It was a good week for:

* Premier Dalton McGuinty, who spent his second-last week as premier on a trade mission to China, far away from the mundane concerns of Ontario politics. He wore a spiffy Roots jacket, hung out with giant pandas, and laced on his skates to play hockey with expatriate Canadians.

* Liberal leadership candidate Sandra Pupatello, who took the frontrunner spot from Kathleen Wynne after securing the most delegates in voting last weekend. The convention begins next Friday.

* Students at Chris Hadfield Public School in Milton, who watched a live video feed Thursday and asked questions of their school's astronaut namesake while he floated aboard the International Space Station.

* Campers in northeastern Ontario, who will once again be able to camp overnight at Fushimi Lake, Rene Brunelle and Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Parks in a two-year agreement between the government and local municipalities.

It was a bad week for:

* Toronto budget chief Mike Del Grande, who resigned Wednesday hours after council approved his 2013 operating budget. The Scarborough-Agincourt councillor had vowed to step down if any spending was added to his $9.4 billion budget. Council voted to add $12 million for child care, nutrition and fire services funding.

* Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who was reprimanded by federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson for a March 30, 2012, letter he wrote to the CRTC praising a licence application by Durham Radio, Inc., a broadcaster in his Whitby-Oshawa riding. He says he was acting only as an MP, not as a federal minister.

* The Toronto Transit Commission, which fired eight transit enforcement officers for allegedly issuing hundreds of fake provincial tickets. Five of the eight were arrested on criminal charges.

* Marineland, the tourist attraction that was ordered by the Ministry of the Environment to stop burying animals on its Niagara Falls property and disclose what lies in its mass graves.

They said it:

“There’s a lot of risk here. It’s cuckoo bananas.”
-Toronto city councillor Gord Perks reacts Wednesday to Tory Leader Tim Hudak's proposal to download Ontario’s Disability Support Program to municipalities.

"Terri, can we keep him?"
- Premier Dalton McGuinty tweets a photo of a young giant panda Thursday at the Chengdu breeding research centre in China.

"I'd rather be criticized for a decision to not jeopardize, take or lose lives than for taking unnecessary aggressive action that undoubtedly will."
- In a YouTube video posted Tuesday, OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis addresses his force's approach to aboriginal protests.

“I know there’s a lot of talk lately about coalition government. That’s not something New Democrats are interested in. It’s not an option I plan on pursuing.”
- NDP Leader Andrea Horwath comments at a luncheon speech Thursday at the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto.

The week, for better or worse

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