The Waffle-Master© Strikes Again!

Anothger Hudak flip-flop, it seems.  From the Owen Sound Sun Times, February 21st:

PC Leader Tim Hudak has said that he wants to end the monopoly on beer and liquor sales by allowing the sale of alcohol in private outlets like corner and grocery stores.

From today:

Tory Leader @timhudak won't commit to his earlier policy to sell beer and wine in the corner store. #onpoli
— rjbrennan (@rjbrennan) February 24, 2014

Although I'm not sure this is a flip-flop; it seems more like a waffle.  In fact, I think its fair to say that there is no policy that Tim Hudak will advance that he is unwilling to walk back when the heat gets high.  Remember this one?  He is indeed the Waffle-Master©.  And at this rate, if they call an election for May, he may not have anything left to run on.

PS.  I've trademarked the term.  Say it and you owe me a nickel.

Hudak Tories In Wind Waffle

Lisa Thompson, Tory MPP for Huron-Bruce, introduced the  Ensuring Affordable Energy Act in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.  Its a private member's bill, but everything Thompson has said about it, for example her comments here, suggest that it is now the PCPO's de facto position on the matter.  From the assembly records:

The short title of this bill is the Ensuring Affordable Energy Act, and that’s exactly what this bill will do. This bill states that wind turbines will only be placed in willing host communities and municipalities will be given a full veto. Wind power must be affordable, meaning the cost per kilowatt hour must line up with other sources of generation. The costly Feed-in Tariff, or FIT, program will be eliminated. Municipalities will have the ability to decide whether or not they want to promote wind energy. The Niagara Escarpment and Oak Ridges moraine will be protected from wind turbines, and municipalities will receive their planning powers for renewable energy back.

What's important to note here is what is NOT in the bill: a moratorium on wind farms  (either permanent, or  until Health Canada reports back on the issue in 2014).  This is a 100 percent climb down from the word Hudak's MPPs were giving out not even three months ago.  Here, for example, is Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton on the topic:

 …we realize that when we make the commitment, we’re not going to build them, if they’re not built. So scrap the 50,000 projects that are in the queue.  We realize that there is going to be a cost, our lawyers have told us that there are opt-out clauses and we sure as hell are going to pay those out because it’s going to be cheaper to pay them out than to honour contracts for 20 years. So we’ve been clear that we will not going ahead with however many projects are left, if we’re fortunate enough to form the next government after the next election. But clearly there will be a cost associated with that, but it will be cheaper to buy them out than to honour them for 20 years.

What's behind the flip-flop?  We can only speculate, of course, but there is the issue of cost.  As noted through the link, unwinding thousands of wind farm contracts would likely cost into the millions.  There is also the fact that the anti-wind forces do not seem to command quite the numbers they used to.  This report, for example, and most reports re the protesters dogging Premier Wynne's tour of rural Ontario, put them at about 80, but its a pretty sad looking 80, and when one of them is wearing a placard that references the Nazi swastika...

...Tim Hudak may be finding them a little easier to ignore than in past.

Ontario Budget 2012: Winners, Losers, And Mega-Losers

 1) Let's start with the mega-loser in all of this: Tim Hudak and the PCPO.  Tim could have got something from  the government in exchange for seeing this budget through.  Instead he removed himself from the process 39 minutes in and got nothing.  The other two parties walked  away with tangibles.  Tim walked away with dick.

2) Let's move on to the second biggest loser: Tim Hudak and the 1%.  Are you of the 1%: rich, indigent, a follower of Ayn Rand that thinks the proles should go fuck themselves?  Tim Hudak and the PCPO betrayed you.  Tim was off in the corner somewhere wanking it two-fisted while the NDP and McGuinty Liberals did the hard work of compromise to make this province work.  No reason to blame McGuinty; he's trying to govern.  No reason to blame Horwath; the NDP is about what the NDP is about.  Yo rich dude, its Hudak that let you down!  That 2% surtax could have been 1% if Tim had just been in the room, negotiating on your behalf.  Hate the dorky capitalist before you hate the clever socialist.

3) Let's move on to the smallest winner:  Andrea Horwath.  She got  compromises.  Yada yada yada.

4) But let's conclude with the biggest, most awesome winner:  Dalton McGuinty.  He buys himself a year of free governing.  The economy continues to improve.  His position solidifies.  Hudak and co. go from opposing him on the basis of grand economic philosophies to stalling anti-bullying legislation so as to pander to Catholic radicals and homophobes from their own back-bench.  Tim tried winning on that issue last time, and it flopped.  McGuinty, should he choose to run again at the head of the Ontario Liberals, can probably start looking to rent another hall for his victory banquet.

Tim Hudak Is The Waffle-Master

 Has anyone ever heard a Tim Hudak Presser that hasn't ended in exactly the same way? He takes a position:

“I think we’ve got a responsibility as a provincial government to help break gridlock,” said Hudak, who would repeat the word no fewer than three times during his roughly six minute address. “Money’s on the table. It’s the biggest investment in Canada. So let’s do it right. Let’s invest in subways.”

And then he walks it back:

When asked about how exactly such a subway plan—while serving all proposed routes—would be financed, however, Hudak was unable to provide an alternative funding model, and he rejected any suggestion that the province should spend more than the $8.4 billion it has already promised Toronto for transit projects.

He's like one of those sun sensitive snails. He sticks his head out. He sees the light o' ideological clarity.  He withdraws.