[BRIEF NOTE] What will happen next to the Ontario Liberals?

[rfmcdonald]

The Ontario Liberal Party, which has formed Ontario's provincial government since 2003 under Premier Dalton McGuinty, has been having to deal with some scandals lately. Earlier this summer came the eHealth scandal, wherein major people in charge at the government institution charged with digitizing Ontario health records were found out to be keeping contracts from being open to applicants at large and spending huge amounts of government money. Yesterday came the dismissal of the entire board and firing with cause of the head of the Ontario lottery commission, charged (again) with misspending on everything from a $C8 pen to a downpayment on a Florida condo.

Now? Michael Bryant, former member of provincial parliament for the mid-town riding of St. Paul's and formerly Ontario's attorney general, seems to have had a little traffic accident on Bloor Street West near Bay last night.

[H]omicide detectives have been called in to investigate because of the "complex nature" of the incident, which began near the corner of Bloor Street West and Bay Street at about 9:45 p.m. ET on Monday night.

"There was some sort of altercation between the two people involved in this investigation, which has ended in, unfortunately, the death of a cyclist," said Burrows.

In an interview with CBC News, Sgt. Tim Burrows described what led to the cyclist's death as a "minor collision" between the bicycle and a black Saab.

"The cyclist ended up on the side of the car, holding on, and the driver continued along, driving westbound on Bloor Street [West]."

Burrows could not explain why the driver crossed lanes of traffic and drove up onto the curb.

"I don't want to try to say why the driver did that, only the driver knows exactly why he was, but he was travelling westbound in the eastbound lanes," he said.

[. . .]

The witnesses said it appeared as though the driver was attempting to knock the cyclist off by brushing against trees and mailboxes on Bloor Street, approaching Avenue Road.

Police said the cyclist sustained severe injuries after striking a mailbox and a tree while still hanging onto the car.

Witnesses said the 33-year-old cyclist, who has not been identified, fell off, was dragged and then run over by the rear wheels of the vehicle.

He was rushed to Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital but died of severe head injuries, according to police.

Did I mention that there's going to be a by-election in Bryant's former riding? I'm sure that this incident won't influence the outcome.

I like the Irish acronym GUBU: grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented.