ANOTHER GREAT ARTICLE BY JOHN KASTNER FROM THE STRATFORD BEACON HERALD

FOR OUR MPP, BOSS'S ORDERS TRUMPED NEEDS OF RIDING
Try to imagine how Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece could, in good conscience, stand in the legislature last week and vote against Bill 11.
That bill, if passed, would see $80 million delivered to southwestern Ontario to help this area bounce back from the last economic downturn.
The idea of giving this area a hand was the braintrust of mayors from Stratford to Windsor who could not understand why other economically pummelled regions could get help from the province but this area couldn't.
With tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs gone- from places like Ford Talbotville to Fram in Stratford- southwestern Ontario mayors said something had to be done.
So, with Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson as chairman, they banded together and made a collective pitch to the province. Their cry for help led to Premier Dalton McGuinty annoucing $20 million in each of the next four years for the Southwestern Ontario Development fund. (SWODF)
Getting that fund created was no small feat and is testament to co-operation between mayors and the province.
Unmoved, following orders from leader Tim Hudak, Pettapiece and the other Conservative MPPs voted against the bill.
Pettapiece rationalized the no vote by saying he wasn t convinced the money would help and went on to say, "Quite frankly, we can t afford it, he said, citing the Drummond report."
Well that' s a bit odd because in the same week Pettapiece again did what his boss told him to do and supported a Conservative motion regarding the Toronto Transit Commission. Hudak and the Conservatives want the province to build subways and above-ground transit for the City of Toronto.
The cost: $8.4 billion.
So we can't afford $80 million to help this riding, but $8,4 billion for the TTC is ok.
Let' s be clear. In fairness to Pettapiece, this nonsense at Queen' s Park is all about party politics
The Conservatives voted against the government, but Bill 11 passed second reading, so the money is still on track. And insisting that the province build subways and not above- and below- ground transit is pandering to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who is fighting his own fight with Toronto city council.
Pettapiece, as a new MPP, has no choice but to do what his boss says and vote the way he is told. Being forced to follow party lines is not a new phenomenon either.
Regardless, what happened last week was a bad couple of days for politcs in general and this riding in particular.
And the whole notion of "I will go to Queen s Park and fight for this riding" rings a bit hollow now.