Toronto – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne should cut all ties with her top economic adviser, Ed Clark, the President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.
Warren (Smokey) Thomas made the comment after the Premier extended the former bank CEO’s job as her Business Advisor for another year, to March 31, 2018.
“First Kathleen Wynne claims she’s learned her lessons from the Hydro One privatization disaster, then she goes back to her privatization guru for advice on what to do next,” Thomas said. “As far as I can see, the Premier hasn’t learned a thing from the Hydro One debacle. It’s time she ended her obsession with privatization, and that should start with dumping Ed Clark now.”
Speaking on an Ottawa talk radio show Thursday, Thomas said that “Kathleen Wynne is taking all this free advice from Ed Clark, and you know, as I’ve said before, we can’t afford any more of his free advice.”
Taking direction from Clark is “political suicide” for Wynne, the OPSEU President added today.
“The Premier’s ratings are spiralling downward precisely because Ontarians have rejected the privatization plans that Ed Clark proposed,” he said. “People know that we all get better service from publicly owned services, and they know that privatization leads to bigger bills and more frustration.
“By relying so heavily on Ed Clark, Kathleen Wynne is outsourcing her own job and simply not taking responsibility for her own actions,” Thomas said. “In the process, she’s ruining our public services – and putting the final nail in the coffin of her career.”
For more information: Warren (Smokey) Thomas, 613-329-1931