In Ontario, we have an election coming up.
On June 7th, we will elect a new premier – the person who runs our provincial government headquartered at Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto. I am going to vote for the NDP but I have always been a fan of the current Premier Kathleen Wynne – I just don’t like my local candidate or her party’s overall odds of victory.
I am partially biased because my mother is a lawyer in the provincial government, a civil servant if you will. She has always helped me critically think about the world, ever since I was young. And my mother, well she is a big supporter of Wynne too.
While some may roll their eyes, others will merely close the tab. But, I do think that Wynne is the best candidate in the election. It’s just that party-politics has made her continued governance very unlikely.
There are many reasons, but chief among them is that she cannot say ‘mea culpa’ over the Hydro One affair. She fucked up, she sold the power seller that was formerly owned by the people of Ontario to a bunch of suits who are now paying themselves millions of dollars while overcharging the people of the province. This is obviously a terrible thing. But, to say that the profits from the sale have not gone into the public infrastructure fund is to lie.
And what else has she done?
She’s been reasonable and not idealistic. That’s what we need in a premier.
What the actual fuck can a provincial politician do to effect the economy of Ontario? Has anyone asked themselves that? In a province with international trade going on daily, with huge multi-national corporations lining its southern region, what is Doug Ford, the PC party leader, really going to do to sway the tide one way or the other?
He can offer incentives, he can cut taxes but he can’t create jobs. It’s just silly to assume the opposite.
And Andrea Horvath, the NDP leader and hopefully next premier of Ontario, is better for sure. But, she has taken up the mantle of the worst parts of Canadian Liberalism and made those her talking points.
There was a debate last night, the final leaders debate hosted by TVO, and the difference between the ideologues and Wynne was stark.
The NDP and PC have an image of what Ontario ought to be, and think they can somehow achieve that. Their message is one of a province led disastrously astray by mismanagement. I think that they are overestimating their abilities, and therefore the fuck-ups of previous premiers.
Wynne, on the other hand, just wants to allow us to live our lives to the best of our abilities. I am being vague but she isn’t, look her up because I’m not here to parrot her platform. I am here to say that we are focusing on some stupid issues and forgetting the unity that we should feel as people in one of the most beautiful, free and prosperous corners of the planet.
People need to stop hating others or feeling like they are owed something.
If life in Liberal Ontario is difficult, it’s because life is difficult. The government, especially at a provincial level, is not beholden to any particular subset of Ontario. Unfortunately both Horvath and Ford made it seem like certain Ontarians deserve their time and effort more than others.
That’s not true.
Everyone deserves the same share of a provincial government’s attention. Some people need more help – and the fucking resources are available – but no one deserves special attention because the provincial government is not capable of such things.
Take me for example, I do not enjoy the benefits of much of Wynne’s social programming because of my family’s tax bracket. But I am okay with that.
But an imperfect provincial government is better than one that pretends to have a plan without every having thought of how realizable that plan is. Kids cost a lot, but Wynne has offered a lot of access to sexual health resources so that Ontarians make smarter choices.
Ford is just a fucking clown without a platform. But, if you think about those swayed into the PC duckline, a government that plans to do anything besides reducing it’s size and power is a bad one. PC voters don’t want a platform beyond tax cuts, NDP and Liberal voters do.
But, besides this I am just venting and ranting. I just think that Wynne has received a bad rap. She has implemented great social programming, is realistic in how she helps those who need it and does not step on people’s toes. These are all admirable.
But anyways, vote NDP. Because anyone but Ford.
-Clay
Clayton Tomlinson 