It was baptism by fire for newly-minted Mississauga-Erindale MP Omar Alghabra when he sat too close to Mayor Hazel McCallion, the sun around whom all Mississauga politicians must orbit.
The new Liberal MP, who is still getting his feet wet after his Jan. 23 election, probably figured he was out of the line of fire Friday morning when he attended the Mississauga Board of Trade breakfast briefing on the Ontario budget handed down the day before.
There is no refuge in Hazelville.
In comment period, McCallion, who was sitting two seats away from the MP, rose to her feet to complain that it's time the feds recognized their responsibility to spread some of the largesse from their surpluses to the bottom feeders at the municipal level.
"I never see our MPs out to these meetings," said McCallion, who admitted later that she had seen Alghabra come in. (Aren't you just dying to hear the mayor mangle his name the first time she has to introduce him?)
"Hey Omar, where's your name tag," yelled Mississauga West MPP Bob Delaney to the rookie.
The MPPs were all beaming at the site of Alghabra enduring the rookie hazeling that is inevitable for any politician here. They've all been through it themselves.
As any good politician would, Alghabra took the opening the mayor offered and ran with it. He introduced himself and talked about how he wanted to bring new ideas and energy to job, including "being the voice of Mississauga to Parliament. I realize the onus is on me to do that."
The real voice of Mississauga had already spoken, of course, but Alghabra earned Brownie points for doing and saying the right thing. He even managed to look comfortable in the line of fire.
He's already got the verbal art of deflecting the blow down pat.
"I didn't think it was directed at me," said the target of the mayor's comments after the meeting. "I accepted it for what it was," he added graciously. "Madame Mayor is an excellent role model to all public servants."
He said it with a big smile on his face. The kind of smile you used to see in the schoolyard when a new kid had just ducked an overhead right from the big tough guy in Grade 8.
Comments (3)
I saw that hansard on your blog and i just had to comment on it,
The flaw in the argument that Gallant makes is that those children didn't just slip into nice daycare centers or into the arms of family members who can take them all along.
Post Soviet economies have been very rough in Hungary and the rest of the former soviet union.
Many of the parents are struggling just to find jobs and when they have them they often don't have the money to send the children to formal day care.
With the collapse of many of the former Soviet union the state care systems have lost money and can take on fewer kids (if any).
I'm not saying that i support the soviet model of child-care but i am saying that those 40,000 kids she mentions didn't all go into nice "capitalist" child-care centres or easy arrangements with family members.
Posted by OJ | April 12, 2006 10:36 PM
Posted on April 12, 2006 22:36
For Immediate Release April 11, 2006
Gallant Defends Parental Choice in Childcare
Ottawa, Ontario…”The debate over childcare in Canada must be honest and factual. If the opposition parties think that setting up rookie members of their caucus to ask incorrect questions that distort what is said in the House of Commons will fool the Canadian public, they are wrong,” stated Cheryl Gallant MP.
“During my Reply to the Speech From the Throne I made reference to the observation that in those countries that emerged as democracies from the embers of the old Soviet Empire, childcare usage has fallen dramatically. In an illustration from the Fall/Winter IMFC Review, Comparing Canada’s family policy to other nations, author Peter Shawn Taylor refers to the example of Hungary.
During communist rule (1949-1990), the predominant feature of the national family policy was factory-provided daycare. During these years, childcare was seen as a means to boost the female labour supply and increase economic production. In 1980, there were nearly 70,000 Hungarian enrolled in formal daycare. Since the collapse of the Soviet Empire, child care usage has fallen dramatically in Hungary due in part to greater preference for at-home care. In 2000, the number of children in formal child care stood at 30,000.
EDITED HANSARD • Monday, April 10, 2006
Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, Conservative): Mr. Speaker, It has been recognized, even by the defeated Liberals, that the problem of allocating billions and billions of dollars for a day care program with no control on how that money is eventually spent is the greatest weakness in the top down approach to government programs. So much for providing benefits directly to the children. The drive to provide Soviet style institutionalized day care is being pushed from the top down, not the other way around that has been suggested by the opponents of giving parents choice in child care.
I mention this specific example to illustrate that for the previous 13 years, Canadians had been saddled with an interventionist government that without a doubt has been anti-family. The worldwide trend away from Soviet style institutionalized day care has been very pronounced in those countries that were formerly part of the old Soviet empire and are now democracies. Our plan to provide benefits directly to families is in tune with the experience of other democratic countries.
EDITED HANSARD- Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Mr. Omar Alghabra (Mississauga—Erindale, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Conservative member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke said that the Quebec model of child care, adopted by the former government, was a soviet style child care. Is this the position of the government or will the Prime Minister apologize for these remarks?
Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his maiden question.
He did talk about Soviet style child care. I would observe that after 13 years in office over there the Liberals had not created any child care spaces. They had not given any money to parents. I would say their plan did crumble, just like the old Soviet Union.
‘30’
Posted by Jim | April 11, 2006 11:55 PM
Posted on April 11, 2006 23:55
Alghabra is an interesting MP.
He doesn't come from a political background and is one of the youngest MP's elected in the city's history. (is Navdeep Bains younger?)
He's an intelligent person but i got the impression at the UTM politician's debate that he was still developing the "political speaking skills" (for lack of a better word) that many of his colleagues had mastered from being on the hill for many years.
He will be an interesting person to watch when the nasty political cauldron we call Parliament is recalled.
Posted by OJ | March 28, 2006 8:17 PM
Posted on March 28, 2006 20:17