Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty walks past his official portrait, unveiled Tuesday, with Premier Kathleen Wynne.Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press
Dalton McGuinty joked about the fate that awaits all former premiers: "First they paint you in warm and glowing tones, then they frame you and then they hang you."
The partisan crowd at Queen's Park on Tuesday night loved it. They clapped, they cheered and they gave Ontario's 24th premier sustained standing ovations as his official portrait was unveiled.
Like the man himself, the portrait, which is painted in oils, is straightforward. Mr. McGuinty is wearing a blue suit and red tie. He is sitting on the edge of a desk, and his large hands are clasped on his knee. On the desk is a box that appears to contain daily news clippings. The legislature can be seen through the window.
It has been three years since Mr. McGuinty, 60, left politics, a political retirement that has been overshadowed by the controversy over cancellation of two gas-fired power plants just before the 2011 provincial election.
He was first elected as the MPP for Ottawa South in 1990, after the sudden death of his father, Dalton Sr., who had represented the riding since 1987. He was elected Liberal leader in 1996, became premier in 2003, and served for nearly 10 years.
"I am fond of saying when I was born, I hit the jackpot. I was born in Canada to parents who loved me. It doesn't get any better, but it did," he said, explaining how he went on to marry his high-school sweetheart, Terri, raise four children and become premier of Ontario. "I believe Ontario has been commissioned by history to lead, and so we have."
It was vintage McGuinty – a little sappy, and slightly hokey.
He boasted, too, about shutting down coal plants. "We have gone from 52 smog days a year to none," he said. He talked about being the "first in North America" to bring in full-day kindergarten, and creating the Golden Horseshoe greenbelt, which he described as the "world's largest permanently protected greenbelt."
And he gave kudos to his opposition opponents, and praised people who go into public life. "Politics demands courage, passion and unwavering idealism," he said. "Yes, politics, and politicians, including this one, have their shortcomings … [but] imperfection, my friends, is no excuse for inaction."
The gas-plant scandal was not mentioned, although Miller and David Livingston, who were among his senior aides, are to appear in court on Wednesday on related breach of trust and mischief charges. However, Mr. McGuinty praised all his former staff. "My praise and gratitude are for all my staff, each and every one a person of good character with whom I had the honour to work," he said.
The audience was vintage McGuinty, too. Premier Kathleen Wynne, who served in the McGuinty cabinet, spoke glowingly of the former premier's contribution to public life and the province; former Liberal premier David Peterson and his wife, Shelley, were there, as were many current cabinet ministers, including Treasury Board President Deb Matthews, who is Shelley Peterson's sister. Many of Mr. McGuinty's former cabinet colleagues and senior staff members were there, including Gerald Butts and Katie Telford, now the two most senior officials in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office in Ottawa.
Simple is the way that Mr. McGuinty wanted his portrait, said the artist, Istvan Nyikos, whose paintings of former Progressive Conservative premiers Mike Harris and Bill Davis also hang in the provincial legislative building.
"I don't play little tricks. I paint the man, I paint the person. That's what I'm supposed to do," he said. The former premier sat for him four or five times; it took several months to paint. He would not reveal his commission, saying it cost a little more than $30,000.
He said he does not want his portraits to look like a photograph, but rather the "real person."
"They never give me instructions. I am like the outsider. I have to paint my own impression of the man … not his own, not his wife, not anybody else's," he said.