New Premier Kathleen  Wynne did everything she could in last week’s Throne Speech to make everyone happy after her former boss’s acrimonious years. Everyone, that is, except the Conservatives – and very little makes them happy these days.

“I just think the approach that says, a little bit of PC, a little bit of NDP and a whole lot of Dalton McGuinty isn’t going to get us out of this mess,” said Conservative Leader Tim Hudak in a radio interview. “The only way we get Ontario back on the right track is to change the team that leads this province.”

Strong words, in a province where taxpayers shelled out more than $90 million just 16 months ago for an election that produced our current minority government.

Labour unions, teachers unions, doctors and nurses, agricultural federation, transportation groups and business boards all praised the Throne Speech for its conciliatory tone.
But all warned that unless real action happens for their various causes, their support will be withdrawn just as quickly.

Even NDP leader Andrea Horwath tempered the party’s support for the throne speech with a call for a clear plan on issues such as job creation, improved health care, affordable insurance and cracking down on tax loopholes. “This Throne Speech has a lot of promising talk, but unless we see action in the coming budget, we won’t be able to support it,” she cautioned.

And that’s when the Wynne government will face the real test: in April when the provincial budget is released. We hope that, in the meantime, the new Liberal regime realizes that there is only so much money to go around— particularly after McGuinty’s wasteful years. Wynne will quickly find that words are cheap, actions cost.