Stephen Harper sent a strong message to Toronto with his new Cabinet. While he was prepared to renege on his principles to entice a Vancouver MP to switch parties and to appoint a Senator from Montreal to represent their respective cities, there was nothing for Toronto. One of the major concerns coming out of the election was that Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto were unrepresented in the new governing party. Well he has solved 2/3 of the problem but there was no solution for the residents of Canada's largest city. Rubbing salt in the wound, Harper suggested that extreme right-winger Jim Flaherty - finance minister in Mike Harris' Ontario government and now Finance Minister for Canada - could represent Toronto because he has worked and has an office there!
If we think about this in context with an announcement from the PMO that the federal government's child-care agreements with the provinces will be unilaterally cancelled on March 31 and what its says about integrity and promise of consultative reform, we should be very alarmed.
