Writer intends to donate his $200 gift cheque to an underfunded service
To the Expositor:
Quid semitam tibi eligere? If memory serves me correctly, (doesn’t always—I’m getting toward my mid-70s), it is Latin for ‘what path do you choose?’.
I think it is a fairly plausible assumption that we can expect our provincial Progressive Conservative government to be planning a late spring or early summer election in 2025.
After all, the signs are all there. We seem to be getting a lot of publicity on the amazing list of provincial goodies which most of us consider an underhanded attempt to influence our vote using our own tax dollars.
The latest promise is for a compassionate (?) gift of $200 for each and every one who is an Ontario resident. Oh, how nice! Our supposedly fiscally responsible provincial government is going to spend over three billion dollars on this program which they say is to help us with paying off our end of the year and Christmas debt.
Speaking of debt, I don’t imagine the Conservatives have these three billion dollars in a surplus fund. If they did why haven’t they spent it on health care, doctors and nurses, more equipment funding for rural hospitals and clinics which are all underfunded and understaffed causing shutdowns of emergency services. Why not spend the money to aid rural areas with infrastructure and utilities, police, fire and paramedic services?
The likely truth is this program will be covered with borrowed money leading to more provincial debt and higher taxes to pay the interest on the growing debt.
Myself, when I do get my $200 so called gift cheque in January or February of 2025 I will make a donation of it to the local Cambridge Hospital Foundation or food bank or homeless shelter. All appear to be underfunded local needs which our pal Dougie seems to have overlooked.
Michael G Loker
Cambridge, Ontario
