Things to keep in mind...

It's time once again for provincial politicians to dust off their shoes, put on some fancy clothes and smile smile smile! Yes, it's time for the pre-election two step, or waltz, or whatever you want to call it, when politicians of every stripe hit the proverbial dance floor looking to spin and dip voters before they twirl them toward the ballot box.
It's quite a show. Forget about So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With The Stars; this tops them all!
The only thing is, those two reality TV shows don't try to pretend to be something they're not. Whereas when politicians get fired up on the hustings, well, needless to say, that's an entirely different story.
I understand the need to get out there and talk to the people about policy and plans and hopes for the future while trying at every possible opportunity to debase the competition. But please, politicians, for the love of all us poor voting slobs, don't insult our intelligence by trying to disguise what you're doing as regular business which has nothing to do with the upcoming election.
Case in point - it was mentioned by myself and one other reporter at a recent visit to the City by Premier Dalton McGuinty, that his visits and recent promises to our local populace might just be seen as political pandering in the face of the looming vote.
According to our Premier nothing could be further from the truth. "I started campaigning for this election the day after I was elected," he told us.
Well, there you go.
Local provincial candidates of all political stripe are filling my e-mail box at work with notices of what their plans would be should they be elected and why what all the other parties have done or may do could lead to the downfall of civilization as we know it.
Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic, but you get my drift.
It baffles me that this happens every time an election comes up and politicians still try to present promises of big new funding as nothing more than a genuine concern for whatever subject they are talking about. It's like they really believe people don't understand what they're doing and act absolutely put out if the media calls them on it.
It's as if so long as they don't say it out loud, no one will pick up on the fact that all this financial support will come to nothing if their party isn't elected. It's a simple as that.