Kathleen Wynne channels ‘Spinal Tap’, apologizes for gas plant debacle 11 times

Big news from Ontario’s growing gas plant scandal: Premier Kathleen Wynne has apologized. Eleven times. In one interview.

No word on whether the move set a speed record for a politicians going from zero to parody, in the vein of Spinal Tap, but it is certainly a change from her stance that she wasn’t responsible for the sins of her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty.

The Toronto Star reports that Wynne apologized during a Tuesday interview on Ontario's TVO. A count of the word “sorry” came to 11.

“The people of Ontario need to hear that I’m sorry,” Wynne told host Steve Paikin Tuesday evening, according to the Star.

“What’s needed right now is for the premier to say, ‘I’m sorry.”

On the spectrum of political apologies, Wynne's sudden outpouring lacks the historical gravitas of the residential school apology or the equivocation of that time Pierre Trudeau apologized for saying "fuddle duddle."

[ Related: Wynne apologizes for Ontario gas plant cancellations ]

In the history of Canadian political apologies, Wynne's moment will likely be remembered either as "too little, too late" or "too much and too many."

Wynne apologized a total of 11 times. She apologized directly, she apologized indirectly. She almost could have apologized to everyone in the province, by name.

It has been a long road to reach this point, so let us reflect.

The Liberal government cancelled two gas plants leading up to the 2011 provincial election, at politically opportune moments and at a politically inopportune cost (currently tallied at $585 million).

After the Liberals reformed government, Dalton McGuinty stepped down as leader while several fires burned, not the least of which was the fallout from the gas plant cancellations.

Wynne was named his replacement and vowed transparency. She admitted the cancellations were "politically motivated" but said she had no inside information at the time the decision was made.

During at recent appearance in front of a committee investigating the debacle, McGuinty claimed sole responsibility for the cancellation.

All the while, the Conservatives and NDP have been demanding Wynne take responsibility for the failings of her party and have even tried to force a new election by saying the Liberals had lost the moral authority to govern.

[ Political Points: Liberals pull off surprise victory in B.C. election ]

So what about this apology? It is not going to satisfy the Conservatives, and questions remain whether it will be enough to sate the NDP long enough for them to support a proposed budget.

As for the people, those Wynne said deserved to hear a premier apologize and have now received that apology? Will it be enough to put them at ease? Will enough people be satisfied by her earnestness, or at least the volume of apologies that met her appearance on TVO, to suck the political juice out of launching the province into a new election?

Really, the whole thing is sort of weird. Wynne has said she wasn't involved in the decision to cancel the gas plants. So the apology is really just coming from her role as premier.

If she hadn't apologized, there was a decent chance she wouldn't be premier for long. Then again, those who want her out aren't likely to be satisfied by a simple apology.

Even if she turned it up all the way to 11.

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