Liberal cabinet treats membership with disdain

With the majority of Liberal leadership hopefuls stating they would not piecemeal ONTC off to the private sector, the fact that Mr. Bartolucci is racing to get rid of Ontera shows why the current regime has to go.  Several candidates have expressed a desire to review the current process of breaking up Ontario Northland and scattering the bones into the private sector.  Those candidates, and their supporters, deserve the opportunity to make good on their election platforms.  For the current cabinet to proceed with a plan cooked up under a leader with no mandate, is unethical, to say the least.  It says volumes about why the Liberal party is in disarray, with decisions like cancelling of gas plants, threatening to undermine their reputation as competent managers who care about the entire electorate.  

There are a number of people who would like to review the facts behind the divestment decision. Dr. Barry Weller, a Distinguished Research Fellow on behalf of Transport Ontario, has been trying to get information from Minister Bartolucci for a couple of months now.  Not only is that information not forthcoming, Minister Bartolucci has not even given Dr. Weller the courtesy of a response.  Again, clear signs of a broken regime, and a cabinet desperate to  ram through their agenda even though they have lost the support of their own party, in addition to the residents of Northern Ontario.

In the same vein, FONOM, the organization most representative of the Northern Ontario region, has called on Minister Bartolucci to suspend the divestment of ONTC.  Additionally, there are at least 18 municipalities who have joined in the call, Chambers of Commerce and labour groups added their voices also. Even shippers like Xstrada have concerns about the impact of this divestment on their business.  And in response to the concerted effort to suspend the process, while stakeholders and business leaders clamour for a response from the government, their only action is to issue a RFP for the sale of Ontera.  A move that will seriously affect the viability of any alternative proposal to keep ONTC intact.  

The members of the Liberal party should demand this cabinet put a hold on all major decisions until a new leader has been chosen with a mandate solid enough to move forward.