On Monday the entire province got a bombshell when Premier Dalton McGuinty decided his time is up as the leader of the province and announced his resignation.
Our local MPPs, both Liberals, heaped praise on McGuinty, Michael Gravelle going so far as to call him the best premier yet in Ontario’s lengthy history.
We tend to think with the good comes the bad, and in McGuinty’s case, he could have done a lot more for Northern Ontario, particularly when it came to the forestry industry.
The province waited too long to react to the crisis in the early to mid-2000s, and while government may not have been able to prevent the crisis, it’s likely they could have done more to stop the bleeding before it was too late.
Give McGuinty credit though. His government did not ignore the North, and he also made Gravelle part of his inner circle, twice naming him to cabinet.
He raised the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation’s annual budget by millions.
But his stance on green energy has touched a nerve in Thunder?Bay, as it set the table for the ongoing wind-farm debate.
Our online readers certainly have their thoughts. Seventy per cent of the 607 who voted Tuesday said McGuinty has not been good for Northwestern Ontario.
Time will tell.
