Ontario Election Blog, Part I: WHY???

 If the polls are to be believed, the Ford government is going to win a second majority. 

I do not for the LIFE of me understand why. And while I know I'm saying that a lot just lately, I really don't get this. 

The normal question you ask yourself before voting, or at least you used to, is am I better or worse off than I was four years ago? If the answer is "better", you probably vote for the incumbent.

Quick show of hands: how many people would say their lives are better, here in 2022, than they were in 2018? Maybe I'm missing y'all, but in my world gas has doubled, rent has doubled, the healthcare system is threadbare to the point we will soon not have one at all (unless you're monied...d'ya think that might be the whole point?) As of today, 40,625 Ontarians have died with covid-19. That's the entire population of Stouffville and Parry Sound put together with some left over. 

Okay, I think it's pretty clear that unless you're a realtor or a developer, your life is considerably worse now than four years ago. So maybe it's Ford's sterling track record of enacting his platform and keeping his promises. After all, the last PC Premier, one Michael Harris by name, earned back to back majorities largely because he actually did most of what he said he would do. From my point of view, most of what he did was repugnant, but I do actually respect the man a great deal for following through. As hard as that might be for people to understand. So how about Ford? 

Contrary to popular belief, there were actually some proposals in Ford's platform. Five, to be precise. They were: 

1) Open up many more cannabis retailers;

2) drop the foreign investor tax on real estate (!!!);

3) privatize undisclosed "government assets";

4) replace the sex ed curriculum with one that doesn't mention consent, gender identity,  or much of anything else

Oh and I forgot the big one: 

5) Buck-a-beer!

Putting blinders on and disregarding the utter banality of these promises, precisely zero of which address anything meaningful to the average Ontarian...there are cannabis stores everywhere now, to the point some are closing down; the foreign real estate investor tax has actually gone up, after four years of  "who gives a shit about Ontarians and their shelter?" (He still doesn't, or foreign investment would be banned.)

Let's talk about what Ford has privatized. Because they weren't government assets, they were assets belonging to the people of Ontario.

• over 18,000 long term care beds;
• home care;
• covid testing;
• covid vaccine distribution

 I thought Canadians valued their health care system. The man who designed it, Tommy Douglas, is widely considered a hero. Well, Ontarians seem poised to collectively piss in Tommy Douglas's grave.

Ford isn't done: when he wins his second majority we'll have private hospitals, even though they are illegal under the Canada Health Act and have been since 1973. He will simply ignore any court ruling against him, invoking the notwithstanding clause again if he must.

This is not baseless fearmongering. These are his stated plans. And he's spent millions of dollars of your money fighting the release of his mandate letters to ministers. Every government writes these: marching orders for ministries for the new electoral term. We have no idea what Ford told his ministers to do, and Ford is doing everything possible to keep it that way. 

Are you surprised? Alarmed? This has been WIDELY reported. I find it incredible that there's a single Ontarian of voting age who isn't aware of all this. Moral of the story: all you millions of people who "don't care about politics" are facilitating the destruction of this province. 

I don't care who you vote for, so long as it's not Ford and his PCs.

I mean that.

I especially mean that if you're of a conservative bent. Don't vote PC, vote The New Blue or the Ontario Party! They are your real tribe: the people who think Doug Ford is a leftist. Split, split, split the vote! (And please quietly unfriend me...)

This election is a choice between -- I cannot overstate this -- order and chaos. What I mean by chaos: a party that has less than zero interest in actually governing. Ford's candidates are declining to participate in any media interviews or debates. Not just one or two: LOTS AND LOTS OF THEM. Is that what you want politics to be? Inaccessible "leaders" who rule by fiat? 

I get it. Politics has undergone a deep sea change in the last ten years. Policy is for chumps. Who gives a fuck what you say you're going to do, you're lying to gain power and we all know it. So we've given up on government working for us people. Maybe we can get it working AGAINST "them" people. Yay! Go Team Red! Red's dead, fuck red, Blue for the win! GO TEAM GO!

If you vote for Doug Ford, that's your vision of politics. It is most emphatically NOT mine.