Oct 10
26
Toronto Sun – October 24, 2010
Smitherman is George of the Bungle: Blizzard Two mayoralty candidates are neck-and-neck in loudmouth bully race
By Christina Blizzard
As Toronto’s mayoralty race draws mercifully to a close, it’s been interesting to watch the anti-Rob Fordites attempt to paint him as an oaf. That’s odd, because in the many years I covered George Smitherman at Queen’s Park, I found him to be uncouth, a loudmouth and a bully. Yep, pretty well everything he’d now like you to think Ford is.
Let’s just examine the high points of Smitherman’s career. Before the 2003 election that swept the Liberals to power, he was known as the pitbull — the Liberals’ attack dog who would say and do all the nasty things every winning political campaign needs to have said or done.
Once the Liberals became government, he became health minister — and remained so for their entire first mandate. So what did he achieve? Well, the well-documented $1-billion eHealth fiasco has certainly dogged — or should I say boondoggled? — Smitherman throughout his campaign. Largely on Smitherman’s watch, the money paid out to consultants for the eHealth program soared from $886,000 to $10 million.
But there was more. While he was minister, Cancer Care Ontario, the agency in charge of improving cancer services to patients across the province, had problems with untendered contracts. In a scathing 2009 report, provincial auditor general Jim McCarter reported on $20-million-worth of work CCO paid Courtyard Group Consulting Ltd. starting in April 2006. That company has strong ties to the Liberals.
Smitherman proudly calls himself the father of the Green Energy Act. You will remember that piece of legislation, of course. It’s another boondoggle in the making. It is partly responsible for pushing up our hydro bills and forcing us all to pay massively high prices for costly solar and wind energy. On his website, Smitherman says he can’t wait to bring that strategy to Toronto Hydro. “Toronto has every right to be a global giant in creating good, green jobs right here. If I’m elected mayor, that’s exactly what we’ll do,” he says. “I will make sure Toronto Hydro is focused on doing its part and so will City Hall. It’s time for Toronto to move confidently into the future.” Oh, great. Having driven us all into poverty with soaring energy costs provincially, he now wants to double our indemnity by bringing it to T.O.