Re - MPP Randy Hilller

Adrian O’Connell | Jun 26, 2019

Our now independent, formerly Progressive Conservative,  M.P.P., Randy Hillier, an earlier victim (or possible future beneficiary) of Doug Ford's emergent incompetence must truly feel a strong sense of vindication these days as the ruling party in the province implodes amid a public chorus of booing and a feeding frenzy of chaos, internal bickering, nepotism, demotions and resignations.

However, not all is lost now that Ford and what's left of his entourage have decided, in a kind of reverse Wiarton Willie manner, to bury themselves like groundhogs until after the federal election in October. In the interim, Ontarians may enjoy a welcome summer respite from government "For The People", which promised so much but which in reality delivered little but pain and watery beer. To be fair, Ford has achieved some success. It has been remarkable, for instance, how dramatic has been the Tories' ability to cause rapid political climate change, to such a degree, that even the normal cycle of seasons appears to have been put out of kilter. Maybe it's his obsession with the Carbon Tax but, already, it has been an unseasonably early "fall", with ministers (particularly, those showing signs of turning red) tumbling like leaves around Queen's Park in June, in a manner not seen since the last ice age.

Moreover, it may be indeed true, as a songwriter in the now distant age of free love, beads and hippie environmentalism opined, that "There ain't no cure for the summertime blues", but the Ontario electorate is certainly raising a holler and, based upon recent abysmal polls for Ford, is clearly entertaining the notion of finding a cure by getting rid of the provincial 'Blues' at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, governance of the province will be largely administered by civil servants while Ford and his cronies sob into their beer while on the hot dog circuit and enter into a period of unprecedented summer hibernation, resembling paralysis, while all physical and intellectual functions will be slowed to the minimum while they contemplate how they will deal with the inevitable coming winter of discontent created by their own ill considered recent actions.

Adrian O'Connell