Premier Dalton McGuinty is the best example of how you don't need to be charismatic to be the boss. In fact, you can be the least charismatic guy in the entire legislature and still be the leader. McGuinty is a shining beacon of hope for dull ambitious people across the province. This is him speaking in Question Period on March 29. (Photo: Pippin Lee)
There are very few things in life I like to do more than emulate the most typical elements of a news report: buttoning the blazer, walking towards the camera, punctuating every sentence with a hand gesture, and the most dramatic voice-over intonation possible. Which is why it makes me sad that last week was probably my last trip to Queen’s Park as a member of the press gallery.
Since October, I’ve been lucky enough to meet some pretty cool journalists: the Toronto Sun’s Christina Blizzard, CTV’s Paul Bliss, Global News’ Sean Mallen, the Globe and Mail’s Karen Howlett, and Toronto Star columnist Jim Coyle are just a few of the people whose hands I’ve gotten to shake.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is a fiery and passionate speaker in the legislature. (Photo: Pippin Lee)
The Minister of Training Colleges and Universities John Milloy was the man of the hour on March 29. A little known fact is that he was classmates with Dalton McGuinty way back when they attended Charisma School, and then both dropped out simultaneously to join the seminary, before entering politics when the prospect of the priesthood just seemed like too much fun. (Photo: Pippin Lee)
I also got to interview pretty well everyone there except for Dalton McGuinty, including Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, Health Minister Deb Matthews, Energy and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid, Training Colleges and Universities Minister John Milloy, as well as PC Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, plus a bunch more MPPs.
Last week’s announcement was on the new tuition fee framework for Ontario colleges and universities and changes to OSAP. My print story can be found here, and my video report is below (Forgive the brief black space at the beginning, I don’t know what happened there!). Now, one quick note, this announcement was basically Christmas morning for Canadian Federation of Students executives, since it either validates or negates their years of lobbying efforts. Curiously, neither the Ontario Chairperson and nor Ontario national rep showed up. Instead they were in Guelph trying to keep U of G a part of the CFS. Interesting to see where priorities lie when push comes to shove. Anyhow, here’s the video.
And speaking of typical news elements, I only just stumbled upon this a few days ago. Charlie Brooker is my new role model.
That’s all for now I guess. Updates on my new documentary will be up later this week.
