“We’re breaking new ground for Transit City thanks to the recent investment from Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Government’s Move2020 initaitive.”
As my hastily snapped and poorly framed camera phone picture of the advertisement above shows, the TTC and City of Toronto have done for Dalton McGuinty what he could not do for himself: give the premier personal credit, in the form of an advertisement, for funding many of Toronto’s Transit City lines.
Back when McGuinty was leader of the Official Opposition at Queen’s Park, he relentlessly attacked then-premier Mike Harris for producing blatantly partisan ads with taxpayer money. During the 2003 election that brought the Liberals to power, McGuinty vowed that he would legislate an end to using the public purse for shameless self-promotion.
To his credit, that was one of the election promises McGuinty actually kept. Introduced in 2004, the Government Advertising Act bans government funded advertisements with the “name, voice or image of a member of the Executive Council (Cabinet) or a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario unless the primary target audience is outside Ontario.”
Now I’m all for saying thank you — and that’s exactly what Mayor David Miller did on behalf of Toronto at the April 1, 2009 funding announcement (and on many occasions since). But quite clearly, the above advertisement would contravene the Act if the provincial government had paid for it. So why are the City and TTC going out of their way to help McGuinty skirt his own law?
Plus, now that McGuinty is playing games with Toronto’s streetcar purchase, I’ve got another message I want the city to send his way.
21 comments
If anyone is to be publicly thanked, it should be the Lieutenant Governor. One of the reasons to have a constitutional monarcy is to have a non-partisan public head of state (or province).
Construction starts this year?
Is that a typo, or did Sheppard get funded?
@brad ross I hope this wasn’t your idea. It deeply irritated me on my way to work to hear that over the tannoy.
Just how much money does Dalton have?
The Star’s Queens Park columnist, Jim Coyle, wrote a column in Wednesday’s paper on this very topic, including a couple comparisons to the “Harris government” PR machine.
Ad revenues are down and the Ad agencies aren’t selling all the spaces. The TTC under the contracts with CBS and Astral are entitled to a certain number of inhouse ads so realy this campain isnt costing anyone money other than the costs associated with producing the signs. They act as promotion for the new projects and give credit for spending on infrastructure. In the economic downturn, why not give credit where credit is due?
Hmm…where have we heard this before?
“Thanks to the leadership and inspiration of Comrade Stalin, this year’s grain harvest will be the richest ever!”
It does seem there are more in-house ads these days than usual (or maybe they just stand out more because some of the spots for paid ads are being left empty). I think this one would be fine if it simply left out “Premier Dalton McGuinty”.
It’d be interesting to know who worded this ad. I assume it wasn’t directly approved by the Commission…
There’s no pleasing some people no matter what, but I have to say this is one of the most progressive provincial governments that I can remember, and I think they deserve support.
The credit may be due to the team rather than just the premier but I myself had write to him and thanked him for certain initiatives (re: green energy act, standing up to NIMBYs)
I’m not a Liberal, just an ex-NDPer who thinks that someone’s doing somethings right.
“why not give credit where credit is due?”
Because it isn’t due to any one person. Should we express gladness that the Premier failed to condemn us to economic and civic gridlock? Relief is the appropriate emotion, given the capriciousness that same man and his minion Smitherman are showing on the downtown streetcar file. Should we ignore all the other political and non-political actors in the government? We need to get away from the media-inspired cult of personality that has infected modern government, not run in its direction.
The message is very clear, replace and expand the streetcar fleet or there will be virtually no streetcar service by the end of the 2010s. Already the CLRVs that were rebuilt in the late 1990s are showing advanced signs of wear which makes the situation all the more urgent. I guess when the transit city lines open there will be no LRVs to ride on, thanks Dalton!
This ad has a long way to go before it’s as bad as the Harris era’s prime-time TV teacher bashing. And Stalinist propaganda? Lazy!
Pointlessly naming an elected leader in an announcement of a project is hardly new and shocking — what’s the difference between this and a bronze plaque informing us of who the mayor of Timberville was when they built the gazebo?
(“Cult of personality?” We’re safe from that with McGuinty…)
Considering all the bull he gets, I’m glad to see some positive recognition to Dalton. He ain’t perfect, and on a level I am thinking it is time for him to go, but he is arguably the best premiere we’ve had since Bill Davis.
The point has nothing to do with whether Dalton McGuinty is a good premier or not. The point is that it’s inappropriate for a public agency to be spending public money on what is essentially advertising for the leader of one political party.
Also, the fact that the TTC would think funding new streetcar lines is worthy of this kind of special thanks shows how pathetic we still are in our attitudes towards transit funding. No municipality would broadcast ads personally thanking Dalton McGuinty whenever the ministry of transportation funds a new highway within its boundaries – everyone realizes that’s just MTO’s job. Similarly, it should just be an unremarkable part of the province’s job to fund needed transit improvements.
I think there is a big difference between a Premier spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a series of fantastically self-aggrandizing TV ad buys, on the one hand, and a municipality acknowledging a Premier for a specific intergovernmental funding arrangement using its own ad space in a relevant context (inside the transit system) at nominal cost (printing & installing ads).
Other than the unusually personal shout-out to McGuinty these don’t bother me.
Uh, guys, you can’t catch all the flies with vinegar — you need honey sometimes too. This is a very nice gesture of friendship from Miller to McGuinty, and I think this sort of quid pro quo is very smart. I really do think this gesture increases our chances of getting streetcar money.
I would like to thank the Liberals for planning to become the largest new single source of pollution in Toronto thanks to the Georgetown and Newmarket line expansions. Thanks, cough.
Oh, yes, those evil Liberals, replacing thousands of tiny sources of pollution with two small ones. Dastardly.
You’ll never see me thanking anyone for a transit plan which lacks any new subway lines or major expansions within the city. Why would I be thankful for inferior transit?
That Mike Harris sure lowered our expectations dramatically when it comes to transit expansion.
Look at the logos on the ad. This is not self-serving propaganda by the province, this is the city (surely not altruistically) thanking their funding partner.
If you look carefully, you can see a subtextual middle finger raised at the federal government.
Full 4 days above our head very low are flying jets. Why they fly over city, but not over lake? Some days ago two btlarussian jets crash during the same international air show. I am filling very bad all of these days and my blood pressure is uprise.Please, stop terrorise the people.