To the Expositor:
Re: Editorial of March 14, 2018 – Ontario Tories
Your captioned editorial was not only interesting but inspiring and thought provoking. Elections at all levels over recent years have rarely been about electing anyone, but unelecting a party or candidate we have grown discontented with, for whatever reason. It is pretty common knowledge that the Ontario population has become quite unhappy with the Wynne Liberals, predominantly over unreasonable costs for hydro and the sale of Hydro One, but there are a multitude of other failures that bring voters to the point of anger. So enter the populist, tough talking Doug Ford, who is well experienced at playing to the lowest common denominator of people’s anger, dissatisfaction, fears and disappointment with the current governing body, and providing answers made up on the spot to suit the current audience. Facts or methods irrelevant. You may recall the mid-1990s when a man named Mike Harris did the same thing, and called it the Common Sense Revolution, to convince people how he and his PCs were the only answer to “all those terrible policies and mistakes of the Rae regime.” Many municipalities and many individuals are still trying to recover from the “Common Sense Revolution.”
Once people figured out the harm from his right wing, fend for yourself (if you can) program that punished the poor, nearly decimated our health care system and reduced social programs to the most vulnerable, it was a rush to vote for anybody but a PC candidate. Hence, along came Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals. When he left office, the voters held out hope for a change to saner programs, and gave Wynne a shot. She soon lost favour, and likely would have been sent packing last election, but the PCs brought on a “Mike Harris” clone, Tim Hudak, who literally scared voters with talk of service cuts and other cuts resembling those of his mentor, Harris.
Now we are collectively fed up with Wynne again, and now a (not so) new player enters the picture like Dudley DoRight, to save us all, in the form of Doug Ford. But he has his own mentor, whom you elude to in your editorial as the “leader” (your term, not mine) from south of the border. Despite his denials, Mr. Ford could easily cover for Mr. Trump should the latter wish a break, and nobody down there would even notice, The right wing, hardnosed, populist agenda would continue. Mr. Ford is already playing to fears; playing to the base protectionist values of some; playing to the “evangelical” type attitudes present; and (seen in some social media comments) anti LGBTQ and immigrant sentiments. With him at the helm, we may as well cede to the USA and be done with it. (Perish the thought.)
I don’t know where the answer lies. The third major party is still pretty much silent on how they would handle things. Are we to be reduced to voting for the lesser of two evils between the Liberals or the PCs, or will the NDP emerge with an acceptable platform that considers the needs of people across the province? Who knows? We all must be vigilant, informed, and leave the emotions at home on election day.
Keith H. Moyer
Elliot Lake
