Jim Bradley's criticisms in opposition foreshadowed duplicity in government

This letter by R. Bobak (St. Catharines Standard, June 29, 2007):

"Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty's nose grew a bit longer last year when he said in the legislature, "I have never been a proponent of regulating gas prices."

For years, that is exactly what his opposition Liberals advocated. St. Catharines Grit MPP Jim Bradley routinely made unsubstantiated claims about "gas gouging" and "price fixing."

For years, McGuinty and Bradley blustered that Ontario, instead of passing the buck to the federal government, had jurisdiction to regulate gas prices and cut gasoline taxes.

Yet now, Liberal Energy Minister Dwight Duncan (of gas shortage: "So what?" fame) says there's little, if anything, the province can do about gas prices!

McGuinty, who once badgered for a provincial gas price watchdog, now rejects his own proposal - and passes the buck to the federal government!

In opposition, Bradley introduced a private member's bill to regulate predatory gas pricing, but now that his governing Liberals have a majority, his bill has vanished!

In 2003, Bradley said he didn't remember gas, at 83 cents, ever being that expensive.
Has anyone remembered to ask him why it's now more expensive on his watch?

Bradley's pandering of a nebulous populism in opposition morphed upon gaining power into unprincipled hypocrisy, with promises never intended to be honoured.

Besides, how could anyone who advocated the now-kaput Kyoto protocol (as Bradley did) also really advocate for the incongruous concept of lower gas prices?

In 1997, Bradley smugly squawked about then-premier Mike Harris's plan to investigate gas prices: "He has simply made a lot of noise. He huffs and he puffs and he blusters but he has simply done nothing."

Clearly, we can now see that Bradley was actually foreshadowing a sad summary of his own Liberal duplicity. "