Somebody somewhere has some incriminating photos.
September 6th the Tories finished third in a by-election in Kitchner-Waterloo that was probably their only chance at turning their minority into a majority. The Liberal poll numbers are in the dump—Tories at 37, NDP at 35, Grits at 20, Greens at 7.
The government is coming close to being found in contempt of Parliment (see post 11), the province is hugely in debt, and the government is fighting with the public unions—not a good place for a liberal party.
Last Wednesday the education minister indicated that a recently passed anti-bullying law would be used to prevent the teaching of the Catholic position on abortion in Catholic schools (the minister, as well as McGuinty are Catholics of course). The Cardinal in Toronto hit back the next day. My own bishop issued a letter to be read at all Sunday Masses within the diocese indicating that the Church will continue to “defend her legitimate autonomy from outside organizations which attempt to define the content of Roman Catholic teaching [the Minister of Education of the Government of Ontario had been named by title two paragraphs earlier]”. I’m fairly sure that my Bishop has the best backbone of any Bishop in Ontario, so he may not be facing quite so stiff a resistance everywhere, yet, but on the whole things are a mess.
My guess is that the Liberals know that they will get walloped next election, and while they will try to hang on as long as possible, possible doesn’t look too far off. They are better going into a new election with a new leader who may gain a bit of experience, hoping for a minority government, and maybe making a comeback the following election or the one thereafter.