Jilted At The Altar

The time before an election can be very tense when a politician does all kinds of things to be re-elected, especially when there is a good chance of losing.

Why didn't we get "tunnelling" (which has now been abandoned) and a new East End arena before the municipal election!

Soon we have a provincial election, and Sandra and Dwight need their jobs, while we may have a Federal one too with the chance of a few local seats changing.

Let's deal with the Provincial election today since we know we are having one in October.

Was Eddie ever going to run provincially? He said he was NOT going to do so.

But did he nevertheless pull an Ernie on John, flirting, giving out signals he was interested to see whether it was worth it for him to consider doing so?

Was Eddie the "reluctant candidate" or was John Tory's visit used as tool to pressure the Liberals to ensure Eddie did NOT run against Sandra (or perhaps Joyce Zuk) and to give Eddie what he wants on the arena and border file.

Poor John Tory. Why would a Progressive Conservative leader ever come to Windsor of all places? He knows that no PC could ever win here. Did he come all the way down to Windsor thinking that he had won the hand of Eddie Francis as a candidate in Windsor West.

Instead, was John jilted at the altar as Eddie ran to the waiting arms of the Super Bowl/Grand Prix man, Roger Penske?

Is a job in private industry with big dollars and various perks and benefits even better than a political Cabinet position that might NOT happen? A political run for an upper-level position can happen a few years from now after one's bank account is filled. I heard that one of our local politicos was considering that exact same route. Did Eddie learn from him/her?

Didn't Eddie do something similar to Ernie Eves a few years ago when Ernie came down here to coax him to run for the Tories? Interestingly, there was a fund raiser in town that John came down to speak at but try and find anything about it in the media (other than the local media) or especially on his website.

Isn't that very similar to the meeting with Dwight Duncan and Infrastructure Minister David Caplan that took place a few weeks ago? It was for local consumption only

It would appear that Eddie came to the conclusion that the Progressive Conservatives could not win or that he could not beat Sandra (or even Joyce Zuk) even with the help of Gord Henderson's slamming. When push came to shove, Eddie learned he needed the Province to close the deal with the call centre jobs.

Or was it more...was a deal struck between the Liberals and Eddie to get him not to run, perhaps when Duncan and Caplan were here and now Donna Cansfield is firming up details?

It seems to me that Eddie has been very chummy with the Provincial Liberals. He and the Province, especially with Michael Kergin, the Provincial Border Czar, have been "bestest buddies" against the Federel Government for a long time. Eddie and Donna Cansfield have had a tete-a-tete recently dealing with the transportation hub. And on CKLW, Eddie said he recently had a great 2 hour working session with the Province to which I doubt if the Feds were invited.

Is it just me or does someone else see the fine hand of some desperate people involved in what is going on in Project Ice Track in Tecumseh due to the upcoming election? Was the death of Project Ice Track the proof of the Eddie-Liberals deal?

As Councillor Valentinis said before dealing with arenas

• "There is no question there is a much bigger agenda here."

Let me ask a bunch of questions:

• hasn't the Government given a lot of money already to Windsor but has received no gratitude for it
• isn't there some concern that other areas of the Province will be upset if Windsor gets more money for an arena but it still has to be done for election purposes
• if money was given to Windsor for its arena, wouldn't money have to be given to Tecumseh as well
• is the Provincial Cabinet that crazy to give millions to two arenas
• if Dwight wants to be re-elected, how would he explain money to Windsor but not to Tecumseh when his new riding has the Town of Tecumseh in it
• haven't the Liberals taken a beating over the arena
• Didn't Councillor Halberstadt say "Caplan told the media at the Chamber of Commerce Breakfast that there is no money for an arena, although I still wouldn’t rule it out as the government tries to buy voters with their own money as the election grows closer."
• isn't having the Project Ice Track arena die the best way to get over the arena issue and getting the Star off your back

Did that happen?

Here is what the Star reported the other day:

• "[Tecumseh] was also concerned the Ice Track didn't have a "site-holder" agreement with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming commission, which is necessary to move the slots to Tecumseh.
  
  The town was going to borrow $15 million to put toward the project, and cover the $5-million cost of water and sewer services, which it planned to pay off with slots revenues.
  
  "What makes the project viable from the town's perspective is the revenue being generated by the slots," said McNamara. "There was a responsibility for the Ice Track proponents and OLG that they had to come to an agreement."
  
  Kruba said the track has OLG's permission to move the slots. The town is "relying on a very specific condition" that isn't necessary this early in the process, he said, adding that town representatives were present at meetings with the OLG.
  
  OLG spokeswoman Teresa Roncon didn't return calls Wednesday.
  
  Meanwhile, Windsor Coun. Dave Brister said it's good news for Windsorites that the slots, and their $2.4 million in annual city revenues, are staying put.
  
  He said 10 per cent of the take goes to programs for children and the other 90 per cent goes to capital projects."

Here is what Gord said in his column:

• "Cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello also win. With a provincial election on Oct. 10, you can be sure neither wanted to explain to city voters how millions in gaming revenues, including school breakfast money, had been ripped away from a city with daunting social problems and handed over to a prosperous bedroom community.
  
  Also relieved, surely, is the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission. Battered by embarrassing revelations of misconduct and ineptitude in its lottery ticket operations, which resulted in the forced departure of its CEO and a scathing indictment by the ombudsman, the last thing it needed was to be embroiled in a nasty local struggle which could have forced it to squander millions of dollars moving its slots just a few kilometres."

Looking back in history, didn't Gord say:

• "Close to 14,000 Windsor children from low-income families and struggling neighbourhoods have benefitted over the last 20 months from the raceway slots revenues that well-heeled Tecumseh is trying to hijack.
  
  Lost amid all the snickering over how the city got snookered by Tecumseh in the arena wars is this sad reality: Windsor kids will be the obvious losers if the town succeeds in snatching the roughly $2.4 million the city receives annually as its share of slots revenue...
  
  And I wonder how our Liberal cabinet ministers, Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello, can look themselves in the mirror after greenlighting this outrage perpetrated on their most defenceless constituents...
  
  It boggles the mind that Pupatello, who has thousands of social service recipients and countless poor kids in her Windsor West riding, is refusing to accept any blame.
  
  Pupatello knows full well she and her cabinet colleagues could, if they had the guts, make it clear to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission that the slots money must stay where it will do the most good for the most people, right here in Windsor."

Why does this all make me suspicious. The Star said on April 4:

• "the town’s last meeting with Ice Track proponents was March 8, but issues jeopardizing the agreement had been festering before that.
  
  The town was troubled by the lack of a “site-holder agreement” between Ice Track and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission (OLG) which would be necessary to operate slots in Tecumseh."

This is a huge project. if there were all of these "festering" problems, why wouldn't the parties be talking? Why were there no discussions to prevent the deal from dying? Then CAO Greg Keating of Tecumseh left his job.

It is all very mysterious to me.

Here is the giant Easter goodie however that seals part of the Eddie-Liberals deal as quoted in Friday's online Star:

• "Arena cash
  Province poised to announce $3M or more for Windsor's new arena complex
  
  
  Ontario’s government is poised to announce Windsor will receive between $3 million to $5 million to help fund its new east-end arena."

One last thought...If Tory was jilted or played, we in Windsor better hope that he is not the new Ontario Premier!