Do Dalton's Liberals Think Anything Through?

File under if these guys were Conservatives...

Joanne, over at Joanne's Journey, has been posting about the new Dalton-day here in Ontario. Family Day was granted unto Ontarions the day after the election last fall, as a gracious payoff for electing the Liberals without them having to earn it. It is a statutory holiday that will fall on the third Monday of February every year (Feb 18 this year). The problem is there was no consultation with affected groups. If you are unionized and have a collective bargaining agreement, chances are you are out of luck for the holiday, or will give up a far nicer floating holiday.

Unmentioned in many reports on this is many companies have contracts to fulfil and are returning to those with whom they have contracts trying to renegotiate deadlines. Others, who supply just in time parts, will have no choice but to operate. This is, in short, a big headache for the manufacturing sector, which is supposedly already in crisis.

Where's the CAW crack protest squad when they can be useful?

If this was it, one bad law rushed through, it could be ignored Unfortunately it's becoming Dalton's MO. Consider the street racing law. To combat street racing, anyone going more than 50KM an hour over the speed limit automatically loses their licence and car for a week and face a minimum fine of $2,000. Which takes us to Wednesday:

An 85-year-old motorist lost his licence and his Oldsmobile for a week and likely faces a hefty fine after becoming the oldest person snagged to date by Ontario's stringent crackdown on street racers and highway speed demons.

The man, whose name was not released, was making his way Wednesday along Highway 407 north of Toronto when he was allegedly clocked doing 161 kilometres an hour -- 61 km/h over the posted speed limit.

An 85 year old man, who was going shopping, is now a street racer. Casting a rather wide net , aren't we Dalton?

While the top two are examples of laws that got rushed through, and are thus carelessly written, the following example was, in fact, a long drawn out process. Back on September 17th a new law came into effect that would open adoption records. The government took a couple of years, heard many different views, ridiculed the dissenting ones, and passed the law they wanted all along. This law did not have a crucial "disclosure veto," that allowed somebody to opt out of having their private information passed along if they specifically requested it. Other jurisdictions have had such laws previously, and the disclosure veto was never an issue. But to the Ontario Liberals, it was an issue. Against the advice of their own privacy commissioner, they went ahead and passed the law sans veto.

Within two days, Two Days! of the laws assent, it was struck down on September 19th by an Ontario Court of Justice, specifically because it did not have a disclosure veto. New legislation was introduced in December that includes the crucial veto.

Three examples of laws passed by Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, three examples of poorly thought out laws, in two cases hastily done. There must be a better way to govern.