TORONTO – They’re the terrible twins of Confederation: Ontario and Quebec. Yet like two wayward, know-it-all teenagers, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Quebec counterpart, Philippe Couillard, have taken to lecturing the grown-ups about what they’re doing wrong.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, like a bemused dad, rolls his eyes and ignores them — which as any parent will tell you is the best way to deal with kids who act out.
Except these two aren’t just seeking attention. They want his money. Quebec and Ontario are the two most indebted provinces. It’s almost as if they’re competing with each other. Who can dream up the costliest program to drive their province deeper in the red? Quebec comes up with $7-a-day daycare? We’ll raise that — and see you with full-day kindergarten.
Wynne and her government use any opportunity they can to slam Harper. Clearly, they’re trying to help federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau as we head into next year’s federal election. Don’t forget, some of Trudeau’s advisers are the people who brought former premier Dalton McGuinty to power.
It’s a family thing. They’re smart at winning elections — terrible at running governments.
Once again last week, Wynne and Couillard were lecturing Harper. Wynne says the feds have shortchanged her $600 million in transfer payments.
Instead of getting this province’s spending under control, instead of cutting back on excessive spending, Wynne has chosen to lay the blame for her $12.5-billion deficit and an accumulated debt approaching $300 billion at the feet of the feds.
She likes to blame anything that goes wrong in this province on the federal Conservatives.
This province has hopelessly botched its attempt to open up the northern Ontario mining project, the Ring of Fire (ROF), for development.
For the rest of this column, click here: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/11/25/ontario-lecturing-harper-on-good-government-is-laughable