Playtime Is Over

He does not like Laurel Broten's slam! He does not like it, Sam-I-Ham!

“You cannot expect that it will be business as usual in schools going into the new year,” said Sam Hammond, the head of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

“You cannot legislate goodwill and you cannot impose goodwill upon my members,” he said.

“You will not erase the stain of Bill 115 by simply repealing it after it’s been used.”

OK, so apparently we need to clarify a few things here. This is a Liberal government. They will always have the benefit of the doubt. They decide when and where loosening of restrictions on alcohol will take place. They decide when it's time to coddle the unions and when it's time to stomp them into the ground.

But the teachers unions will continue to throw their tantrum, we all know. They will kick and scream and whine about how unfair it all is and inconvenience everyone in the process. Yawn. If only CUPE hadn't caved and agreed to the government's demands, then maybe everyone else would have had a leg to stand on. 

Only a Liberal government can do this, I am quickly realizing. They can raise taxes on the rich, or they can break unions with a single stroke. Maybe Stephen Harper should have sent Dalton McGuinty or whoever is supposed to be in charge of Aboriginal Affairs in the Ontario Liberal government to resolve the Idle No More protests, because Lord knows that nobody is ever going to blame a Liberal for the plight of aboriginal Canadians.

I just checked, and poor old washed up Chris Bentley, is actually Aboriginal Affairs Minister in Dalton's cabinet. Remember when he was a contender for Dalton's job? How times change. How the not-really high and mighty are brought low.

Which reminds me: the big bad teachers unions got powerbombed by Dalton at a time when he and half his cabinet is either running for leadership or not running again, and when no business is being conducted in the Legislature. If the government never came back to do business, would anyone care? Where exactly is this government being run from, anyway? 

The Liberal leadership candidates who pledged a better relationship with Ontario teachers sure don't have a lot to say about this latest development. I guess we all know what their status is in the OLP pecking order, don't we?

You know, I think back to this time last year when people were grumbling about how anyone could have beaten Dalton McGuinty.

Who still thinks that today? Anyone?