It’s gotten to the point where it’s almost weird when John Tory is the one criticizing McGuinty and explaining how the Tories would run Ontario. I thought John had permanently deferred to Van Loan/Flaherty/Poilievre on that.

Yesterday it was Pierre Poilievre displaying his usual class in response to the following rather benign criticisms the small man of confederation leveled at Harper’s immigration plan:

Then he was asked about the sweeping new federal immigration reforms and he replied that his own ancestors were unskilled workers – just like the parents of some Canadian Rhodes scholars.

“I wouldn’t want to shut out folks who don’t have a skill. I wouldn’t be here,” McGuinty told a news conference.

“We were part of the exodus from Ireland at the time of famine. We had no skills, we couldn’t speak English, and we were dirt-poor.

“But we were looking for opportunity and we brought with us a solid work ethic.”

So Poilievre responded showing the usual maturity he has become known for, first saying that immigration was a federal jurisdiction and then attacking provincial immigration policy (anyone else catch the fun contradiction there?):

“All Dalton McGuinty has ever done on immigration is run a sponsorship-style slush fund that cost him his citizenship minister,” Mr. Poilievre said in an interview.

Now, assuming the Conservative position is that it’s OK for Ottawa to offer economic advice to Ontario, one wonders why it’s not alright for Ontario to offer immigration advice to Ottawa. After all, it’s not like McGuinty turned the Ontario Liberal website into a giant attack ad on Harper.

The most popular game in Ottawa has become trying to guess Harper’s motives which seem to make about as much sense as a typical Lost episode. Here’s a few of the theories I’ve seen floating around – there are probably more:

1. They want to blame McGuinty for the impending economic slump
2. This will help CPC fundraising
3. Trying to hurt the “Liberal” brand in Ontario
4. Trying to damage a future McGuinty run for LPC leader
5. There are enough people who dislike McGuinty that this will get them votes
6. Flaherty wants to replace John Tory
7. This is to remind Ontarians that they like federal/provincial fighting
8. Deflect attention from Cadman/Mulroney
9. A chance to re-emphasize that they’re the party of tax cuts without having to actually cut taxes
10. Portray Tories as being best for the economy
11. Beating up Stephane Dion isn’t challenging enough anymore
12. Harper just likes picking fights with people