An Orange Tide for Ontario??T

hThe Ontario election campaign has barely begun but we have already seen the two frontrunners get bogged down in a bizarre issue.

Liberal Premier McGuinty has promised a tax credit to companies that hire foreign trained professionals.  Conservative leader Hudak has labelled it affirmative action for "foreigners".  Not true replies McGuinty, it is meant for Canadian citizens who were foreign trained but have been in Canada for less than 5 years.  Hudak has been accused of being divisive.

I find this whole issue and the reactions rather bizarre.  I don't like affirmative action as a matter of principle but I'm not sure this qualifies as affirmative action.  That being said, labeling Canadian citizens "foreigners" is completely offensive.  Am I Canadian because I've been a citizen for longer than 5 years or am I still somewhat of a foreigner?  I've always thought that when one becomes a Canadian citizen, you are Canadian from that day forward.  That being said, if this is such a great idea, why did Dalton McGuinty wait until an election campaign 8 years after he took office to present this great idea???  He could have presented it and implemented it at any time during the past 8 years.

This whole debate makes both of them look silly.  It's possible that the voters of Ontario will decide that both of them are right....about the other and vote for neither.

This silliness has created an opportunity for Andrea Horwath to woo disaffected voters.  It has been decades since Ontario's disastrous experience with an NDP government.  Former NDP Premier Bob Rae is now the leader of the Federal Liberal Party and the face of the NDP is now Jack Layton.  In other words, the NDP brand in Ontario has been completely washed clean of the Rae years by Jack Layton's success and Rae's defection to the Liberals.

It is very early and the leaders debates have yet to happen.  If Andrea Horwath can introduce herself to the voters and show that she is ready for prime time, she could pull off an upset.  The ground is fertile, can she step up and seize the opportunity?