Is This Dwight Duncan’s Last Hurrah

One cannot tempt Fate so many times and always win. Sometimes one gets burned. Even a cat only has nine lives. Is this now the end for Dwight as Minister of Finance?

Oh Spanky…why are you doing this? Your political career, after seemingly being over, has skyrocketed. As I Blogged previously:

• “Dwight Duncan has already had a near death political experience a number of years ago with his meltdown on CBC television at a Liberal Leadership convention. He's been able to resurrect his political career and is now in the second most important job in Ontario and is one of the key politicians across Canada.”

And now you are jeopardizing your future in becoming Premier of Ontario, a Federal Cabinet Minister or even the Prime Minister of Canada. For what?

Let me explain.

Do you remember the big fight between Councillor Gignac and our Provincial Ministers. She wanted them to lobby on our behalf but they refused using as their excuse the Members’ Integrity Act. In case you have forgotten about the letters that Dwight and Sandra sent, I have posted a copy of them.

Why they took such a strict interpretation of the rules that they could not even help Windsor with a tree research project. Dwight was so concerned to be seen giving support because it

• “could reasonably be considered as attempting to influence or interfere in a decision, contrary to the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994.”
  

Just to emphasize the point, our two Ministers wrote to the City again saying with respect to the border access road:

• “As you are well aware, Council has been advised repeatedly that as Ministers of the Crown, it would be inappropriate for Minister Duncan and Minister Pupatello to comment on specifics of any proposal for a new border access road, including Greenlink, before a final recommendation is selected by the Detroit River International Crossing study. To do so could be interpreted as an attempt to interfere with, or influence the process, which is contrary to the Members’ Integrity Act.” [emphasis added]
  
  

That is about as clear as it gets in my opinion. So what does Spanky do? Does he follow what was said in those two letters? Hardly. We are still at the Draft stage, not the Final one, and things could change drastically because of the Ontario Realty Corporation warning about environmental issues. Yet, Gord Henderson tells us:

• “'We're so close you can smell it and taste it," confided a provincial government insider who believes Queen's Park and Windsor are just "tweaks" away from a win-win border infrastructure agreement.
  
  The insider said Mayor Eddie Francis and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, who've had a rocky relationship for some time, shared a ride to Toronto's Pearson International Airport two weeks ago that was helpful in clearing the air and giving each a better understanding of the other's position.”

I do not understand this at all. Was it just the two of them, Eddie and Spanky, in the car talking about different things? What were they talking about:

• Greenlink and DRIC road resolution


• $75 million for the Tunnel deal with Detroit


• paying extra money so that the Tunnel Plaza Improvement project could be completed


• Brighton Beach and the Windsor Jail


• Other financial matters such as the canal project?

I know those are a lot of subjects. However, if the President-elect of the United States and world leaders can have 10 minute phone conversations and resolve issues, then given all the time that it takes driving from downtown to Toronto Airport should be more than enough time to resolve these minor matters.

What was Sparky thinking? Doesn’t he know that a disgruntled Member of the Opposition could jump on this and demand that he resign? It could lead to an investigation under the Members’ Integrity Act. Dwight’s letters would be used as evidence of a possible impropriety that he committed.

After all, Eddie Francis is not just the Mayor of Windsor but he is also a border proponent who is competing with the Ambassador Bridge Company for traffic at the Tunnel. He obviously has an interest in ensuring that the DRIC Road does not go to the Ambassador Bridge but rather goes to a plaza at Brighton Beach so that he can sell the property to the Federal Government and prevent the Bridge Company getting more traffic.

Here are the relevant provisions of the Members’ Integrity Act:

• Preamble
  
  3. Members are expected to perform their duties of office and arrange their private affairs in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of each member, maintains the Assembly's dignity and justifies the respect in which society holds the Assembly and its members.
  
  4. Members are expected to act with integrity and impartiality that will bear the closest scrutiny.
  
  Conflict of interest
  
  2. A member of the Assembly shall not make a decision or participate in making a decision in the execution of his or her office if the member knows or reasonably should know that in the making of the decision there is an opportunity to further the member's private interest or improperly to further another person's private interest.
  
  Insider information
  
  3. (1) A member of the Assembly shall not use information that is obtained in his or her capacity as a member and that is not available to the general public to further or seek to further the member's private interest or improperly to further or seek to further another person's private interest.
  
  2) A member shall not communicate information described in subsection (1) to another person if the member knows or reasonably should know that the information may be used for a purpose described in that subsection.
  
  Influence
  
  4. A member of the Assembly shall not use his or her office to seek to influence a decision made or to be made by another person so as to further the member's private interest or improperly to further another person's private interest.

I hope that no one gets mad at me because of this. Even my inside moles did not know about that car trip together and you know how good their information usually is.

Don’t blame it on me if Spanky is forced out. Blame it on that “provincial government insider” who probably thought that he/she was doing Spanky a favour. Instead that person should have kept his/her mouth shut.

With a friend like this… why if I was Spanky, I would phone up Henderson and demand to know who that person was.