McGuinty to walk away from politics

Dalton McGuinty has had enough of the public eye.

The former Ontario Premier will resign his Ottawa South seat in the legislature Wednesday.   McGuinty had said just last month that he would remain the MPP for his riding until the next general election.   But, he had only shown up in the legislature twice since he was replaced as premier in February.   Both of those times were for confidence votes.   And he did not attend the vote on the minority government’s budget, which passed with support from the NDP.

The scandal over the Liberals’ decisions to cancel gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga to save seats in the 2011 election has dogged McGuinty from the moment the vote reduced his party to a minority position.

Last October, McGuinty suddenly prorogued the legislature and announced his resignation as Premier, just hours before the committee hearings were to begin into the gas plant debacle.   He blamed a bitter debate on a rare contempt of parliament motion filed against the Liberals for failing to release documents on the gas plants that ground legislative business to a virtual halt as one of the reasons for quitting as Premier.