Who Wins & Loses in McGuinty's Ontario

In my column for the National Post, I discuss the various political windfalls that have characterized Dalton McGuinty's reign as Premiere of Ontario:

Politics is about who gets what, when, and how.

Let's apply that famous definition to Dalton McGuinty's Ontario: Who has been getting what?

Thanks to the Ottawa Citizen, we know that Liberal-held provincial ridings have been getting almost 80% of provincial job-creation funds. "The Eastern Ontario Development Fund - a program designed to attract new business investment - has granted Liberal ridings on average $4-million since it was created in 2008, more than twice the $1.7-million averaged by Conservative-held ridings," the Citizen reports. "In total, the fund has dispensed $40.5million, according to figures released by the province. Nearly four-fifths of that money, or 78.4%, has gone to Liberal ridings. The two highestgranted ridings belong to Liberal Cabinet ministers. Consumer Services Minister John Gerretsen's riding of Kingston and the Islands received the most, $7.7-million in provincial handouts, or 19.1% of the total. The next highest-funded riding was Prince Edward-Hastings, which belongs to Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky. Her riding received $6-million, or 14.8% of the program funding."

That's quite a payola system the Libs are operating in eastern Ontario! They are now planning a similar scheme for southwestern Ontario. And no wonder: The scheme works for them, if for nobody else.

Click here to read the full column.