Minister Gravelle needs to take action

I'm all for giving someone the benefit of the doubt, but I am not reassured by Minister Gravelle's comments in the North Bay Nugget yesterday.

The art of political doublespeak, means you can never just say what your intentions are, because inevitably, circumstances will change and you may wish to make a slight deviation, but there will be someone waiting in the wings to tattoo your previous comments onto your forehead.

http://www.nugget.ca/2013/02/13/gravelle-wants-dialogue

So even if we do allow for some leeway in the interpretation of the comment "Premier Wynne has made it incredibly clear that northern Ontario is a real priority for her and for our government" it is difficult to see how Min. Gravelle's actions are going to reflect that.

Ever since the announcement of the ONTC divestiture, more and more Northern groups are calling for the same thing....Stop the process.  Given this loud and concerted call, the comments attributed to Min. Gravelle in this article should not reassure anyone.

"I think it's fair to say the ONTC divestment process will be continuing...in a way that makes sense. And I think we feel there needs to be significant community input into that process"

Northern stakeholders have been quite clear, they do not want input into the divestment process, they want it stopped so a real evaluation of the ONTC role in transportation policy can be done.  There is no way the divestment of ONTC makes sense.

Here's hoping Minister Gravelle's words and actions in the future can more accurately reflect Premier Wynne's stated desire to make Northern Ontario a priority.  The Liberal government will not be able to gain any traction in Northern Ontario unless they understand what northerners are demanding.