Today’s comments were selected from Marcus Gee’s column Caroline Mulroney’s testing time.
Caroline Mulroney, Attorney General of Ontario scrums with reporters after Question Period at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto, on Thursday, September 13, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris YoungChris Young/The Canadian Press
Comments about Mulroney’s legal experience are pointless. No one in this cabinet is going to against their boss’s wishes. And why would anyone expect anything else? They’ve trampled over themselves in the mad dash to allow an uneducated bully to be their leader just so the PCs can return to power, regardless of the cost. I would *hope* a few caucus members think the government’s agenda is made up of bad ideas. But don’t expect them to grow a backbone anytime soon. - JamesinTO
What bothers me most about this whole fight is how unnecessary it is. Nobody seriously questions that the province can reduce the size of Toronto council. The judgment confirmed that he can, but took issue with the timing, being during the election and therefore not providing candidates with a reasonable amount of time to adjust to the new boundaries.
The Premier could have extended the election date to sometime early next year (which the Province has the power to do) and side-stepped the fight. Justice Belobaba’s decision was quite clear that this would have worked. Instead, the Premier instantly went nuclear, attacking the validity of the constitutional role of our judiciary in his public comment and using the notwithstanding clause, which was intended to be a last resort, to get there. By going nuclear when there were perfectly sensible non-nuclear options available, the Premier has turned a minor change to local politics into an indefensible constitutional crisis.
What does this affair say about his judgement and what can we expect if he is faced with an actual difficult decision to make? - mgacampbell1972
She’s got a real problem on her hands. She needs governmental experience before she undoubtedly runs for Prime Minister in a few years, but being a key performer in Doug Ford’s madcap circus may end up tainting her personal brand forever. I’m guessing she’ll make a ‘principled’ break from Ford at some point near the end of the mandate and come out smelling like roses. - Karen Guthrie
Ms Mulroney may not know much about this country’s constitutional law but surely her department must be well staffed with lawyers who can advise her. I suspect she chose to ignore the advice. - Leonidas Baltas
Marcus: You are making a big assumption that Ford and his advisors consulted with Mulroney in the first place when they brought in the legislation the first time and that they consulted her on using the notwithstanding clause. I suspect it was more like “The Premier would like you to know that he is going to do the following. Prepare the legislation to carry out his wishes.” - J. K. Galbrath
Caroline Mulroney never held elected office prior to the 2018 election. She was parachuted into a “safe” PC seat, York-Simcoe, having no previous attachment to the riding. (She and her husband purchased a $2.5M secondary residence in the area only weeks before her nomination was announced.) Previous to that, her only relevant political experience was an 18-month stint as a director with the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority. Lisa Raitt, then Harper’s Minister of Transport, appointed her fellow Conservative and personal friend in spite of the fact that Mulroney had no ties to the Windsor area and only 30 months of (tangentially-related) work experience in the previous nine years.
It says a lot about Mulroney that she felt qualified to run for the leadership of the PCs early this year. How could she have thought she was “ready” to be premier of Ontario? A family name (she remembered to drop the “Lapham”) and connections to powerful, monied folk don’t make up for a flimsy resume. Her unpreparedness for present situation at Queen’s Park comes as no surprise. - Kate8882
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