Outside the east doors of the legislative chambers, reporters and cameras wait for provincial government ministers to emerge following question period.
Charles Sousa, the Finance Minister, a man charged with wrestling an $11 billion deficit to the ground, walks out, smiles and leaves without a question being asked.
Same goes for other senior ministers.
But John Gerretsen, the Attorney General, is pounced on the moment he walks through the door. Will he order the OPP to take over the investigation into disgraced Toronto Mayor Rob Ford? Should a public official be taking home a paycheck after allegedly trying to buy off gangsters with $5,000 and a car? What does he think of the latest seedy allegations?
“Ahhhh, this is a matter for the police,” says Gerretsen in his distinctive Dutch drawl.
Reporters continue to fruitlessly look for some kind of newsworthy statement from the wily political veteran but he refuses to bite. Mid-way through a sentence, Linda Jeffrey, the Minister of Municipal Affairs walks by and the cameras and reporters swing away from Gerretsen like moths drawn to a brighter flame.
“Have a good weekend,” concludes Gerretsen to no one in particular. The bright lights have moved on, hunting for something, anything, about our great civic fascination.
To be fair, there is little happening on the provincial front lately that comes close to the tragicomic opera playing out down the street, but even when stripped of power and relegated to a figurehead, Rob Ford still takes up all the oxygen in the room.
The Liberals have dropped the ball on the Ring of Fire, a multi-billion dollar mineral deposit in Northern Ontario that should be creating jobs throughout the province. You ask people about it though, and all they think of is Johnny Cash and hemorrhoids.
The government also dropped a stink bomb in the form of the Long Term Energy Plan, which predicts your hydro rates will spike 33 per cent over the next three years. That’s without the $1 billion dollar cost of moving the Oakville and Mississauga gas plants. Try asking people about those and see how far you get.
But I’ll wager if you wander out to the street and ask ten people what kind of vodka Rob Ford likes, nine will answer Iceberg. The tenth is likely drunk.
How much longer can this possibly continue? How much longer will our consciousness be crowded with images of Mr Ford’s appetite at home, or his love of cheap out of date sports ties?
The answer my poor friends is months and months. Kathleen Wynne could climb the roof of Queen’s Park and shout “I’m going to make it rain!” while tossing taxpayer c-notes into the wind, and still the first question asked would be ‘what about the Mayor?’
The next municipal election simply cannot come soon enough.
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