X Marks the Spot

This is not what they mean by "October surprise."

***

Stick a fork in John Tory.

He's done.

As one angry source said to me earlier today, "This was about principle. What happened to the principle?"

At least when Tory was going to fund faith-based schools because he thought it was the right thing to do, you had to give him credit. Whether you agreed with his plan or not, he was the only one offering a solution to the problem of discrimination in public education funding. He was the only one not hiding from the problem.

Now he has joined McGuinty and Hampton, who have been holding the Constitution in front of their faces thinking no one can see them.

Tory's new stance is that, if elected Premier, he'd hold a free vote on the issue. A free vote on this issue is highly unlikely to pass. In fact, it's all but doomed to failure.

Tory would need to win a majority, which seems way out of reach right now. Not only that, he would need a huge majority since 15 or so of his MPPs would likely vote against funding faith-based schools.

In the 107-seat legislature, he'd probably need about 70 seats.

It's not going happen. He knows it's not going to happen. He has sacrificed the principle, which is even worse than having principles the voters disagree with.

This turkey is cooked. The election is over.

PHOTO: John Tory's platform. Too much thinking involved.

John Tory was Kim Campbell's campaign chair in the 1993 federal election campaign.

It was, by all accounts, one of the most inept campaigns in Canadian history, and Campbell was hindered further by the fact her predecessor Brian Mulroney had handed her the reins to beaten, nearly-dead horses.

One of the reasons those sick and broken horses died on the campaign trail was this oft-quoted pearl of wisdom from Campbell herself: "An election is no time to discuss serious issues."

Those words killed her. Problem is, they're true, and Tory, who should've known better, is finding out just how true.

There are two complex issues in particular that fooled with the basis of who we think we are.

The first was his offer to fund faith-based education. Granted, he said he was going to do it back in February 2006 at the party's policy convention, but he knew it wouldn't matter until the election, when people actually started weighing policies.

Tory's plan takes a lot of time to understand and a lot of time to think through. One has a gut reaction to it, and, if one has the time to do the research or read the newspapers, one may then have an intellectual reaction to it.

There are two reasons why people don't like Tory's plan:

1. Most of us think of ours as a society that can bring in people from all over the world, learn about those people, learn with those people, and create a society in which all of us, regardless of creed, colour, birthplace, or religion, have the same opportunities and can live peacefully together. Together is the key. Tory talks about inclusion and making these religious schools part of the system, but the students would still be learning in separate classrooms, with separate teachers, with only students who look like them and believe in what they believe in. In Ontario, and Canada, we mix it up. We learn about each other, and learn to respect and live with one another. People think religious schools destroy that idea of Canada.

2. Some of us think of ourselves as a country and province that already does too much for and gives too much money to special-interest groups. In this case, and in most of these cases, this argument is racism in disguise. There are many racists amongst us, though.

The second thing Tory started talking about was opening up private health care clinics for procedures with long hospital waiting lists, and allowing doctors to work at both hospitals and private clinics.

Patients would still use their health cards at these clinics for the services, but the idea still doesn't sit well with Ontarians. There is a gut reaction against it, and though there are valid arguments to be made for such a plan, most people will not get past the idea that private health care means American health care, and that's bad.

Sadly, in order to win votes, plans have to be easy to grasp and involve little thought. Stephen Harper's plan last federal election to cut two percent from the GST, even though pretty much every economist said it was a dumb way to cut taxes, played well. He stood there with an easy-to-understand sign, explained the policy in one sentence, and everybody nodded comprehendingly.

I don't agree with Tory on how he wants to fix Ontario's problems, but I like that Tory is questioning the way we do things, and that he's making us think.

Unfortunately, it's simply not going to fly. He should have listened to his old boss - an election really is no time to discuss policy. It is, instead, a time to state as simply as possible as little as possible.

Today's Mississauga News editorial telling voters to reject the mixed-member proportional electoral system is wrong. Completely and inexcusably wrong.

There are many problems with it, and I will list them and argue against them below.

FIRST PROBLEM: "We believe the election process as it stands works just fine."

If you live in Mississauga and you vote for the NDP or the Green Party, you're wasting your time. You should stay home. There is no chance the party you support will win the riding you live in.

Democracy does not want you. In fact, our current form of democracy outright ridicules you. You are a naïve, pathetic laughingstock.

Use the time you would use to vote to read a good book or enjoy a slice of cheesecake. At least you can consider the time used as productive.

Your other option, if you feel like making your vote count, is to vote strategically.

Knowing only the Liberal or Progressive Conservative candidates actually have a shot at winning Mississauga seats, you can vote for one of them. Sure, you might not agree with the platforms of either party, but at least your vote will help decide the outcome of the election. Vote for who appears to be the lesser of the two evils on offer. If you end up voting for your Progressive Conservative candidate, who is likely to lose, and he or she does, in fact, lose, then, well, your vote was also wasted, and you might as well have enjoyed that cheesecake.

This is why we need to change our electoral system. We have a system that alienates and disenfranchises huge numbers of voters. We have a system that tells people they do not matter.

Every single vote should matter.

Across the ridings that covered Mississauga in 2003, 53 percent of the votes cast meant nothing. In no way did they contribute to the make-up of the legislature.

If you're all right with that, vote to keep our current system.

It is a system that, in 2003, gave the Liberals 70 percent of the seats, and 100 percent of the power, even though they only had 46 percent of the popular vote.

It gave the Tories 23 percent of the seats, even though they received 35 percent of the vote.

And most horrifically, it gave the NDP, who earned 15 percent of the popular vote, just 7 percent of the seats.

Our current system is despicable. It silences the voices of voters.

SECOND PROBLEM
"[The current system is] soundly based on the foundation of representation by population - one person, one vote."

Yes, we all get a vote, but for most of us, as stated above, our votes don't count.

THIRD PROBLEM
"Our current system justly allows the candidate with the most votes to represent us in the Legislature."

That's true, but it will also be true in the MMP system. We will still have our local candidates, elected in the same way they're currently elected. Plus we'll have candidates elected at-large whose seats will be used to balance out the legislature to reflect the actual desires of the electorate.

FOURTH PROBLEM
"[The current system] gives the victorious party a clear mandate to govern the province."

Actually, it doesn't. The winning party acts like they have a clear mandate from the people, but, in fact, more voters cast ballots against the parties that win than vote for them.

FIFTH PROBLEM
"Our biggest fear under the MMP proposal is that it will take power out of the hands of voters and place it in the hands of party officials who, without being accountable to the public, will be prone to backroom deals and cronyism."

In many cases, power is already in the hands of party officials. Just ask the people who were told they weren't allowed to run for the Mississauga South nomination because floor-crossing MPP Tim Peterson was being appointed to the riding by John Tory.

Or tell it to Masood Khan, who was pushed out of the race when PC headquarters brought in Ravi Singh to run in Mississauga-Brampton South.

Or tell it to the people of Mississauga-Streetsville, who had an out-of-town candidate parachuted in for the federal election in 2004, then watched as he crossed the floor three years later.

The writer of the editorial is scared that "list candidates," who will be given seats in the legislature to top up a party's representation, will not be accountable because the parties create the lists. But those lists will be available in advance of an election, and if the list is full of backroom boys and donors, we will all know it, and we can vote against parties with poorly-formed lists.

SIXTH PROBLEM
"[Under the proposed system] minority governments will become the norm."

This is true, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. We have fixed election dates, and though the government can be brought down with a vote of non-confidence, it isn't likely to happen often. The reason is that it's not worth it to bring down the government because the Legislature will return with another minority government. It simply wouldn't be worth the effort for parties to go to the polls every year or two.

Also, there is a lot to be said for minority governments. Federally, when Paul Martin was prime minister, it was the first time in a long time that the NDP, and by extension people who voted for the NDP, had a say in a federal budget.

Italy and Israel are the example the anti-MMP groups come up with to show how unstable the proposed system is, but as National Post columnist Andrew Coyne points out, "Even Italy and Israel are not as unstable as supposed. Fun fact: which country has had the most national elections since 1945, Israel, Italy or Canada? Answer: Canada."

MMP is used successfully in Germany and New Zealand, and nearly every other democratic country in the world uses some form of proportional representation, which is what MMP is.

Usually, coalitions are formed and legislation is created and passed with the representatives of more parties, and by extension more electors, taking part.

SEVENTH PROBLEM
"Too much power will land on the doorsteps of parties that receive too few votes."

Yes, more power will go to smaller parties like the NDP, and even the Green Party, provided they break through the threshold of three percent of the popular vote necessary to get seats (a percentage the Green Party has never received in Ontario).

But it will not be "too much power." In fact, it will be the amount of power Ontario voters vote for them to have.

EIGHTH PROBLEM
"Our current electoral system is fair, open and best represents the people of Ontario."

In fact, our current system is completely unfair, giving a false majority to parties that 60 percent of voters don't want.

It is not any more open than the new system. We don't vote for the best person in the community to represent us - we vote for candidates selected by a few hundred people at nomination meetings, or, worse, for candidates hand-picked and appointed by party leaders.

And it doesn't best represent the people of Ontario. Quite the opposite, actually. It represents the people of Ontario very poorly.

IN CONCLUSION, next Wednesday, ignore the official Mississauga News editorial and vote in favour of the proposed mixed-member proportional electoral system.

We're in the final days of the election.

Though it has only lasted four weeks officially, it has actually gone on much longer, with leaders going pretty much all summer before the Sept. 10 start date.

And what have we learned?

Dalton McGuinty is a liar, or so I've heard roughly 8 billion times.

John Tory is a sadomasochist. He appears to take pleasure in shooting himself in the foot. So much so that doing it just once wasn't enough for the aspiring Premier.

Howard Hampton is still the leader of the Ontario NDP. One can only think it's because no one else wants the job.

The Green Party is still considered a fringe party, and will spend another four years without a seat in the Legislature.

Platforms, too, we've read them. They were exciting.

The Liberal platform, for example, used the phrase "moving forward" 19 times in 43 pages (and it's worth noting those pages contain a lot of white space).

In the PC platform, "leader" and "leadership" is mentioned 60 times in 61 pages.

The NDP has six commitments that one cannot argue against. Everyone likes the idea of paying less in taxes, improving education and health care, and protecting children and the environment. Still, they won't win.

And the Green Party wants you to "Be Real. Vote Green." This election, I will not be real. I will be fake, and I will vote for someone else.

In other news, I will be doing my endorsements this weekend. I plan to post them Monday. While the rest of you will be eating turkey, I will be enjoying my obligation-free Thanksgiving Day. They didn't have Thanksgiving in Scotland because they had no aboriginal people, and my family is made up of bad immigrants who refuse to take up the celebrations of our adopted homeland. In other words, I get to enjoy my long weekend, and won't have to tackle a mound of dishes to end it off. That's something worth being thankful for.

PHOTO: Peering into the crystal ball, seeing red.

I debated for ages on whether or not to do this, but I've decided I'm going to make predictions about the outcome of the election.

Peering into my crystal ball, I see a lot of red.

First off, I think the Liberals will win a majority.

In Mississauga, they will win five of six seats (Bramalea-Gore-Malton, Mississauga-Brampton South, Mississauga-Streetsville, Mississauga-Erindale, Mississauga East-Cooksville).

Mississauga South is too close to call. Except here, where we throw caution to the wind.

I'm predicting that Tim Peterson will take it for the Progressive Conservatives.

As for the referendum, I'm fairly positive it will not pass. In order to pass, it has to get 60 percent of the popular vote, plus a majority of votes in 64 ridings. I just don't think it's doable.

I completely forgot I was going to write my endorsements today, so here's the short version.

PROVINCIALLY, I endorse Dalton's Liberals.

MISSISSAUGA-BRAMPTON SOUTH: Liberal Amrit Mangat

MISSISSAUGA-STREETSVILLE: Liberal Bob Delaney

MISSISSAUGA-ERINDALE: Progressive Conservative David Brown

MISSISSAUGA EAST-COOKSVILLE: Liberal Peter Fonseca

BRAMALEA-GORE-MALTON: Progressive Conservative Pam Hundal

MISSISSAUGA SOUTH: Liberal Charles Sousa

I don't imagine my endorsements will change any minds, so I'm not going to bother explaining why I made them. Besides, I'm pretty sure three of my choices are going to lose, but I said I'd make endorsements, and there they are.

Just two sleeps until E-Day!

Today, Premier Dalton McGuinty went to a Pickering restaurant, a Toronto radio station, and the campaign office of his minister of education (who happens to be running against John Tory).

John Tory, meanwhile, hit Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Oshawa, Markham, Thornhill, Willowdale, Etobicoke, Mississauga, and Oakville.

Guess which of those two men is desperate.

McGuinty has been trying to lie low. It looks like he might get his second majority, and it's a lot harder to screw that up when you're out of sight of voters and reporters.

Besides, Tory is doing a fine job of getting McGuinty elected on his own.

Tory's stop in Mississauga was in the Mississauga South riding. It is his third big event at incumbent Tim Peterson's headquarters in the past four weeks. Mississauga South is expected to be the only Mississauga riding in play. Peterson won it as a Liberal in 2003 with just 234 votes. Now he's trying to win it as a Tory against a solid candidate in Liberal Charles Sousa.

The most important thing now, with 23 hours and 15 minutes until polls close, is to get the vote out.

Liberal foot soldiers are going to be giddy with the prospect of another majority, something that appeared to be out of reach back in the summer. They don't need any pumping up from their leader.

The PC foot soldiers, on the other hand, feel beaten before the polls even open. That's why Tory spent today doing his big cross-GTA trip, to inspire his troops, to get them out so they can get the vote out. It is his last chance to save his name - which he built up through many years of business success and public service - from going down in provincial history as the man who was slaughtered by Pinocchio.

PHOTO: Me, with my LXN Beard.

Never before have I grown a full beard. Prior to this run, the longest I had ever gone without shaving was three weeks. This beast on my face has taken six weeks (the election plus two weeks prior, since the campaigns actually started before the writs were dropped).

Now that I've spent six weeks growing it and nurturing it, I'm sort of attached to it. It's like a child, except I don't go to jail if I kill it. So, really, it's more like a Chia Pet.

The bottom line is, I think I'm keeping it, at least until we find out whether or not we're going to get a federal election.

PHOTO: Tim Peterson's face of defeat.

The only surprise in Mississauga was in the South.

No one was sure who would win. All we knew was it would be a tight race.

Turned out it wasn't even a tight race.

Charles Sousa, a great candidate, destroyed Tim Peterson. The destruction was so great it appeared to catch Peterson off guard. He walked into his campaign office about 40 minutes after the polls had closed.

CBC had declared Sousa the winner by then. CTV had Peterson down by 1,300 votes. The Rogers Cable team was going live with Peterson, and the reporter didn't yet know Peterson was dead.

When Peterson was let go to face the other reporters in the room, he wouldn't even consider the possibility that his riding could have been called so quickly. He told reporters that as soon as they got their microphones "out of my face," he might have a chance to see the numbers and know what was going on.

Everyone in the room appeared to understand Peterson's fate but Peterson himself. He may have been keeping strong for the team, or he may have simply not believed it. Not so early. Not by so much.

It is sad to watch someone lose such a fight so handily. He will be fine, of course, but anyone with the ability to empathize can't help feeling for the guy.

There's no easy way for an incumbent to take such a beating. That's democracy, though, and I think the outcome was for the best for the people of Mississauga South.

Had Peterson won the seat and been in opposition, the people of the riding would have no voice. If McGuinty didn't listen to Peterson the Grit, he certainly wasn't going to listen to Peterson the Tory.

Now it's up to the voters down south to hold Sousa to his promises. It will be interesting to see if he can keep Lakeview from becoming a power generating powerhouse, as he said he'd work to do.

We'll go through all this again in 2011. Until then, we have a federal election or two to gleefully anticipate.

I will be blogging more about the results in Mississauga tomorrow.

It's 2:20 a.m. now, though, and time to sleep. Then, in the morning, we can return to the regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

I predict a PC minority in 2011, though Mississauga will stay Liberal. I'm basing that on nearly nothing.

Dalton's itinerary for today says he's making an announcement at 11 a.m. (please don't be a broken promise). That means he's probably making it right now as I type this. The announcement's at a hospital, so it's assumed it's health care related.

Will probably update the blog later today.

As is the case after every election, I am sad this week.

I have lost a lot of friends.

People who used to call me daily have stopped calling.

No one is telling me their tragic stories about lost or broken signs, or vandalized election literature.

No one is inviting me to campaign office barbecues or community gatherings. People have stopped telling me about their hopes and dreams for the province.

I sit at my desk, and for minutes on end, no matter how determinedly I stare at it, my phone refuses to ring.

My only remaining comfort from the halcyon days of Ontario Election 2007 is my overgrown election beard, which I pet regularly to calm myself.

Post-election Depression, or PED, is a serious condition. Reporters across the province are suffering from it this week. One of the symptoms is perpetual praying for an early federal election, in the hopes that a new election will postpone the feelings of abandonment.

Realistically, a federal election, which they say could arrive as early as Thursday if the opposition parties in the House of Commons decide to vote down the government, would only make PED longer and more unbearable. Sure, there would be a month or two of excitement to keep it out of mind, but what if the federal election returns a majority government?

That means we would have four years until the next provincial election, and four years until the next federal election, and three-and-a-half years until the next municipal election.

Since I started in this racket in 2003, just four years ago, I've covered two municipal elections, two provincial election, and two federal elections. That's six elections in four years.

If the nightmare/dream scenario of an autumn federal election becomes a reality, and a majority government is elected, I will then go more than three years with nothing so exciting to cover.

Then, my PED, which I usually consider to be a temporary condition lasting only until the next election, will become semi-permanent. Coupled with my PDLFS (Perpetually Disappointed Leafs Fan Syndrome), I may become catatonic this spring. I will simply stroke my out-of-control beard and mumble incoherently about divisive issues from elections past, and recount the many arguments in favour of the Mixed-member Proportional electoral system.

After spending the last two months obsessed with the provincial level of government, it's now time to refocus on its unstable older brother, the federal level of government.

Today, our lovely Governor-General Michaelle Jean will read out Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Speech from the Throne.

The speech will lay out Harper's plan for this year, and it will likely poke Liberal scabs to try to make them bleed.

If Harper pokes at those scabs forcefully enough, and Liberal leader Stephane Dion cries "uncle," then the pols will be heading onto the campaign trail in the next week or so.

We're getting ahead of ourselves, though. The vote on the speech will be later this week.

Tonight, it's just the speech.

And the media will demand that Dion take a stand and say whether or not he'll support the speech in a vote later in the week. Dion will likely say he's going to take time to meet with his caucus to see if they can support it.

The Bloc and the NDP have already said they won't support it, so it's completely up to Dion and the Grits.

It will be an interesting night, and an interesting week.

PHOTO: Stephen Lewis waxes poetic about the future of Mississauga. "I learned a long time ago to never allow an absence of knowledge to impede opinion."

I went to the first instalment of the Our Future Mississauga Speaker Series last night.

Stephen Lewis and Glen Murray were the speakers.

There's a lot to cover here, so I'll give you some quick bites of it.

UPDATE - They were supposed to be quick bites, but I lost control. They are whole meals.

***

The event is about big ideas. It is part of the inspiration section of the project, which will eventually lead to an actual plan, which may or may not be ignored by future councils.

Stephen Lewis spoke first. He was full of energy, spoke eloquently, and was dressed really well (more on that later).

His plan was to allow Glen Murray to be specific, thereby giving himself permission to "muse at the periphery around some aspects of the emergence of a new metropolis."

Lewis said we need more universities, that our one branch-plant university is not enough for a population that will reach one million in the near future (We're currently at 704,000, according to the sign that welcomes me here every morning).

He also said we should focus on making students in our public schools engaged global citizens who know about Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change and poverty in Africa.

"It doesn't speak to the architecture of buildings," said Lewis, "but it speaks to the architecture of the mind, the architecture of the heart, and the architecture of the spirit."

Not many people can pull off speaking with genuine passion about the architecture of the spirit. It's so corny it's hard not to laugh. But that's Lewis's charm, that he can say such things without irony.

Whatever it is that gives him that ability is also what makes him look good in a brown suit.

A brown suit is famously difficult to pull off. Lewis did pull it off, and looked great. He had his brown suit, with brown socks and brown loafers, with a robin's egg blue shirt and a navy blue tie. I'm no stylist, but I would steer a friend clear of a brown suit because they are nearly always mistakes, make one look like a UPS messenger, and seem to be never "in style," yet there was Lewis in his brown suit looking sharp and fashionable, even though he turns 70 next month.

Also, he said this: "We spend 10 to 15 billion dollars a month to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and we've never been able to raise that much money in a year to fight a pandemic that has ended 25 million lives and has 15 million people in its grip...I beg you to to recognize the human condition as just as important as the econometrics of the city."

***

Glen Murray, the former mayor of Winnipeg, started, after delivering a spoken word love note to Mayor McCallion, with the Canadian Dream.

"Our dream is not the pursuit of happiness or anything so churlish...but our dream is to be global citizens."

He also invoked Philip Slater, the American writer of The Pursuit of Loneliness, a 37-year-old book about why Americans (and, therefore, Canadians) want to have large houses with large yards and large fences and shrubs that keep the neighbours away. We disengage from our community, wrote Slater.

"We seem to have lost our sense of citizenship," said Murray. "We're disconnected from our community...then we wonder why it all seems meaningless and disconnected."

Murray then showed a photo of a huge intersection, with eight lanes of traffic feeding into and out of it. Beyond a huge parking lot, there was a Wal-Mart and a Wendy's. It was an ugly scene that's seen at nearly every off-ramp between Montreal and Windsor, and well beyond. Murray asked us to name the place. It could have been anywhere.

"When every place starts to look the same, you have no sense of place," said Murray. "This is the kind of place where it takes a litre of gas to get a litre of milk...if you had planned stupid, this is stupid planning."

And it's what most of Mississauga looks like.

Murray went on to say that some places are over-engineered, showing a photo of the lawn outside Mississauga's Central Library.

"Though they intended to have people there, you rarely see people there."

***

VIDEO: Lyle Lanley sells his monorail to Springfield.

Murray's "crazy idea" for Mississauga was to have gondolas travelling on wires across the city. That will be our transportation of the future. It keeps the buses out of traffic, it makes public transportation fun, and it gives Mississauga an iconic image.

It was a good idea, and he sold it like Lyle Lanley sold the monorail to Springfield:

"There's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car monorail!"

All right, so Murray didn't sing his sales pitch, and he isn't actually making any money off of any future deal the City might make with a gondola company, but that's all I could think of as Murray was talking about his gondola idea.

Murray also said this, not specifically of the gondolas, but of the whole vision thing the City's going for: "There's no barrier to this but your own fear."

***

Complaints on the evening.

1. The people who ask questions don't usually ask questions. They pontificate about whatever they think is important. They should not be allowed access to microphones. Find another way to involve the public in the event. Let everybody write down their questions and collect them throughout the night, and the moderator can read the sensible ones and leave the loonies to stew.

2. In my two-and-a-half years working in Mississauga, I have noticed there seems to be a disproportionate number of people in this city who do not turn off their cell phones at public events involving speakers. At least five cell phones went off during the speeches last night, and here's what really drives me crazy - if you happen to forget to turn off your cell phone, when someone else's cell phone goes off, does that not remind you to turn yours off?

3. Two great speakers. The future of the city. Big ideas. A great venue. And still, Hammerson Hall cannot be filled! What has to be done to fill that place? Who has to be there to draw such a crowd? Justin Trudeau? Well, then, we're in luck. The youth advocate heartthrob and future prime minister will be here on Nov. 6. Before that, on Oct. 23, Roberta Bondar will be speaking.

I don't like babies. I don't like being around them, and I don't like when new parents ask if I want to hold one.

However, when they're out of sight, and, more importantly, too far away to be heard screaming and screeching, and when I can keep from my mind how my life would be utterly ruined by the arrival of a baby, I like babies. In theory, they're cute and inspiring, and there's something in the voice of a new parent that is touching.

So, it was with pleasure that I spoke with Mississauga-Brampton South MP Navdeep Bains this afternoon. The story, which I wrote for the paper and website, is below.

***

Neither fog nor grounded planes could keep Mississauga-Brampton South MP Navdeep Bains from making his way from Ottawa to witness the birth of his first child Thursday morning.

While at a Wednesday night reception at Stornoway, the official residence of the leader of the Opposition, Bains, 30, received a call from his pregnant wife, Brahamjot.

She wasn't feeling well and was going to the hospital.

Bains wasted no time in getting to the airport and catching the 11 p.m. flight out of Ottawa. Sparsely populated, the plane was also carrying fellow Liberal and former Premier of Ontario Bob Rae.

"I decided to take a bit of a snooze, and, when I got up, the pilot said, 'We're arriving in Ottawa.' I thought it was a nightmare," said Bains, who was, like his fellow passengers, fully expecting to be landing at Pearson International Airport in Mississauga.

The plane, it turned out, had turned back because of excessive fog.

"By that time, I knew she was in labour," said Bains, who was left with two options, to wait for the 6 a.m. flight out of Ottawa the next morning or drive overnight to Credit Valley Hospital, where his wife was giving birth. Not knowing whether the fog would lift or not, he chose to drive.

Rae, however, didn't want Bains driving overnight through the fog on his own.

The next five hours were spent with the two Liberals, Rae a veteran politician and Bains a promising newbie, driving down Hwy. 401 and discussing politics and family life.

"He told me this is the beginning of many exciting things to come," said Bains.

Still dressed in his suit from the evening before, Bains arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m., just half an hour before his daughter was born.

"I got to the delivery room just in time to help," he said. "Of course, I did very little of the work."

Navdeep and Brahamjot named their new addition Nanki. She came in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

"I'm absolutely thrilled," said Bains. "Mom and her are very healthy."

Bains added that the nursery at his home has a Sesame Street theme, and they plan to emphasize Elmo in the room, seeing as he is the most Liberal red of any of the show's characters.

As if the Liberal brand wasn't going to be ingrained enough in Nanki, Liberal Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire also welcomed their first child, Xavier James Trudeau, to the world just six hours before Nanji arrived.

Thursday also happened to be the birth date of former Liberal prime minister, and Justin's father, Pierre Trudeau.

PHOTO: Scott Baio, of Charles in Charge fame. Like Sousa, who tends to wear French cuffs and silver cuff links, Baio appears to rather like his accoutrements. Unlike Sousa, Baio could resolve conflicts in less than 30 minutes. When it comes to something like the future of the Lakeview Generating Station, Sousa might need more than 30 minutes, and still isn't likely to get the outcome he, and area residents, hope for.

Ian Urquhart has a piece in today's Toronto Star about the possible make-up of Premier Dalton McGuinty's cabinet.

The cabinet will be sworn in next Tuesday, and Urquhart says Charles Sousa, our new Mississauga South MPP, is on the list of possible appointees.

There aren't many vacancies in cabinet for a rookie to slip into, but, "Media speculation has centred on some of the newcomers elected on Oct. 10, including Margarett Best in Scarborough-Guildwood, Charles Sousa in Mississauga South, and Sophia Aggelonitis in Hamilton Mountain."

Pointing out that the aforementioned might not have the experience necessary for a cabinet post, Urquhart also mentions another Mississauga MPP.

"...[T]wo rookies named to cabinet by McGuinty in 2003 – (Mary Anne) Chambers and Harinder Takhar – had a rough time of it initially."

So, we have two things to watch for next Tuesday.

1. Will Sousa get into cabinet?

2. Will Takhar stay in cabinet?

PHOTO: File photo of Ward 6 Councillor, former MP, and loyal Chretienite Carolyn Parrish.

Started reading Jean Chretien's memoirs, My Years as Prime Minister, last night.

Carolyn Parrish appears to be the only Mississauga parliamentarian from Chretien's time who's mentioned in the book. She's in there twice.

First, on page 315:
"The same people who accused me of muzzling my ministers and MPs now jumped on me for not severely punishing Herb Dhaliwal and Carolyn Parrish for a couple of imprudent comments they had made in the media."

Second, on page 376:
"One day in 2000, I remember, a group of Italian-Canadian Liberal MPs had come to me to complain about their colleague Carolyn Parrish. They wanted me to scold her for referring to them collectively as "the pasta caucus," which they considered a derogatory slight."

I called Parrish and asked her what she thought of the book, which she's in the middle of reading.

She said she's a little disappointed Chretien left out the colourful anecdotes she enjoyed hearing in caucus meetings, and thinks his personality doesn't shine through as brightly as it could.

As for the sections about her, Parrish said, "He was never angry with me over all that stuff." She paints a portrait of her and Chretien as kindred spirits who understood each other and who both often spoke off the cuff.

Re: her comment about the Italian MPs, she said, "They had labelled themselves 'the pasta caucus'; it was silly."

Some of the members of that caucus are not in the book, and Parrish thinks there was a good reason for their exclusion.

"He wasn't going to give them the dignity of mentioning them in his book," said Parrish. "I think it shows a lot of restraint."

Talking about Chretien's own verbal slip-ups - "for me, pepper, I put it on my plate" - Parrish said, "He was one of those spontaneous guys with not the best sense of humour. He'd say things sometimes and we'd just groan."

Now we wait for Paul Martin's memoirs, if he's bothering to write them, to see if he mentions Parrish. She doesn't think he will. Those MPs Chretien left out of My Years as Prime Minister are probably more likely to make an appearance.

PHOTO: Roberta Bondar standing in front of a satellite photo of Mississauga.

Last night's portion of Our Future Mississauga featured Roberta Bondar and Tim Jones.

Unfortunately, Mayor Hazel McCallion had a hard time remembering that.

In her concluding statement, in which she thanked the speakers and the audience, McCallion referred to Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space, as Robert. Not once, but twice.

The first time, I thought I misheard the mayor. Even after the second time, I thought I must have heard wrong. I wasn't the only one who heard it, though. After Hazel's thank-yous, Roberta Bondar stood up, looked at her fellow presenter Tim Jones, and said, with a puzzled look on her face, "Robert?"

My older colleagues here at The News assure me this isn't a new development, and that McCallion's slip-up cannot be blamed on her age. She has, I'm told, been known for messing up names for more than 20 years.

But, on to the night's content.

***

To be honest, there wasn't much content. At least, not much reportable content. Unlike the week before when Stephen Lewis said we need more universities and Glen Murray mused about gondolas crossing the city on wires above the street, this week, both speakers presented generalities that weren't particularly interesting to listen to.

Bondar, who, it turns out, was part of the Great Mississauga Evacuation of 1979, said we should become an environmentally-literate citizenry.

I think that's a great idea, but, unfortunately, it's a really boring idea to talk about.

She did say something interesting: "Everybody wanted to get to the moon, but once we got to the moon, what was the best picture we had? Looking back at the Earth."

***

There were roughly 550 people in the audience yesterday. I was told the week before, for the Stephen Lewis talk, there were 900 people (though it didn't look like 900 people to me).

Justin Trudeau, speaking on Nov. 6, is expected to pack the place.

***

Tim Jones is the CEO of Toronto-based Artscape. He spends his life exploring the relationship between creativity and place.

He told us we need more artists, and maybe a bold project or two. The bold project should probably come first, giving the city an identity.

Identity probably isn't something most people think about on a daily basis, but it is important to giving citizens a sense of belonging. Bold projects give that sense. When you think of great cities, you think of their bold projects. The Eiffel Tower. The Sydney Opera House. The Statue of Liberty and The Empire State Building. The canals of Venice. The CN Tower.

People want to see bold projects. They travel to see them. They want to live near them.

"What you're talking about," said Jones, "is a shift in mindset in how you see your city and how others see your city."

Star architecture critic Christopher Hume wrote about the yet-to-be-built Marilyn Monroe-inspired towers going up on the northeast corner of Hurontario and Burnhamthorpe. He put it well.

"Despite McCallion's boast (about being debt-free), hers is a city desperately in need of an identity that goes beyond its lack of debt. You get what you pay for, of course, and in Mississauga that's been precious little. But that's old news. What's interesting this time is that the private sector has moved in to fill the void left by officialdom. What McCallion and her council have failed to provide - namely a place where there's a there there - will now be addressed by a development consortium."

There is talk, of course, that this whole Our Future Mississauga thing, which will result in some sort of Council-endorsed plan for the next 40 years, is a way for Hazel to create her legacy. A legacy beyond simply being debt free. A legacy people will remember. A legacy that will make Mississauga into a place people want to be.

So, a bold project is necessary. Tim Jones thinks the Monroe towers could be the impetus for more bold projects.

He called the plans for the main tower "eye-poppingly beautiful."

"It raises the bar to a whole new level...and is a symbol of Mississauga rethinking itself."

He added, "You should do everything you can do to get more Marilyn Monroes."

***

The next talk is Justin Trudeau's on Nov. 6. With Jan Gehl following on Nov. 13. For more information, visit www.conversation21.ca.

Once the talks are finished, there will be a pause for a couple of months. Then, between February 1 and 3, there will be a "visioning symposium," in which the public can come down and see plans and discuss ideas raised by the speakers.

Still reading Jean Chretien's My Years as Prime Minister.

"To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it. Helping people comes with it naturally, because you'll never be elected if you treat people badly. But no one will ever convince me, with all the experience I've had, that the motivations are strictly altruistic. No - we throw ourselves into politics because we love it."

Chretien was the 18th of 19 children. Insane.

"As I had seen with Pearson and Trudeau, and as I was to discover through my own share of disillusionment, a prime minister has little room for friendship."

"Setting a realistic target and meeting it is always a better course of action than aiming too ambitiously and failing to deliver. Too many politicians think they have to make extravagant promises to attract voters. On the contrary: people are highly suspicious of those who make big promises."

Don't worry, once I finish this book and get on to the next one, there will be a post entitled "Things Mulroney taught me."

PHOTO: Sorbara is leaving cabinet to join Dancing with the Stars. He previewed his moves last month for the audience at the Mississauga Matters provincial election debate at City Hall.

Greg Sorbara, who has been finance minister under Premier Dalton McGuinty since 2003 (except for that time while under investigation by the RCMP, which eventually found nothing wrong with Sorbara) doesn't want a cabinet post.

Instead, he wants to spend time hanging out with his family, which, apparently, is much more interesting than writing budgets.

What does all of this mean to Mississauga? It means there's another opening for one of our guys to slip into. After working for Royal Bank for many years, Mississauga South rookie MPP Charles Sousa has extensive experience dealing with money. Plus, he seems to have a little bit of it himself - have I mentioned he wears gorgeous cufflinks? Indeed I have, here and here. Let's just hope Sousa's family isn't as interesting as Sorbara's.

Spoke to the new Mississauga South MPP Charles Sousa this afternoon.

It sounds like he's reliving his first week at university - picking up his ID card, his security pass, having dinner with new friends, finding out that he doesn't have a parking space. It sounds like fun.

As for the cabinet speculation surrounding Sousa, he said it's just that, speculation.

"That's all it is," he said. "I've gone through some of the papers, and it's very flattering, it is, it really is, I don't take that lightly, but there are a lot of people who have been around here for quite a while."

Apparently, MPPs will get the call tonight if they're included in cabinet, and they'll be paraded out tomorrow to be sworn in.

Sousa also answered a few questions about the future of the Lakeview Generating Station site. He said he hasn't had a chance to learn more about the plans for the area but will be jumping right into it as soon as Queen's Park re-opens for business.

"I have to have a better sense from the ministry of energy, but as well as from the municipality, to get a sense of what strategy's in place and what do we want to see happen," he said.

Sousa would like to see the more than 200 acres turned into a park, with a boardwalk and some shopping.

The other question is whether their might be room for both power generation and a lakeside park with retail. Sousa doesn't yet know what the future will hold for the site, but it does appear to be top of mind, for him and his constituents.

PHOTO: Our new Minister of Tourism, Mississauga East-Cooksville MPP Peter Fonseca.

Two big news items today.

First - Dalton announced his new cabinet. Mississauga-Erindale MPP Harinder Takhar keeps his spot as minister of small business and entrepreneurship, and Mississauga East-Cooksville MPP Peter Fonseca got a spot at the big table, as well as a handsome raise, as minister of tourism.

Also, everyone on earth is now a parliamentary secretary.

Second - The feds announce their mini-budget, or economic update. Apparently, GST will be cut one more point, as promised, plus cuts to income tax.

More later tonight.

We're getting our money back.

Jim Flaherty went out back the House of Commons and picked the money tree, and now we're all rolling in it.

Another percentage point of the GST. That means, according to Global Insight chief economist Dale Orr, who was interviewed by The Globe and Mail, $13.66 per month. "It's a pizza a month," Orr told the Globe.

That's fine by me. Along with the first percentage point slash of the GST last year, that means I'm going to be eating an extra pizza every month, plus drinking an extra 12 discount beers, covered by my saving from the first cut. I'm pretty happy with that, and think it's time to give Stephen Harper a majority. He has proven he stands for what Canadians - and by Canadians I mean me - think is important. Beer and pizza.

Flaherty's mini-budget yesterday also cut income tax rates (corporate tax rates, too, which is great, but I don't own a corporation, and I highly doubt the corporation I work for will pass any of their savings along to me - they still have me working in front of a 10-year-old Mac, after all). The income tax rates, if you make $80,000 per year, will save you $223. I don't make $80,000 a year, though. I'll probably save about $140 per year. That's a lot of discount beer and pizza.