Paltry Offerings

 

I can't remember a time when I have been less inspired about an election. Here in Ontario, where we go to the polls on June 2, we have Conservative Doug Ford leading in the polls, counting on a credulous and forgetful electorate. Then we have the seatless Liberal leader, Lex Luther lookalike David Del Duca, promising a buck-a-ride, inexplicably unembarrassed by how it recalls Doug's preposterous buck-a-beer promise in the last election. Such policy vacuity, he assumes, will go unnoticed by the electorate. Then there is Andrea Horwath, so heedless as to how her NDP leadership hubris has hobbled the party for too long now. 

I refuse to lump Green leader Mike Shriner into this morass; his policies may be sound, but his party has no chance of  making a difference.

One anticipates a post-election reckoning by those who care about their parties' futures.

Meanwhile, since I have nothing but my contempt to offer, I am posting some editorial cartoons that bespeak the sad state of affairs in this province.

H/t De Adder

H/t Moudakis

H/t Graeme MacKay

H/t MacKay

A Transparent Document

 I won't waste too many words commenting on the release of the Ford government's campaign document budget yesterday. A transparent and cynical document that attests to the Tory belief that there are many stupid people who cast ballots, it has something for everyone except the poor and the dispossessed (after all, they don't vote, do they?).

One doesn't have to be particularly politically astute to understand that the 'budget' is simply a massive election bribe, but those who seek further proof need look no further than Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy's own response to reporters' questions:

Bethlenfalvy, whose budget will not pass the house before the writ period begins Wednesday, repeatedly refused to say whether the Tories would reintroduce the same fiscal blueprint if re-elected.

“The people of Ontario will vote on this budget and it will be up to them if they want to pass this,” he said, declining to answer simple yes-or-no questions from reporters about tabling it again in the summer.

Perhaps the Ford government's perfidy is best reflected in this, from Theo Moudakis:

 

Let the games begin.

Election Augeries

The ancients, when they wanted to know the future, often examined the entrails of birds. It was believed such dissections could augur both good and bad fortune. In a famous scene in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, for example, the priests advised against their master going to the Capitol on the Ides of March because the bird that was sacrificed appeared to be without a heart, never a good sign. The rest, as they say, is history (and literature).

We have long abandoned such arcane and primitive rites, only to replace them with polls. As the date for Ontario's election draws near, expect renewed interest in polls to divine the political future of the contending parties. Indeed, today's Star bruits its election tracker called The Signal, from Vox Pop Labs. Without going into the details, which you can read about by clicking on the link, it claims to be more accurate than most, and has thus far done some early polling, each, of course, a snapshot of what people were thinking on any particular day.

If you are a supporter of Doug Ford and his Conservatives, you will be happy. If you are an Andrea Horvath or Steven Del Duca enthusiast, not so much. Were the election to be held today, the poll shows the Conservatives picking up 71 seats, the Liberals 28, and the NDP a mere 24, down from the 40 elected last time.

If the results turn out to be in any way accurate, one hopes that Andrea Horwath, who the party should have jettisoned a long time ago, sees the writing (or the picture) on the wall.

H/t Theo Moudakis

Theatre Of The Absurd

I'm feeling too burnt out these days to put thoughts to words, my ever-constant cynicism about people and politics reaching new levels. Therefore, allow me to post some editorial cartoons that help to capture the absurdity of what we call politics and life.

H/t Michael de Adder

H/t Graeme MacKay

H/t Patrick Corrigan

H/t Theo Moudakis

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Apologies for appropriating the title of one of Carl Jung's works, but it just seems an appropriate label for this post.

I had a dream recently in which my daughter was just a young girl again going to elementary school. She was involved in some kind of basketball tournament, and my wife dispatched me there to find out what time it was likely to be over.

While sitting in the stands, I noticed a person behind me looking at his phone and getting quite agitated. A woman checked in on him, and she too became visibly upset. I asked what the problem was, and he said the venue was under a terrorist attack and the kids were being evacuated.

It turned out they were indeed evacuated, but there was no such attack. The aforementioned man had seen some kind of video simulating a terrorist operation and had taken it for real. I tried to reason with the other parents at the tournament, all in quite a state. I asked them if they had checked legitimate sources for verification, and if it was real, where were the police? 

They were unreceptive to what I had to say, so I angrily asked them, "Have you people no critical-thinking skills at all?"

The genesis of that dream was no mystery to me. Critical-thinking skills, or more precisely, the lack thereof, is a subject that has been weighing on me for quite some time. The fact that the June 2 Ontario election is fast-approaching has lately made that weight more acute.

With Doug Ford and his Conservatives currently leading in the polls, there is much to be concerned about. Egregiously evident are warning signs that a re-elected Tory majority will not be good for those who care more about the environmental, social and economic health of the province than they do about licence-sticker bribes and the like.

The following are two example of where we are head under Doug's 'stewardship.'

First there is the premier's insistence that the much-disputed Highway 413 go ahead. A boon to his developer friends, it bodes ecological disaster, especially vile given that viable alternatives exist, including better use of the tolled Highway 407. 

A Star editorial captures the essence of the incursion nicely:

It’s hard to believe the Ford government could find a way to make its proposal to build a 400-series highway across the northern part of the GTA, destroying farmland and parts of the Greenbelt along the way, any worse than it already is.

But it seems it’s managed to do exactly that.

Internal Ministry of Transportation documents reveal that at one of the most environmentally sensitive sections of the proposed Highway 413, the province ignored the advice of its own consultants.

It chose a route that avoids a planned subdivision development near Kleinburg. Instead, it chose a path that would cause what the consultants described as “maximum incursion” into the Greenbelt and destroy hundreds of hectares of conservation land.

By the way, this unnecessary road will cost between $6 and $10 billion.

The second example, as reported by the CBC, is the matter of adding up the cost of Ford's pre-election promises, with more likely to come in the late-April budget.  

With the start of Ontario's election campaign still two weeks away, Premier Doug Ford's government has announced more than $10 billion in spending, fee rebates and tax cuts since early March and could unveil even more in next week's provincial budget.

Ford and his ministers have rolled out the promises in a flurry of campaign-style announcements, many of them in ridings that are crucial to his Progressive Conservative Party's chances of winning a second straight majority in the June 2 election.

The promises total at least $10.9 billion, according to figures compiled by CBC News, based on information provided by the government in news releases and emails (The full list of financial commitments is in the chart at the end of this story.)

I won't include any further details here, as they are readily available by clicking on the above link. What especially bothers me here is that, to my knowledge, no one in the media is asking Ford how these promises will be paid for.

For those who believe that responsible citizenship is informed citizenship, the picture of what lies ahead is very troubling. For those who rely on social media for their information or make no effort to read at all, they are likely resting easy and having pleasant dreams.

To slightly paraphrase what I said at the beginning of this post, "Do people not have any critical-thinking skills at all?"

 

A Sign Of The Times

People in Ontario will recognize this as one of Doug Ford's election bribes and an acknowledgement of his good friends, the developers.

H/t Theo Moudakis

A Master Class

 

If you have been reading my blog lately, you will see that I have posted a few times about the ongoing bribery by Doug Ford in his efforts to secure a second majority come this June's election. Indeed, for the student of politics, Ford's government is a master class in political sleaze. 

Whether or not he finds success in buying people's votes, it is at least a bit comforting to know that others are not so easily swayed by his all-too-transparent efforts. The following letters attest to that fact: 

Doug Ford’s obvious desperation for victory is troubling | The Star

 With the volume of economic announcements being made by the Doug Ford provincial government, one gets the impression Premier Ford is desperate to win the next election.

The incumbent leaders can wield a lot of persuasive power to grease the rails for a victory. But winning at all costs is not in the democratic handbook.

We all know Donald Trump wanted to win too badly and was prepared to do so at all costs, such as doing so illegally and trashing his own reputation in the process. But here in Ontario, I have never seen a government in power deliver so many pre-election perks. For instance, the most foolish of all was the refund for past years’ licence sticker payments. Waiving future fees would have been enough.

The question is: does Doug Ford want to win the election too much? And why? He hasn’t shown any natural ability for the job of premier.

Greg Prince, Toronto

 Ontario vehicle owners will get rebates for licence plate renewal fees, Doug Ford says, Feb. 22

I can’t tell you how disgusted I was when I opened my letter from Service Ontario and it was a cheque for my licence rebate.

I’m sure there are people in Ontario who could use that money. But is this what we have been reduced to? Like a sheriff walking into a saloon and buying drinks for anyone who will vote for him. (Oh, that was last time with buck-a-beer.)

I hope Ontario voters are smarter than that. Vote for someone who will really help those who need it.

William McCulloch, Toronto