John Tory - where have you been for 10 years? And what are all these promises now?

John Tory made a fascinating statement today. Standing in front of a school in Mississauga he declared: "Not too long ago, many of us remember our local schools doubled as important centres in our community. Countless Ontario adults remember going to Boy or Girl Scout meetings, neighbourhood events or things like that at the local school."

That we did John. But you must have been out of the country and on another planet for the last 10 years. A guy by the name of Mike Harris got elected by promising to use common sense and his common sense about schools was "they operate from 9 to 4 and then they're done." To make sure, Harris then stripped away all the financial ability for schools to operate outside of those hours.

And if all those rich groups like Boy or Girl Scouts or neighborhood groups wanted to use the schools? Then, John, your PC party ordered the schools to get full cost recovery. For Boy and Girl Scouts that suddenly became a cost of $30,000 or more over the course of a year.

And guess what happened to those boys and girls and their parents and all those great activities in schools? Well of course, John - the programs dried up, all the schools were dark and shuttered and every community in Ontario was the poorer for it.

So John, where were you when all of this was going on? On Pluto? Because we never heard a peep out of you in support of neighborhood schools. What were you thinking then John, when we needed you? Kathleen Wynne, your opponent in this election, fought your Party tooth and nail. Where were you John? So what's this road to Damascus all about now, besides the need to get elected on Oct 10th? What epiphany have you had John? I hate to say Johnny come-lately but man, you were invisible for 10 years and now you have all the answers?

You went on to say this morning that "Today, in many places province-wide, we need this kind of community centre more than ever. Why is it, then, that too many of our schools, like Gordon Graydon, are not being used to their full potential?"

Well John, two things. First, thank heaven you finally seem to understand that we need these kind of facilities in use. That's a start and it only took 10 years for a Tory leader to force those words past his teeth, but good on ya, man.

Secondly, are you kidding me with the 'why isn't it happening' question? Are you kidding us all John? You don't get it? You can stand there and ask that question with a serious face? Man, you're a much bigger problem than we all thought. Just when you seem to get it, you say something that shows you don't.

The short answer John? The short answer is that your PC Party cut taxes. You remember that $200 we all got and that Harris bragged so much about? All told it amounted to about $2 billion a year, EVERY YEAR John, being taken out of the provincial budget. That's why too many of our schools are shut John. That money is still missing from provincial coffers because the Liberals haven't raised taxes to replace it.

By the way, what did you do with your $200? I haven't found anyone who even remembers, it has had such a small impact. But the people in Walkerton might have a different view, given what happened when the province cutback on monitoring safe water supplies. And people who had to wait forever to get surgery might think it was a stupid move too. It was a classic example of handing out pennies to individuals to squander and which cumulatively amounted to big bucks flying out the door and away from essential services.

So John, tell us this. You're promising to open all the schools around the province in the evenings and on the weekends. That's great. Now where will you find the $300 million to do that? Because you've promised to fund private religious schools for $700 million and you've promised to increase funding to public education.

But you promise you're not going to raise taxes. And in fact, you're promising to reverse the OHIP premium tax which currently raises $2 billion and you are promising to increase health services as well.

The guy who has derided McGuinty for breaking promises is now promising us at least $1 billion more in services - and that's on only two promises!

You're sounding desperate John. I understand. When even Christina Blizzard of the Tory Toronto Sun says your platform is a snooze and you're in the fight of your life to even win a seat in the next legislature, it does get scary. Kathleen Wynne is a highly respected Minister. She is a former trustee and community activist who always walks the walk and who always answered the call when the community needed help and a voice of reason. So we understand why you're scared John. You should be, especially in light of these goofy things you are saying every day.

Be careful John. Your promises are escalating faster than Harper's flush when he's contradicted.