Their idea is not our idea of working together

After much anticipation, MPPs returned to Queen's Park November 21, for the fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly, and it was a very busy week.
The 40th Parliament formally began with the Speech from the Throne, where the government's plans for the upcoming session were outlined. While the speech carried a tone of the conciliation, suggesting that the government wants to work with the opposition, it has become apparent that their view of "working together"is seeking opposition support for its priorities - not vice versa.
It appears that Premier McGuinty has not learned from the October 6th election, where the overwhelming majority of voters (62%) rejected the Liberal plan for our province. The throne speech boasted about the gains the province has made, despite the fact that under McGuintyʼs stewardship, we have become a “have not” province, have had our debt spiral out of control, have seen families monthly income drop substantially and have seen the jobless rate hit its highest points in decades.
The willingness of this government to boast about its failures was clear on Wednesday morning when I was able to ask my first question in question period. When asked why this government is needlessly holding up mining development in our region by its unwillingness to work with First
Nations to promote economic opportunities, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kathleen Wynne congratulated her government on creating her position, while failing to acknowledge more needs to be done. This approach by the Liberals is not only holding back mining development, but is keeping jobs out of our region. You can rest assured that I will continue to bring this up until the province takes real steps that will allow us to benefit from the mineral wealth in our region's far north.
While there were frustrations, there were two very positive notes to my first week in the Legislative Assembly. The first being my chance to congratulate the volunteers of Dryden's Second Chance Pet Network on their great work over the past two years and the groundbreaking at the future site of their permanent shelter, during Members Statements Nov. 24. The second highlight was the introduction of my colleague Mike Mantha's bill to remove HST from home heating, which has now passed first and second reading and has been sent to committee.
I'd like to close with a reminder that you can keep up to date with all the latest developments by following me on twitter @Sarah4NWO on Facebook at facebook.com/Sarah4NWO and on my
Website at www.Sarah4NWO.ca.