Here in Ontario, it is Family Day, but all is not well. We have an unnecessary election pending, the premier has cloaked himself in his Captain Canada regalia, and he has done everything he can to buy votes, plunging the province into even deeper debt while education, housing and healthcare, to name but three deep, go vastly unnourished.
Yet according to polls, despite his malfeasance, Mr. Ford will be romping to another electoral victory, thanks both to the current crisis with the Amerikans and the fact that the march to the ballot box is in the dead of winter. Apparently, despite all the talk about rising patriotism and supporting our country, voting is not part of the calculus, with pundits predicting a very low turnout.
Come February 27, heedless Ontarians will undoubtedly and, unfortunately, get the government they deserve.
The only bright spot in this morass of indifference is the knowledge that not all are fooled, as evidenced by these letters to the editor:
Well, it seems clear from election polls Premier Doug Ford will be re-elected in a landslide even though most Ontarians were not happy with the early election. He’s done a masterful job. The hat slogan “Canada is not for sale,” $200 cheques before an election and mentioning possibly 500,000 lost jobs likely all contribute to his strong poll numbers. He has rushed to Washington to plead Ontario’s case regarding tariffs with seemingly little success as the U.S. has just announced a 25 per cent tariff on our steel and aluminum. He’s promised billions for infrastructures and a tunnel under Hwy. 401 but has completely forgotten to support our health-care system, end the long wait times in ERs. A four-year mandate to fight tariffs seems to be in the cards. Voters are forgetting his health care and housing failures, feeling he’ll fight for them even though it’s the federal government that has the power to counter the U.S.A.‘s tariff attack.
Peter J. Middlemore Sr., Windsor
I have just seen Premier Doug Ford’s latest campaign ad, and I am livid. The Premier’s Washington, D.C. visit was supposed to be about defending Canada’s interests, but instead it appears Ford’s main focus was creating sparkling footage for a campaign ad. It’s bad enough that the Premiers emerged empty-handed from their meeting with mid-level White House staffers, but Ford’s new campaign ad rubs salt in our collective wounds. In the voice-over for the ad, Ford repeatedly puts America first — “made in the USA” before “made in Canada,” pride in the work of American workers before the work of Canadians, and the push for his Fortress Am-Can. That’s right, even the name of Ford’s economic plan puts America first. Where’s your hat, Doug? Did it blow off while you were busy bending the knee to Trump?
Carol Kroeger, Ottawa
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