Sly Ontario grits insert a gold ringer

It’s so tempting to punish the Ontario Liberals for foisting Dalton McGuinty on us. With a byelection in the works to replace MPP George Smitherman, who is resigning his seat to run for city mayor, we should have a chance to slap the Grits for the multiple evils McG has imposed on our city and province.

We should be able to express our disdain for McGuinty—co-author of the July 1, 2010 Magic Tax that costs nobody anything—by dumping the Grits in the upcoming vote.

However we’ll have to forgo that pleasure. The sly ruling party has inserted a most worthy replacement for Smitherman, who represented his local constituents well. Glen Murray, a former mayor of Winnipeg who earned a sterling reputation as a big-city municipal leader and is now an active participant in Toronto’s civic life— and a genuine progressive—is being put forward as the Liberal candidate for Toronto-Centre Rosedale.

He has a true interest in governance and a wealth of experience. Nobody in the other parties can touch him, for many good reasons, and he’s a bona fide resident of the ward, living on Mill Street.