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Doug Ford has called this election completely unnecessarily. Set term election dates were put in place for a reason; to avoid opportunism leading to an advantage for the incumbent party.
While the new tariffs are undoubtedly a huge concern for all of Canada, this pressing need for a “new mandate” in a short election period, while they are in the forefront of our minds, is just that sort of opportunism and will cost Ontarians as much as $183 million, according to Elections Ontario.
But, aside from repeatedly saying he’s the only one to lead us through these difficult times, I question whether his track record will back him up. Time after time, he has shown poor judgment.
Bill 124 limited salary increases for public employees to 1 per cent per year over three years. That was ruled to be unconstitutional by the Ontario courts. His silly carbon tax gas pump stickers and costly carbon tax challenge ($35M for the loss) were also struck down by the courts.
Bill 28 invoked the 'notwithstanding clause' in advance of his negotiations with CUPE. Only the threat of a province-wide strike forced him to reconsider the fairness of that step.
Exempting developers from having to pay development fees to municipalities, downloading additional expenses to our municipalities, who now have to struggle with balancing service cuts and tax increases to make it up.
Scrapping all of the previous initiatives created to develop green energy, leaving us way behind the leading edge in terms of job creation and severely hampering our ability to reach carbon emission targets. Climate change sure isn’t going to stop because we now pay tariffs! Oh, and did you know that Ontario civil servants were muzzled in using the term “climate change” in any social media release?
Scrapping the licence plate sticker program resulted in a $1.1B/year loss of income.
Ford has pushed forward with plans to build Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass; in spite of their impact on waterways and farmlands in the Holland Marsh area. Reports indicate the highways will do little to reduce driving times for commuters – while driving up carbon emissions when we should be reducing them and projected to cost $6 billion.
The attempt to sell off our Greenbelt lands to developers, that was only reversed because Ontarians wouldn’t stand for it. But, his reversal did not include the other environmental weakening actions.
Buying out the beer contract for $225 million for the sake of another year.
And let’s not forget the latest bribe of $200 sent to everyone, regardless of need, that is costing us $3.2 billion!
I haven’t even mentioned healthcare or homelessness. These are complex and long-term issues, often national or even global in nature, that, in all honesty, no party is going to be able to “fix” quickly. But, Ford certainly hasn’t moved the needle in the right direction yet (costly privatization, anyone?).
I know we all lead very busy lives and not all these issues effect each of us, so it is easy to “move on” and just forget about those that don’t. But, even if these decisions did not impact your life directly, we cannot allow ourselves to develop amnesia.
They show a pattern of poor, often seemingly impulsive, judgment. And they have cost us dearly! We cannot afford to have that kind of leadership during these upcoming times.
Janet Campbell
Orillia
