Charlie Angus might be a natural front runner for the first premier of Northern Ontario — if the often knee-jerk fascination with separating the province materializes some day.
Comments by the NDP MP for Timmins-James Bay in the House of Commons Tuesday demonstrated an impressive grip on history, politics and the potential mishandling of a major economic opportunity.
Angus was speaking during a debate over federal rail safety legislation, which opened a window for him to touch on the ominous threat facing the Ontario Northland Railway.
Some people are already tired of the the topic. They don’t want to hear another word about the Ontario government’s intention of selling off Ontario Northland Transportation Commission assets. Protesting what they consider inevitable is a waste of their time.
Even those who make a living commenting publicly about news events have to fight off the urge to yawn when community leaders huddle over strategic communication campaigns.
Exposing the twisted Grit spin over subsidies and flip-flopping on promises was good fun for a while. Yanking the NDP chain, lamenting stereotypical union shop lethargy and poking Tory hypocrisy in the eye passes for excitement between hockey games.
But you can’t throw mud without getting your hands dirty — even if the target deserves to be splattered.
So it was nice to see Angus raise the issue a couple notches at the federal level in Ottawa.
The Hansard verbatim record of what he said can be found online and if you’re handy on the Internet, it’s worth seeing him in action if you can find the CPAC video.
In a nutshell, he rips into the Premier Dalton McGuinty and “Rick the anti-minister of Northern Development Bartolucci” over selling the ONTC.
Angus talks about how Toronto’s Bay Street bonanza was made possible by Ontario investing in the railroad, leading to mining and forestry riches. Thus a colonial relationship with Toronto was born.
Angus said it was pure luck, too, because the only reason the rail extended north beyond Lake Temiskaming was to counter francophone colonization from Quebec.
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