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They are, apparently, no farther along, which has prompted senior MPPs to fire off letters to one another. Liberal House Leader Yasir Naqvi wants to blame the NDP for taking Ontario to the brink of not having an ombudsman:

What’s greasy about this, is that the Liberals are exactly as much to blame as the New Democrats. They could extend Marin’s term again, but Naqvi’s presenting a false choice here.

The Liberals want Marin’s deputy Barbara Finlay to take over rather than extending Marin or reappointing him to another full term. That office must be a delightful place these days.

Marin, it must be said, is not a paragon of virtue. He shoots his mouth off. His record as the boss of an independent office has been the subject of complaint. There are legitimate reasons why the Liberals might want to move him out, and not just that he gets on their nerves. But it still looks bad on them.

Indeed, without knowing what’s going on in the hiring committee’s closed-door sessions, it’s conceivable the New Democrats are behaving as they are for exactly that reason. Regardless, it’s pretty remarkable that after all this time, Naqvi proposes starting the hiring process all over again. Presumably that would include wrangling over the job description, so as to advantage or disadvantage Marin in the subsequent second competition. But if Marin reapplies, again, they’ll end up in the same position, again.

The three parties have been able to agree on another officer of the legislature, a new environment commissioner to replace Gord Miller. Miller served three terms (he was appointed under Mike Harris) before running for federal office for the Green party in Guelph. The parties have agreed on environmental lawyer Dianne Saxe as his successor, albeit a few months later than they might have.