So, it's official. No matter what happens, Ontario is getting austerity.

The "brinkmanship" around the McGuinty budget has made this clear.

There is the Hudak slash and burn version that seeks to implement the full Drummond Report; a virtually guaranteed way to greatly exacerbate inequality and to drive Ontario back into recession.

There is the McGuinty version, which seeks to balance the books directly on the backs of labour, workers and the poor, while, perhaps intentionally from the start, trying to appear moderate by not bringing, for now, the full Drummond Report apocalypse that they themselves commissioned.

The really big story coming out of Queen's Park this week is not Don Drummond's endlessly-hyped report. Sure, there's lots of shock and awe and slash and burn and user fees that will eat away at the ever eroding well-being of the 99 per cent. Another day, another banker's demand for austerity for the most vulnerable. It's just another dog bites man story. Call that news?

Here's man biting dog: Death and resurrection as public acts. Suicide and revival. The politician as phoenix. And all this on the part of the late Tim Hudak.

Who?

Toronto's National Post -- or, as I prefer to think of it, the National Pest -- states in its meta tags that it's "Canada's trusted source for national news, financial news, world news, blogging, twitter, tweets, opinion, vodcast, podcast, commentary, entertainment and sports." Really, it does!

Nothing in there about polls, though, so we're not going to get to report them to the Better Business Bureau, tonight anyway.

Don't be fooled by all the analysts. Dalton McGuinty is king of Ontario. Whether or not he finally gets the magic 54 seats required for a formal majority, the province is his. With far and away the most seats and with a slim lead in the popular vote, why does he have to heed anything the NDP or Conservatives want?

How can he be defeated? Is there an alternative grouping that could demand to govern? Could the Hudak and Horwath forces unite to support a Tim Hudak government? Could they even dream of joining in a no-confidence motion that would force another election? All scenarios other than Mr. McGuinty ruling exactly as if he had a majority are out of the question.

Despite all the public posturing by Messrs. McGuinty and Hudak, you can't believe a word either is uttering about what happens after Thursday night. The Liberal Leader can insist from now to doomsday that he won't contemplate any deal at all with the NDP, but he's blowing smoke. If he wants to stay premier, he won't have a choice. There will be a minority government -- have I ever been wrong? -- with the Grits and Progressive Conservatives neck and neck. So both will need Andrea Horwath and the NDP if they are to govern for any time at all.