politics
Queen’s Park Watch: Get Fit With Dalton!
The Government of Ontario wants you looking good in 2012.
With the provincial legislature not in session again until next month, some evidence that it’s really hard to fill up all that white space when news is slow…
January is resolution season, and high on the self-improvement list for a lot of people is better health through diet and exercise. And what better place to get the 411 on fitness than Dalton McGuinty’s official blog?
For those of you who don’t know (which will be all of you), the Premier’s office hosts a blog which in a fit of originality they’ve named BlogON(tario). This is where Dalton McGuinty lets down his hair and connects with the common web-surfer who enjoys 200-word PR blurbs written at a fourth grade reading level.
Most of the posts are mundane puff pieces about government initiatives like Homework Help for kids or upgrades to GO Transit. Last week’s entry, however, was delightfully outside the bureaucratic box.
In his January 3 post, our Premier summoned his inner Richard Simmons and exhorted us to “Think Like A Champion,” offering “Five Tips To Help You Reach Your Goals” around getting trim and ripped in 2012.
Sadly, the advice comes not from “Musclehead” McGuinty himself (“sadly” because if you’re like us, you’ve often fantasized about benching 300 pounds while a Lululemon clad Premier stands over you screaming “ONE MORE REP!”), but from Canadian body-building champ Renaldo Gairy.
The tips themselves are unremarkable—record your weight loss goals, work with a trainer, don’t go for quick fix diets. But it’s weird, even in the legislative limbo period around the holidays, that our government wants to give us advice we’d normally pick up in Cosmo or Men’s Health. (“Putting the “Leg” Back in Legislature: Dalton’s Tips for a Sexy Spring Wardrobe!” “Look Great with the Ontario Austerity Diet!”)
The other oddity is the link to, and de facto promotion of, both Renaldo Gairy’s website and Florida Jack’s, the Toronto boutique boxing gym where he trains. Is the Ontario government so hard up for cash that they’re selling product placement opportunities on the Premier’s blog? Can we look forward to galleries of Mr. McGuinty and his cabinet smiling for the camera while sucking back wings and beer at Hooter’s?
Regardless, we’d like to thank the government of Ontario for the advice, as well as the inspiration for the buddy movie script we’ll be shopping around, tentatively titled “This Premier Ain’t No Pencilneck” and starring Steve Carell and The Rock. 2012 is gonna be a great year.