that working together, politicians of all stripes can act to restore some semblance of civility in our political discourse.
Ontario has lost a decent, balanced and reasoned voice at a time when we need one more than ever. We have lost a politician who was in public life for all the right reasons. The next leader of the PC party would do well to heed the fine example laid down by John Tory. They could not ask for a stronger foundation upon which to build.

Stefan Baranski
Former senior advisers to John Tory
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In association with: Street Advisor Consulting.

John Tory campaigns in HKLB by-election

He can say that again -- Obama retakes oath of office

New York Times News Service

WASHINGTON (Jan 22, 2009)

In 25 seconds, President Barack Obama became president again.

Chief Justice John Roberts re-administered the oath to Obama last night, one day after the two men stumbled over each other's words during the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol.

For their do-over, the two men convened in the White House Map Room at 7:35 p.m. for a brief proceeding that was not announced until it was completed.

"Are you ready to take the oath?" Roberts said.

"I am," Obama replied. "And we're going to do it very slowly."
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In association with: Street Advisor Consulting.

Obama flubs the oath of office as if on cue?