Tory the promise breaker

So let's talk about broken promises.

The man whining the most about broken promises is John Tory. So let's see how he's doing in keeping his own promises.

When John ran for the leadership of his party he said he thought there needed to be a new civility in the way politicians conducted themselves.

That would be nice.

So how's John doing?

1. He's been impugning the Premier's honesty for months, implying that the Premier has failed to live up to any commitments and distorting the government record in every portfolio. He meets a woman on two crutches who is waiting for surgery and translates that case into horrendous wait times in hospitals. He knows that is not true - wait times are significantly down. He can argue they should be down further but that is not nearly as inflamatory or worrisome to people so he distorts the facts.

Strike one.

2. John has made promises which he acknowledges leave $8 billion to be found to avoid a deficit, an amount he has said he will find through "efficiencies". Well, where are they? To find that kind of efficiency would require the laying off of 120,000 civil servants. Do we have that many civil servants? Or if not that, then what? Another Walkerton? More turmoil in our schools and hospitals?

Strike two.

3. John said he would never go negative in political ads.
Have you seen the Jane Creba ad? Jane Creba was the young student who was murdered on Boxing Day during a shootout on Yonge Street in Toronto. This despicable ad has created a crime site with flowers and a teddy bear and a picture of a young white female victim up on a window in the background. The Tories are claiming it has nothing to do with Jane Creba but was meant to stand for all victims.

So why choose a white girl with long hair? All of the murder victims in Toronto of this kind have been black youth, with one exception. Jane Creba. Coincidental? I think we get the picture here.

You made a big deal John out of your Dad's views on a handshake. These three promises speak to integrity, to honor, to believability. Your answer in number 1 is dishonest and hypocritical. Your answer in number 2 simply isn't believable.

But the Jane Creba ad is beneath contempt. This is entirely in your control. You approved it before it could be run. Your decision, like your decision to ridicule Prime Minister Chretian's face in the 1993 election, shows an ugly and cruel side of you that we have not seen before. Once, in 1993, might be attributed to bad judgment. Twice is a behaviour pattern.

Quite frankly, when it comes to choosing a premier, give me a premier who breaks a promise for what he believes to be the better public good than a premier who stoops this low and inflicts more pain on a family in order to gain a politicial advantage.

You had a choice about the Creba ad and your choice speaks volumes about your personal integrity, your political judgment and your fitness to be premier.

Strike 3.