“Now that he’s quit politics, in his new role as Newstalk1010 commentator, [John Tory] no longer needs to parse his words along political lines.

He has made the point that sometimes tax reforms such as the GST, introduced by former prime minister Brian Mulroney are unpopular, but necessary.

Still, this was a very public face-to-face encounter with his former Liberal adversary. And this has been a very bad week for PC Leader Tim Hudak. who often let his fig leaf drop to reveal his naked ambition when Tory was PC leader.

McGuinty has his game face on.”

But, as my colleague Chris would be the first to point out, a week is a lifetime in politics. We Ontario Liberals take our PC opponents very seriously – they are formidable adversaries (Rocco Rossi notwithstanding).

Still, not a bad week. We intend to work hard to ensure that Hudak has a few more bad weeks.

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…on taxation policy.

And, as Dalton McGuinty points out in the linked Star story, so too do Jim Flaherty, John Baird and Tony Clement – all senior ministers within Stephen Harper’s government.  They said the HST was the way to go, too.  So did other PC giants, like Bob Runciman.

The story is below.  I can’t wait to see how Rocco Rossi is going to fix this little communications problem!  As he always liked to remind us, he could fix anything!

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Former Progressive Conservative leader John Tory has jolted the upcoming provincial election by hailing Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s “courage” in levying the 13 per cent Harmonized Sales Tax.

“I haven’t won too many friends by saying, for example, that the HST, which many people love to hate, is nonetheless good economic and tax policy if we want to create jobs in the province of Ontario,” Tory said Thursday.

“And you know what, it took some courage to do it,” he said.

Tory — who resigned as PC leader in March 2009, three weeks before the Liberals unveiled the HST — made his comments to an influential audience of 600 people at the Greater Toronto CivicAction Summit Alliance conference.

“I’m not going to stand up and endorse him, but if you listen to my radio program you’ll know I don’t hesitate to commend him and his government when they do things that are right,” the Newstalk 1010 host said as he introduced the premier to the blue-chip crowd.

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Late entry in the contest, and worth a look:

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Middle son and I listened to this story on CBC radio this morning with delight.

Not only did Leonard Nickelray survive – he survived, he told the media, while he was listening to Pennywise and Rancid!

(Smart middle son observation: “Dad, it sounds like listening to punk rock loud was the reason he almost got killed.”  I told him I wasn’t interested in a contrarian son.)

Anyway, to equip you, too, with supernatural powers, and the ability to withstand collisions with speeding locomotives, here’s Pennywise with (naturally) ‘Knocked Down.’

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We give you Cheryl Gallant.

She’s always been a loon. She is a loon now.  She always will be a loon.

Why is anyone surprised?

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Ignatieff shows some leadership.  Good.

The other day, Chantal Hebert wrote that Harper’s secret perimeter deal would split Liberals. With the greatest of respect, she’s flat wrong. Every Liberal I have spoken to sees this pact as a potential threat to our sovereignty – whether they admire Barack Obama or not.  (And I do.)

John Manley and Frank McKenna – who will almost certainly be trotted out to defend this thing – are not in the mainstream of the Liberal Party anymore. They’re smart fellows.  But whatever they have to say about the secret deal is of no force and effect with any Grit I know.  In fact, it will propel many Liberals in the opposite direction.

What we know about the perimeter deal so far frankly stinks. In the main, the secret agreement seems to involve handing over personal information about Canadians to the Americans, in exchange for illusory customs benefits. If the Reformatories want to fight an election over their desire to integrate Canada with the United States, I welcome that. They’d lose.

Michael Ignatieff, increasingly, doesn’t sound afraid of that prospect either:

“Canadians need to know: How much decision-making authority over Canada’s immigration policy is Mr. Harper prepared to give to the U.S.? Does the Conservative government intend to yield to U.S. demands that we change our immigration and refugee system? In a perimeter security deal, who will speak for new Canadians?

On America’s other land border, with Mexico, ‘security co-operation’ has led to significant U.S. control over Mexico’s security priorities and intelligence operations. Is this the future Mr. Harper envisions for Canada?

These and other questions must be answered, but the Conservative government seems determined not to answer them. We still do not know how much the proposed perimeter security measures – including new border infrastructure and expanded digital capacity – will cost, or if they will be included in the next federal budget. We still do not know who will sit on the Beyond the Border Working Group, or when it will present its recommendations.

Parliament is the place to answer these questions, in public, in front of the elected representatives of the Canadian people.”

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“Despite making more than $100,000 a year as an MPP, [Jim] Wilson said he often finds himself “broke” at the end of the month.”

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Last week, Hudak’s office stated clearly that “if elected premier, he would not cut the health tax or Ontario’s health care budget.” Tory MPP Sylvia Jones followed that up by repeatedly accusing Liberal Health Minister Deb Matthews of “lying” for saying that Hudak intended to cut the $3-billion health premium.

By Monday, Hudak had reversed himself (and Jones). He said cutting the health premium, which costs taxpayers up to $900 per year, is still “on the table.”

“He flipped last week, flopped today,” said Matthews, clearly enjoying the chance to lob Hudak’s favourite “flip-flop” criticism of Premier Dalton McGuinty, back at him.

Amid all this flip-flop and beer talk, though, remains a more serious issue: What is Hudak’s health care plan?

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Awesome Eighties-ish tunage, sung by a guy (Adam Thompson) who I met in Ottawa’s Place du Portage 100 times every day.  My daughter and I car dance to this one.  You will too. Glaswegians.  Figures.

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