Who should voters really punish?

The Toronto Star is pimping the idea that the Ontario NDP should be punished for “forcing the election.”

This perspective is really a work of fiction when you look at the details.

Blame game

For one, Kathleen Wynne wasn’t exactly bending over backwards trying to get NDP support for her confidence bill (the 2014 budget.)

Instead of reaching out, she ran attack ads against Andrea Horwath before the budget was released. She also abandoned all three NDP policies legislated in her 2013 budget.

Second, Tim Hudak has been trying to bring down the Liberal government as soon as it formed after the 2011 election. He wouldn’t even bother to look at legislation before vowing to vote it down.

Good ol’ First-Past-the-Post

Suffice it to say, all three parties were involved in political jockeying. This is what parties do in a minority situation, instead of govern — thanks to our corrupt and undemocratic voting system, First-Past-the-Post.

(In the developed world, multi-party coalitions form the government and actually govern! They usually serve out the entire 4-year election term without any nonsense.)

Issue of punishment

But getting back to the issue of punishment, the Liberals are so hot and heavy for.

What about the Liberal party trying to buy a majority government during 2011 campaign with $1.1-billion of taxpayer money by shutting down unpopular gas plants they commissioned?

You can buy a lot of $80-million “forced elections” with $1.1-billion.

And it’s not as if Wynne was not connected to the scandal. She was at the heart of it. She was McGuinty’s campaign co-chair and her signature was on related documents.

Conclusion

Maybe the Liberals — and their shameless promoters masquerading as journalists — should be careful what they wish for.