Roundup: No, the LG can’t threaten the premier

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Sometimes you see a terrible column, and sometimes there’s such a piece of hot garbage that you need to don a hazmat suit just to approach it and get hosed off afterward like you just came out of a leaking nuclear reactor. The Toronto Sun’s Christina Blizzard delivered one of those yesterday.

That’s right – this columnist thinks that the lieutenant governor should threaten Kathleen Wynne to shape up or she’ll dismiss her, because 167 years of Responsible Government was just a failed experiment. One lesbian first minister in this province and we’ve decided that it was too much – time to hand power back to the queen and be done with it.

You see! Voters can’t be trusted! Obviously we’d be better off under absolute monarchy again because they won’t let such terrible governments to let themselves get elected and then implement the agendas that they were elected on. It’s like the fanboys in the First Order who remember the good old days of the Galactic Empire and preferred it to the messy democracy of the New Republic.

It’s called confidence. Whichever leader in the legislature or Parliament that can command the confidence of the chamber gets to advise the LG/GG/queen on how to exercise the powers of state. Not a difficult concept.

It is utterly galling that a columnist can be so utterly ignorant of basic civics that this is the kind of utter bilge that they spew onto newsprint. We do have a problem with basic civic literacy in this country, and when you have columnists like this spreading complete nonsense out of some sense of partisanship, it gives a warped impression to people who read this and makes them believe that it’s actually normal and expected that the GG or the LG can boss around a government that you don’t like. No. Absolutely not.

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/775866168863260672

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/775866395414372352

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/775866681998635008

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/775868249749807108

So let me reiterate that Blizzard’s column is utter hot garbage. If the Sun had any shame, they’d pull it and apologise profusely for putting it out there, and Blizzard would be sent to a remedial civics course, but I doubt that’s going to happen because she’s just passionate about how bad Wynne is, or some bullshit excuse like that. So in the meantime, I’ll just leave this here:

Good reads:

  • Nothing to see here, say the NDP as they “unanimously” support Mulcair (without a vote) and the people agitating against him go to ground.
  • Now that Justice Cromwell has officially retired, he talks about his misgivings over the Nadon decision, and his plans to continue to fight for access to justice.
  • Maclean’s looks at the hearing into the conduct of Justice Robin Camp and the culture of judges policing themselves in Canada.
  • Chrystia Freeland is off to Europe to try and push for CETA ratification.
  • Kevin Page says the government needs better tracking data on infrastructure spending. The PBO says he doesn’t enough data. Government says meh.
  • The electoral reform committee wants money for modelling different system outcomes, but unless party breakups are considered it’ll be for naught.
  • Here’s a look at how building trust with the locals enabled searchers to find HMS Terror, which Parks Canada wasn’t able to do.
  • Here’s a look at the state of the law when it comes to polyamorous relationships (which is not polygamy).
  • NDP MP Niki Ashton is touring the country to talk to people about precarious employment.
  • Kellie Leitch is dismissing her critics as “elites,” which is precious considering she’s a surgeon and former cabinet minister.
  • Peter MacKay cautioned his fellow Conservatives not to take the “offensive” route to leadership, while Tony Clement bashed Christine Lagarde.
  • Robyn Urback reminds us why Tony Clement’s national security policy proposals are completely bananas.
  • Andrew Coyne muses about the fading relevance of Canada Post’s monopoly and some of their sacred cows like universal rates.

Odds and ends:

The National Post went digging into the Diefenbaker photo archives, and it’s a pretty interesting retrospective.

https://twitter.com/journo_dale/status/776169341213667328

 

6 thoughts on “Roundup: No, the LG can’t threaten the premier”

    • Interesting – thanks! I will note that the facts in that case are wholly unlike what Blizzard is complaining about in Ontario, however, which is part of why her column is such hot garbage.

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