The politician who said, "I didn't do it."

This is a letter sent to an obnoxious politician in the Ontario Legislature who is found wanting in politeness in the legislature. Would you want this man as your neighbour? The letter was sent to him on May 16, 2003.


John O’Toole
MPP for Durham
Ontario Legislature Buildings
Queens Park, Ontario

Dear Sir:

When I saw the picture of you standing in the Legislature with a sneering face and your middle finger stuck up in the air as if saying to the member you were addressing, “Up yours!” the first thing that came to my mind was, ‘O’Toole is another politician who has the manners of a Chicago hit man.’

But when I learned that you denied giving MPP Kormos the finger, I concluded that you are also a liar.

For the most part, no-one really likes politicians because they are out there looking after their own interests and no-one elses. We tolerate politicians because we need them to conduct the business of our province and country.

But there are two kinds of politicians that we will not tolerate and those are the crooks and the liars. You are one of the latter politicians. Unfortunately, once a politician lies, his credibility goes right down the toilet. It can never be retrieved. If you would lie about something as mundane as giving someone the bird, at what point would you not lie? Aesop said it best when he said, “A liar will not be believed even when he speaks the truth.”

I strongly suspect that your career in politics as anything other than a backbencher, is ruined.

You have served a useful purpose however in the legislature. Other legislators will remember you as the man who did it and denied it and will remember where your career went after that.

Yours truly


Dahn Batchelor