At last, a voice of reason

Legislate OC Transpo back to work, McGuinty tells feds

Excerpt:

“I think it’s gone on for too long,” Mr. McGuinty told reporters at Queen’s Park. “It affects our most vulnerable citizens. It’s dramatically affecting our economy at a time when we can’t afford to have these kind of things get in the way. So my advice to the federal government is you’re going to have to come to grips with this.”

...

"It's the responsibility and the obligation of both these parties to get back to the table and come up with a negotiated settlement as quickly as possible that's in the best interests of the citizens of Ottawa," Ms. Ambrose said last Thursday. "It's in (the city's and the union's) hands to solve."

Mr. McGuinty said that response demonstrated “a lack of leadership.”

“I think the public interest has been compromised,” he said Wednesday.

Wow... could it be that someone is exercising some good sense on this issue? The City and ATU remain pigheaded on this and don't want transit declared an essential service. The labour board has decided it isn't going to be of any help.

And this just in, literally in the middle of my post...

It appears now that the Cons' crisis is over and the pressure is on, lo and behold there may be federal action on this after all:

House of Commons to hold emergency meeting on transit strike

Excerpt:

[Rona Ambrose:] "As of last night, the talks have stalled and they are at a stalemate and it is my belief that when the government sees a situation where there is clearly no compromise or no flexibility being shown by either side to reach an agreement, it is our obligation to act," she told reporters on Parliament Hill. "I'm prepared to act at this time, I'm prepared to introduce back to work legislation."

Funny, she wasn't three days ago. It's amazing how many times this government can flip-flop. You could get whiplash from the blinding 180-degree turns. But there are occasions such as this (and the budget) when it badly needed to happen. Finally, maybe we can get some kind of expedient solution to this.