Dalton McGuinty is John Baird's kind of premier

The feud between John Baird and the McGuinty brothers is epic.

At Queen's Park during his days in the Mike Harris Ontario government, Mr. Baird regularly locked horns with Dalton McGuinty, who led the opposition at the time.

Here in Ottawa, Mr. Baird never misses an opportunity for a war of words with Dalton's brother David, a Liberal MP who represents the same Ottawa South riding federally as his brother does provincially.

But something's changed.

When Mr. Baird was environment minister, there was an edge to his jabs with David McGuinty, the Liberal environment critic. The gloves were off. Now that Mr. Baird is the Transport minister in charge of working with premiers to get "shovels in the ground," it's kid gloves.

There is still a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but he now zealously refers to Dalton as "my premier."

He went further today in Question Period, rejecting a call from Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy - another Queen's Park alum - for infrastructure stimulus cash to be handed over to municipalities.

"Mr. Speaker, we are going to be working constructively with the provinces," said Mr. Baird. "What the member opposite would like us to do is simply shove aside the Premier of Ontario and go directly to municipalities. The member ran against Dalton McGuinty. He has never been supportive of him. We are committed to working with him. We are committed to partnership and to getting the job done."