'12 Days of Griftmas'
Your #onpoli gift guide
⛄ PROGRAMMING NOTE: Today is the last day of regular newsletters before the holidays. I’m taking some time off to recharge, which helps me write better stuff the rest of the year. After today, you may receive one or two roundup posts, depending on the news cycle, so that you won’t miss any important goings-on at Queen’s Park. We’ll be back in your inbox regularly starting January 6. Here’s hoping the powers-that-be gift us a relatively uneventful break. Thank you for reading, sharing and supporting my work this year!
ABOVE THE FOLD
‘TIS THE SEASON — I’ve got an updated #onpoli-themed gift guide for your favourite politico, plus a roundup of your favourite stories of the year — but first: BONNIE CROMBIE has an early Christmas present (er, lump of coal?) for DOUG FORD.
First in Observer — The Liberals are closing out a bonkers year in provincial politics on a cheeky note and reminding Ontarians about the Premier’s biggest missteps with a remixed Christmas carol.
“Doug Ford’s government isn’t working for real people in Ontario — it’s working for his friends, donors and cronies,” Crombie said.
First, the PCs delivered their own version of The Night Before Christmas, which bemoaned “Crombie’s taxes”. Now, the Liberals are hitting back with another holiday classic, the “12 Days of Christmas Griftmas.”
“On the twelfth day of Griftmas, Doug Ford gave to me:
Twelve bike lanes trashed,
Eleven self-promotion ads,
Ten privatized ServiceOntarios,
Nine billion dollar boozedoggles,
Eight deficits rising,
Seven job losses growing,
Six stalled transit projects,
No family doctors!
Four MPP raises,
Three bloated Premier’s Office salaries,
Two mega spa scams,
And an $8-billion Greenbelt giveaway!”
YOUR FAVOURITE STORIES — Feeling nostalgic? Here are Queen’s Park Observer’s most-read editions of 2024:
GIFT GUIDE — Still looking for a last-minute gift for your favourite politician, staffer or provincially-minded bestie? Check out this #onpoli-themed gift guide, which has been updated to include this year’s suggestions from readers, such as:
JANE PHILPOTT’s book, Health for All: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada…DAN RATH and GEORGETTE GAGNON’s 1990 post-mortem Not Without Cause (pre-game read)…and, as one staffer suggested: “bourbon, while you still can?” — a reference to Ford’s threat to slap a levy on U.S.-imported alcohol amid the tariff war.
CANDIDATE TRACKER
And the latest nominees are…
For the PCs: NATALIA KUSENDOVA-BASHTA (Mississauga Centre) — who is on maternity leave and reps the riding where BONNIE CROMBIE is rumoured to run…BOB BAILEY (Sarnia-Lambton)…MICHAEL PARSA (Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill)…ARIS BABIKIAN (Scarborough-Agincourt)…JILL DUNLOP (Simcoe North)…GRAHAM McGREGOR (Brampton North).
For the NDP: FRANCE GÉLINAS (Nickel Belt)…and new faces: COREY LEPAGE (Timmins)…JEFF DONKERSGOED (Kitchener South-Hespeler).
For the Liberals: Ex-minister CHRIS BALLARD is making a comeback in Newmarket-Aurora.
Get a running list of candidates so far with our handy tracker.
CLIPPINGS
— FORD CLAPS BACK: The Premier agrees with Canadian icon MIKE MYERS that, despite DONALD TRUMP’s trolling, Canada will “never be the 51st state.”