You Know What They Say About Paranoia...

"No!!! Whataretheysaying? Didtheysaysomething??? Whosaidit??"

Not sure why they felt the pressing need to be there but, from reliable sources, Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson and Community and Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur "tagged" along to observe Ontario PC Leader John Tory's reaction to Thursday's budget while in Ottawa on Friday.

Tory and Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod called the presser to draw attention to Dalton McGuinty's ongoing neglect for Eastern Ontario.

Perhaps someone's feeling a tad insecure this weekend....

Ontario Budget: No Soup For You, Big Salad For Me

As expected, an election budget it is. As Ontario remains oblivious to the 50 or more broken campaign promises of 2003 (as psychologists assert that the human mind cannot "remember" pain), the same issues are being addressed four years later and wrapped, packaged and sold as "Thank God, the knight has finally ridden in on his fast white horse to save the day!!!"

Gee, thanks Dalton. Y'er R Hero!!

The truth is, the time honored Liberal tradition of promising to get elected, not delivering once elected and then announcing to stay elected is as healthy a practice as it's ever been. One need not be a clairvoyant to predict what was going to be in the budget. All that's required is a glance in the mirror to recognize the formula at work.

Below are just a few of Thursday's precursive headlines.

Children and Low Income Families Focus of Ontario Budget

Ontario Budget Expected To Appeal To Voters

Liberals hint at minimum wage hike in Thursday's Ontario budget

This headline from the Ottawa Citizen is quite interesting(McGuinty owes his political life to Jim Flaherty), in that the first line subjects Ontario PC Leader John Tory to the persona of Cinderella's ugly step-sister. Politically, while the optic makes McGuinty look responsible for George Costanza's "big salad", it is merely the feds delivering on the fiscal balancing act. What remains is to see, how quickly over the preceding 72 hours, Dalton McGimme's budget re-writes worked to reflect the federally generated winfall and truly reveal the vote-buying spirit. I bet the ink wasn't even dry at delivery hour. Much like Quebec, though, the timing is merely serendipitous.

But, for the Tories, it's no reason to panic from a campaign standpoint. Dalton may have conveniently blamed lack of balance on some issues, but breaking the majority of your election promises is still inexcusable. Voter's have to ask themselves: "Is he going to shaft me next?" It's something the PC's will have to constantly remind the electorate over the next few months and, with the help from the NDP howling the same message, strategically lay out the positive platform planks and set the agenda.

Back to the budget.

After losing safe seats in by-elections, Dalton has suddenly realized that there are more than one million Ontario children living in poverty and is now providing $2.1 billion through an Ontario Child Benefit over five years. But he's essentially just re-announcing earlier promises to boost funding for Best Start day care initiatives and children's mental health and treatment centre needs.

His affordable housing announcement of $127 million still falls short of his promise to provide 20,000 more units over the course of the term, of which only 7400 have been approved so far.

Starting to see the formula at work now?

On the health care file: Dalton McGuinty’s re-announcement of 1,750 new long term care beds won’t deliver needed beds until December 2009, just in time for his planned mid-term report; a reality succinct in describing the Liberals' modus operandi.

And, while Dalton has spent over $20 billion in less than four years, little has been seen done in many regions of Ontario, notably his own bedroom of Eastern Ontario and, specifically, Ottawa.

No plans to assist with a new and much needed conference centre, no infrastructural assistance for rural communities within Ottawa, no funding assistance to relieve our east-west traffic congestivity, a cut of more than $100 million from the agriculture portfolio, and no help in offsetting the $20 million dollar deficit suffered by the Ottawa Carleton Distric School board, all will play a major factor in the continual decline in McGuinty's approval rating in Eastern Ontario.

And so a government's term draws to an end and the first fixed-date election campaign begins in earnest. So begins the necessary task to do what it takes to remind voters of the past, open their eyes to the present and capture their imaginations for the future. In doing so, there exists the strong potential for a Tory government at Queen's Park on October 11, 2007.

It Works On So Many Levels

While Monday's federal budget has indiscriminately set people's knickers in a twist (what budget pleases everyone - even the ones with something for everyone?), I've already begun to see transpire what I anticipated from the beginning. It was a minority budget with political impetus. But this one was delivered with just a little more confidence in its substance than merely from a government desperately clinging to power.

This was delivered not with desperation but with aspiration. It was a strategically designed document, underscored and preluded with a number of Conservative Party positional adjustments over the past several months; each one, including the climate issue, gradually nudging the other parties off the pedestal of sole ownership and advocacy.

In a minority government, one can always expect indiscreet spending. But beneficiaries of this budget were specifically targeted to, not only woo approval and support from the electorate but, more importantly, leave the opposition reeling as they frantically re-script their ad-libbed howls of protest and, best of all... divide and conquer.

Its seeds are already yielding desired results.

I heard the announcement today on CFRA in my car early this afternoon that Stephane Dion is further burning his bridges within caucus by booting MP Joe Comuzzi for breaking ranks and doing the only thing he could do for his constituents, who will but benefit from this national fiscal initiative.

"It's for a single issue that's of absolute critical importance to all the people in Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario, and that's the cancer research centre ... and hopefully it's going to be funded in this budget," he told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live on Tuesday.

The centre would bring 300 jobs to the struggling city on the shores of Lake Superior. "To vote against it, every citizen in Thunder Bay would be tremendously upset with me," Comuzzi said.

It's only a matter of hours before we see the whip come out to keep the troops in place for the upcoming vote, which - while a "given" to pass with Bloc support - is more Dion's narcissistic statement to, not only the House, but the government and (pathetically) to himself, that he's in charge. It's more important for him to flex his will to promote his perception of control, despite his potential surprise at what the budget delivered. His headstrong position will naturally preclude any Quebec Liberal MP's from supporting something that their province has been long waiting for. So, before them: a career choice more imminent than they had anticipated. Not all of them are at the end of their political road with nothing to lose. Many tonight, I'm sure, envy the luxurious position Joe Comuzzi is now in.

In the process, Jean Charest is now charged with finessing the biggest electoral surge of his life if he's to continue as premier of Quebec. Stemming the separatist campaign ebb will, perceptually, represent the lack of desire that Quebecers share to revisit sovereignty. Mario Dumont's ADQ, on the other hand, will be getting a good look and, as a federalist party, will present a much safer and more conservative option for Quebecers in the future.

As for the NDP, they'll always say the budget doesn't go far enough for working families. But even they, this time around, are having difficulty convincing themselves that it's a bad budget.

And, while the opposition parties are now regrouping from this week's events, the dance resumes to new music. The Clean Air talks, as I heard this afternoon, have been called off due to another political impass over unrealistic Kyoto targets.

Meanwhile, mild mannered opposition leader Stephane Dion slips into a centre-block alcove and struggles with his new tights and cape as he prepares to launch his "own" get-tough-on-crime campaign to claim IT as his own.

But as he emerges from the parliamentary bowels, his trusty sidekick, Iggy, notices that a part of his costume is on backwards and cries out, "Your CODPIECE!!!!!"

An obliviously confident hero replies, "Not now! Beside right next! Hi dunt like fish, hanywayz!"

..... as he stumbles off into his own sunset.

As the Prime Minister, his cabinet and caucus continue about their evil scheme to keep getting things done for Canadians............ it keeps working on so many levels.