THUNDER BAY – Sarah Campbell fought the weather and the wind to bring a message to get MPPs back to work to Thunder Bay on Thursday. Campbell explained how the decision by outgoing Premier Dalton McGuinty to prorogue the Ontario Legislature has ended bills, including private member’s bills like local MPP Bill Mauro’s Ontario Wood proposal to an end.
“Dalton McGuinty has refused to listen,” stated Campbell. Campbell shared how the NDP view the efforts by the Premier to stifle democracy in Ontario.
“McGuinty’s decision to shut down the legislature is wholly unacceptable,” saysCampbell. “Last September people across this province elected 107 MPPs to do an important job. We are being prevented from doing that job by a government that has repeatedly put partisan interests ahead of the province’s. When the going got tough, the Liberals got going.”
In addition to killing all legislation that was before the house, the decision to lock MPPs out and erase the legislative agenda kills a committee investigation into the true costs of cancelling gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville, the costs of which now appear to be up to a billion dollars, while eliminating the important opposition scrutiny that happens during the daily Question Period.
“This is not a case of the legislature not working, as the Liberals claim,” saysCampbell. “This is a case of a scandal-plagued government realizing that the opposition has been too effective in doing its job, and instead of being held to account they took the easy way out.”
“What Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals need to realize is that the Legislative Assembly is not their house. It belongs to the people ofOntario, and we need the people ofOntarioto stand up, as our bosses, and say ‘get back to work’.”
The ‘MPPs Back to Work’ campaign urges Ontarians to apply pressure on the government to recall the legislature. People can join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, at a new website and by contacting their local MPP directly.
“The Liberal government has shown it is only interested in protecting its future results at the polls. If enough people speak up and say you’ve crossed a line, they will look at their future prospects and realize the only recourse is to reverse this illegitimate decision and get MPPs back to work,” stated Campbell.
