Tomorrow Marks One Year of Broken Promises and Weak Leadership

Progressive Conservative Party Leader John Tory said tomorrow’s one-year anniversary of the Caledonia occupation is an opportunity for Ontarians to look at Dalton McGuinty’s mistakes over the past year and ensure they don’t happen again.

“Over the last year in Caledonia we’ve seen embarrassingly weak leadership from Dalton McGuinty,” said Tory. “Caledonia residents have suffered while Dalton McGuinty has broken promises, allowed a complete disrespect for the rule of law, and refused to show some leadership to do everything possible to end this situation. The McGuinty Liberals have completely mismanaged the Caledonia situation and set a dangerous precedent.”

Some of the lowlights of Dalton McGuinty’s Caledonia approach include:

· Negotiating while the rule of law was being ignored;

· Saying one thing and doing another by stating one day his government would only negotiate if two conditions were met, but then backing down 24 hours later without the conditions satisfied.

· Responding to an illegal occupation by using taxpayers money to buy the land and allow the protestors to stay on it without any conditions whatsoever;

· Refusing to divulge the cost of the ongoing occupation for months and having a Cabinet Minister respond to questions by saying “it will cost whatever it will cost.”

· Promising residents financial compensation months ago and an end to the occupation by winter, and then breaking those promises, leaving residents in the lurch;

· Downplaying the situation by saying it was happening “largely without incident” and having Ministers tell people “there is no occupation.”

Unlike Dalton McGuinty, who hasn’t gone near Caledonia since the occupation began, John Tory has been there six times, including staying over one night at a resident’s house. The resident, Ann Marie VanSickle, praised Tory and said: “He did what our elected leaders would never do.”

Tory said: “Ontarians deserve leadership that isn’t going to ignore their pleas for help in tough times. If Dalton McGuinty breaks his promises and abandons Caledonia residents in this type of situation, who knows what he’d do during a crisis elsewhere in the province?”