It's been almost one month since Dalton McGuinty prorogued the legislature and I doubt the opposition will get him a cake to mark the occasion.
There have been almost daily calls to bring Queen's Park back and they have fallen on deaf ears.
But did we really expect otherwise?
McGuinty had a course already mapped when he announced his plan to prorogue minutes before he revealed he would be stepping down. And while many say it had to do with the gas plant controversy (which I don't doubt), it was also to make sure the province wasn't thrust into an election with the Liberals leader-less.
The premier left the decision up to the next guy or gal in charge as to when to come back and unless the opposition can find an urgent matter worthy of recalling the legislature, it will stay as-is until at least the end of January ...
Family.
We've heard it used over and over again as a reason/excuse to get out of politics. Former mayor David Miller propped it up as one of the reasons he decided not to run for re-election. And now, take what's been going on with the Liberals:
Dalton McGuinty: He said one of the reasons he was resigning was to send more time with loved ones. He did speak about his kids but they are adults.
George Smitherman: Along with some new businesses he's working on, he said he wanted to raise his two young kids.
Brad Duguid: Despite joking about everyone saying they want to spend time with family when announcing he wouldn't run for the Liberal leadership, he noted he wanted to be there for his teenagers in case they ever needed him.
Family is an easy reason/excuse and while it may be true for some, not just cynical ...
Just 24 hours ago, I blogged about the silence heard most mornings at Queen's Park.
Little did I - or anyone else - know, it was to be the calm before the storm.
There are many out there praising or slamming down Dalton McGuinty's political motives for stepping down, all expected to happen now and in the days and weeks ahead.
But no matter what your political stripe, many out there also know he was a nice guy.
On one of my first days on the Queen's Park beat, something happened to me that didn't happen when I started covering city hall under Mayor David Miller. It also didn't happen to me when Mayor Rob Ford took office.
The guy in the top political spot almost made me dribble my soup.
I was writing a report after Question Period and having lunch at my desk, as I usually do. There ...
I like coming in early to Queen's Park, especially when I know I'm going to have a busy day ahead of me.
The hallways are emptier than when proceedings in the legislature start, the only sounds you hear are the ding of elevators and the pouring of coffee in the downstairs cafeteria. It's easy to read a few things and set your office up when you know you don't have to keep watching the clock for when the next news conference or when question period will start.
Above all, the insanity that makes up a busy day can be cast aside for just a little bit.
In a way, it's like waking up early on the weekend to drink coffee and read as the sun comes up. You know you'll have a lot to do later in the day but that's your moment of solace.
As I type this, I ...
On Tuesday, in the middle of the budget vote, time seemed to stop.
It was between when the Liberals got up to vote in favour of it and the Tories, against. It was when the NDP stayed seated and know one knew if they were going to get up.
Just under 24 hours earlier, the Liberals and NDP made a deal and while NDP leader Andrea Horwath underlined she wouldn't make the government fall rather than state her full-out support for the budget (meaning the party would likely abstain), that one moment in the budget vote was full of doubt.
Sidebar: in order to vote in the Legislature, an MPP has to stand. Once the clerk has read his or her name, they will sit back down and their say is counted.
So thoughts were swirling: Did NDP members change their minds? Will they really abstain? Will there be another ...