What politicians, observers make of McGuinty’s resignation

TORONTO – After 23 years as a Member of Provincial Parliament, former Premier Dalton McGuinty officially stepped down Wednesday amid an ongoing controversy about cancelled gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville.

And the kind words from opposition politicians, which are generally reserved for departing politicians, were hard to find.

McGuinty was first elected in 1990 when he succeeded his father, Dalton McGuinty Sr., in the riding of Ottawa-South.

He successfully led the Liberal party through three elections.

Premier Wynne called him an “unwavering political force” and said his departure – coming amid controversy and a criminal investigation into deleted e-mails – is “bittersweet.”

“I know he needs to get on in his life and I also know that there are challenges that we’ll continue to face,” Wynne said. “I knew that when I came into this job. He’s acknowledged that there were things that happened that shouldn’t have and we’ll continue to do that while we celebrate the great work that we have been doing.”

Last week, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) launched a criminal investigation into the deletion of e-mails concerning cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga by Liberal staff.

OPP investigators are expected to be at Queen’s Park Wednesday to question some politicians.

WATCH: Premier Kathleen Wynne says that the Ontario Liberal Party will miss the former Premier, Dalton McGuinty.

Opposition MPs were less generous than Wynne in their comments about the outgoing former premier.

Peter Tabuns, NDP MPP for Toronto-Danforth, said only that he “respects” McGuinty’s long history of public service.

Leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Tim Hudak, was more harsh however, raising McGuinty’s legacy as a spectre that will hang over Wynne’s term as premier.

“If you like what Dalton McGuinty has done to the province, you’re in for even more of it under Kathleen Wynne,” Hudak said.

“As I said, when Dalton McGuinty basically walked off the job six months ago, closed the house down, I had my comments about Dalton McGuinty then, that he’s basically checked out some time ago, but his legacy now is continued under Kathleen Wynne.”

Hudak added that McGuinty, along with Wynne, has made Ontario one of the “weakest” provinces in the country.

“Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne have taken Ontario from being one of the strongest provinces in Canada, the one everyone came to, to find a job or start a company, and they’ve turned it into one that is deep in debt and hemorrhaging jobs and chasing investment out of the province of Ontario.”

When asked by a reporter to say “one nice thing about Dalton McGuinty,” Hudak just said he “won’t say anymore” but did add that McGuinty is leaving a “legacy of debt and waste and he’s walking out under a cloud of corruption.”

Political observers also weighed in, trying to figure out exactly what McGuinty’s legacy will be and what the timing of his exit might mean.

Adam Radwanski, an Ontario Politics Columnist with The Globe and Mail, suggested McGuinty’s supposed missteps as premier make it “damn near impossible” to congratulate advances McGuinty may have made in education, healthcare and infrastructure investments.

“Whatever it was, the most successful Ontario Liberal since the Second World War – a man who had taken his knocks early in his career, and for a long time seemed to have developed pretty good instincts – has made one of the ugliest political exits his province has seen,” Radwanski wrote.

And Steve Paiken, host of The Agenda on TVO, asked whether anyone can “recall a leadership transition that has been more poorly executed?”

Paiken added that the scandals left behind by McGuinty’s premiership are a “partially poisoned chalice” that Wynne must take up.

Those “political turkeys” as Paiken called them are last fall’s prorogation of the legislature, the cancellation of the gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville and troublesome contract negotiations with Ontario’s public school teachers.

The Toronto Star looked at six memorable quotes made by McGuinty during his 10 years as premier of Ontario, including when he quipped in January, 2013 that being premier is “the best job in the world.”

-With files from The Canadian Press