Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Boris Johnson is an inveterate liar. 
The people who know him best will testify to that. Fellow journalists from opposite ends of the political spectrum like the former Telegraph editor Max Hastings and the Observer's Andrew Rawnsley who says Johnson has vomited over standards in public life.
Hanging Offence
In our Westminster system it is a hanging offence deliberately to mislead Parliament. The Ministerial Code – ironically policed by Boris Johnson - requires Ministers to resign if they do so.
Lying through his teeth
Politicians have been known to mislead and dissemble. They can be economical with the truth. But a deliberate bare faced lie to Parliament trumps all other offences. Our system could not survive if lying became routine or normalised.
William Hague, who led the Conservative Party for over four years but never became Prime Minister, gives Boris Johnson zero chance of surviving. In an article in the Times of London yesterday he says of the 41% of the Conservative Parliamentary Party who voted against the Prime Minister:
“The nature of their revolt has an important bearing on what happens next. They are not a faction that has been seen off, or an alternative policy direction that has been defeated. They represent instead a widespread feeling, a collapse of faith, that almost certainly cannot be repaired or reversed. For Johnson, continuing to lead the party after such a revolt will prove to be unsustainable.”
Rules flouted
For his part, Johnson denies that he broke any rules yet the evidence is incontrovertible.
A detailed report by the senior civil servant, Sue Gray, makes it clear the Covid rules in place at the time were flouted in 10 Downing Street. The BBC reports:
“Ms Gray gives details of 16 events between May 2020 and April 2021 that fell within her remit. Twelve of these were also investigated by police.
She says that "what took place at many of these gatherings and the way in which they developed was not in line with Covid guidance at the time".
Eighty three people who attended these events received fines as a result of the police investigation, including the prime minister and the chancellor of the exchequer.”
Committee on Privileges
The House of Commons Privileges Committee is now examining whether the Prime Minister misled the Commons. The Committee will look at statements like these:
At Prime Minister’s Questions on 1 December 2021 Boris Johnson said:
“all guidance was followed in No 10”
On 8 December 2021:
“I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken.”
and
“the guidance was followed at all times.”
When the Committee reports Boris Johnson will be toast.
He can't stop lying. He can't help himself.
It's in his DNA.
Update on 11 June 2022: see also Andrew Coyne in the Globe and Mail: "If Marco Mendocino misled Parliament he has to go."
Update on 12 June 2022: From the UK Observer's Andrew Rawnsley: Cabinet too spineless to act against Johnson
Update on 16 June 2022: From the UK Guardian: Ethics Adviser Quits
Update on 26 June 2022 from the UK's Observer: Andrew Rawnsley's take on the two by-election defeats suffered by Boris Johnson's Conservatives.
Update on 6 July 2022: Conservatives in meltdown. And what happens if Johnson resigns or is forced out. Also the Prime Minister at Parliament's Liaison Committee on 6 July 2022.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The result of yesterday’s Provincial election in Newmarket-Aurora was never in any doubt. 
The PC candidate romped home with 45% of the votes cast despite a lacklustre campaign in which she boycotted candidates’ debates and declined to give interviews to the media.
Turnout is lowest ever
The second big story of the election is the collapse in voter turnout. 57% of voters in Ontario couldn’t be bothered to vote – the lowest turnout ever.
Only 44.1% of the Newmarket-Aurora electorate voted compared with 58.9% in 2018.
The low turnout skews the results. Those determined to vote tend, on the whole, to be Conservative leaning voters.
Liberals stretch lead over NDP
Comparisons with the last Provincial Election must come with caveats. The Liberals then were uniquely unpopular.
In 2018 we saw the NDP move into second place though only 565 votes ahead of the Liberals. Yesterday, the Liberal Sylvain Roy was 7,753 votes ahead of the NDP candidate Denis Heng. Both were impressive candidates but the so-called progressive vote coalesced around the Liberals.
The Greens did well this time with 5.6% of the vote (3.5% in 2018).
Ford’s PCs refused to engage in debate and it was left to the other parties to fill the void – and here in Newmarket-Aurora they did so by agreeing with each other on many of the big issues. At the Newmarket Chamber of Commerce debate, all the candidates were against the Bradford Bypass so the sparks didn't fly. Gallagher Murphy, in favour, wasn’t there to defend her position.
Resignations inevitable
It was inevitable that Andrea Horwath and Steven Del Duca should announce their resignations as Leaders of their parties last night. The prospect of Horwath staying on for a fifth election campaign in 2026 as NDP leader was never on the cards. Too many voters just tuned her out. They had heard her anecdotes from the campaign trail a million times before and they had become jarringly familiar.
Del Duca had some good policies but he never set the heather on fire.
His policy to ban handguns within a year of taking office and his “buck-a-ride” promise could have grabbed the voters’ attention but didn’t. Ford’s licence plate rebate got a lot more coverage, for and against.
Making the political weather
Del Duca had to make the political weather and get noticed. But it never happened.
We shall see how Ford plays the hand the voters dealt him. Defensively, I hope. Both for his sake and ours. With such a solid majority he could do a lot of damage.
I shall be fascinated to see how my new MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, settles into her new role.
Will she keep constituents waiting months for an appointment? Will she speak out on the big issues of the day? Or will she follow Ford’s talking points, never daring to step out of line with the man who appointed her as PC candidate?
To have travelled so light so far is a remarkable achievement.
Saying nothing about anything is clearly a winning strategy.
Update at 4pm on 3 June 2022: From Newmarket Today: Newmarket-Aurora reacts to Conservative win.
Update on 4 June 2022: From Newmarket Today: "Gallagher Murphy rides blue wave to victory in Newmarket-Aurora" From the Toronto Star editorial: "Parties share a lot of the blame for record low turnout" And from the Globe and Mail: "Record low turnout is not a good sign for our democracy."
Update on 7 June 2022: From the Globe and Mail editorial: Ford won the election by becoming a fiscal yes-man.
Update on 7 June 2022: In a video post on Twitter Dawn Gallagher Murphy thanks voters in Newmarket-Aurora for their support
And what happened last time:
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Doug Ford's appointee, the Progressive Conservative candidate, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, avoids the media to the very end.
My spies tell me CTV will be doing a profile of Newmarket-Aurora in their programme at 6pm this evening (Wednesday 1 June).
I have no idea how long or short the piece will be.
But our next MPP, the ventriloquist’s dummy, office manager Dawn Gallagher Murphy, declined to be interviewed.
