In this week's edition of On the Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast:

Ford Nation is getting around to "getting it done" two years after running on the Tories' "git 'er dun" campaign that won them a majority government in June of 2022.

Ontario's MPPs were back in the Ledge for the first time in 2024 following their long winter's nap, AKA the Christmas recess. Sabrina Nanji at the Queen's Park Observers says it was only three days in the house but it felt a "lifetime" on the poltical beat with the introduction of Ford's "Get It Done" omnibus bill aimed at everything from toll roads to requiring a referendum on a carbon tax.

Sabrina says it feels like the checkered flag has dropped on the next election. "2026 is a long ways away, but it feels like we're in campaign mode weirdly. And I think this theme of getting back on trackis what we're going to be looking at from the Ford government (because) they want to change the channel from a year of policy reversals and backtracks and scandals."

Bonnie Crombie, the recently elected Ontario Liberal leader, doesn't have a seat the Ledge but her name echoed the halls of the house. Keith Leslie, political commentator at CH TV in Hamilton, says the Tories used a lot of their Question Period time ensuring Crombie's name landed in Hansard.

"Bonnie Crombie's name was virtually in every answer from a Conservative minister in the legislature. That's because if she does run and wins that seat in Milton, they can no longer use her name. They have to use the writing. And so they're using the name Bonnie Crombie and every tax raising answer they can give. Their answers, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with the question!"

As John Wright, EVP at Maru Public Opinion has often noted, the PCs are defining Crombie especially on the question of the carbon tax.

"Ya, they've defined her on taxing. I mean, that's been (the PCs) big card. And I have to say, I've been relatively surprised at how slow and how diffuse Bonnie Crombie's responses to all of this stuff has been. Even when she got asked outside of the legislature on the carbon tax."

With all the noise and usual fanfare, Sabrina says NDP leader Marit Stiles was barely noticeable in this first week back in the Ledge. "This is probably the worst week of all for the NDP and Marit Stiles because Bonnie Crombie doesn't have a seat in the house, but she's a bit of a media darling" effectively stealing the spotlight from Stiles.

The big question is "Should Crombie seek a seat in the legislature or wait for the next election?"

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