VASELINE POLITICS CONTINUES AT QUEENS PARK

Blizzard grades the politicians at Queen's Park 27

By Christina Blizzard ,QMI Agency

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Grade: C

Say what you want about Hudak, he was smart not to support the budget. From the outset, he said he couldn’t vote for a government that has racked up so much debt and so many scandals. In hindsight, he looks like a genius. While Horwath now looks awkward voting for a government, Hudak’s hands are clean. He’s also been formulating policy and finally has something of substance to promote as opposed to simply criticizing the Liberals. Still, some observers are wondering where he is. He doesn’t make himself available to reporters after question period and often seems absent on key issues.

Deb Matthews
Grade: C-
The health ministry seems to be a law unto itself, what with the eHealth scandal and the Ornge air ambulance fiasco. Yet no heads ever roll. Matthews is one of Wynne’s closest advisers and helped bring her into the premier’s office, so don’t expect her to depart any time soon. You have to give Matthews marks for actually getting doctors to hold the line on fees. She’s also made savings in other areas.

Liz Sandals
Grade: D-
Must think she’s a teacher and the rest of the world are kids to be lectured, because she talks down to people big time. It fell to her to climb down from the tough line her predecessor, Laurel Broten, took with the teacher unions. Frankly, I had more respect for Broten for actually showing some backbone.

Charles Sousa
Grade: D
A smooth operator with a radio-announcer voice, behind the avuncular style, though, is yet another out of control Liberal spender. His budget shamefully pandered to the NDP and will add $40 billion in debt over the next two years.

Christine Elliott
Grade: A-
If she’d won the Tory leadership, you have to believe she’d be the province’s first woman premier by now. Yes, she’d have been handicapped by the fact she’s married to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Voters might have balked at giving one family all that power. The Whitby-Oshawa MPP is respected by politicians of all stripes. Talented and smart, she’s being used more and more at Tory news conferences to put a softer face on the party. As health critic, she shows compassion. She led the charge to get out-of-country health benefits for Whitby tot Liam Reid.

Vic Fedeli
Grade: B
The Nipissing MPP works hard as energy critic to hold the Liberals accountable on the gas plant scandal.

Frank Klees
Grade: B+
Gotta give high marks to the Newmarket MPP who was the driving force behind the revelations of Ornge air ambulance mismanagement.

Peter Shurman
Grade: C
Dubbed the Shurmanator, the Thornhill MPP is a quote a minute as finance critic. Hyper at times, perhaps he should skip the third coffee.

Jagmeet Singh
Grade: B+
He gets full marks for work on the insurance file. He’s a smart young man with a big future. A snappy dresser, the Bramalea-Gore-Malton MPP also has impeccable manners — routinely shaking hands with reporters before he launches into a scrum. Hard to believe he’s a New Democrat at times.

Peter Tabuns
Grade: C+
First person to pick up on the deleted e-mails scandal and asked the privacy commissioner to probe it.

Michael Prue
Grade: C+
Gets marks for sponsoring a private member’s bill that would stop “tip-outs” and allow wait staff to keep all their tips.

Dave Levac
Grade: A-
Have pity on the guy who’s had to keep this riotous minority Parliament in some kind of order. He’s had to cope with contempt motions against his own party, and some tricky change-of-administration issues.

TORONTO - The raucous, rocky spring session at the provincial legislature has lurched from one crisis to another — from gas plants to a “will-she-won’t-she” tease about NDP support for the budget.

It’s expected to wrap up on Tuesday when MPPs head home for the summer barbecue circuit.
Your kids will be getting report cards soon, so it’s appropriate to hand out scores for our politicians as they head for the hills.

Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath:
Joined at the hip, they’re the terrible twins of budget madness.
With Horwath propping up the Liberals on the budget vote, it’s hard to tell them apart.
We’ll give them a Double F. And no, that’s not a bra size.

Wynne and the Liberals are spendaholics. Horwath and the NDP are their enablers.

Horwath says she wants a $195-million job strategy? Wynne gives them $295 million.

Horwath has once again pledged support for Wynne’s scandal-plagued government — so she flunks both math and ethics at the same time.
Wynne may be trying hard to distance herself from Dalton McGuinty and the scandalous cancellation of the gas plants and ensuing deletion of e-mails by senior staff.

Fact is, though, she was a major force in that government and wears it.

For the rest of the report card, see the photo gallery.