‘False confidence’

Dear Editor:

Last year Doug Ford was riding with the OPP when their car was in a crash. And why is this a big deal?

They were coming back from a “press conference” at Ontario Power Generation. We know about the incident only because the car Ford was in was in a collision.

Why would the premier be hanging out elbow to elbow with the OPP? At an energy meeting? Come on!

Where are the checks and balances? Why would an OPP be in on such a meeting and in such a context, why chauffeuring the premier? And here’s where me and Wayne Baker might share a lens. A lens focussing on the Sunshine List. And who is at the top of all that sunshine, basking in the pot of gold? If you checked out the Sunshine list the top earner was Ontario Power Generation’s Kenneth Hartwick—getting almost $2 million last year. And this in an advisory capacity. What does that mean? We should at least have the right to follow the money since we foot the bill. It makes sense to me.

I, like Baker, still consider $100,000 a considerable sum – out of reach of most of the workers in Ontario. Not only the difference between those who can “go private” and get a timely hip-replacement and those who can’t, but between those facing mounting bills and those evicted (85,000 in Ontario).  Between the haves and have nots falls a deepening shadow.

We are being duped, living in false confidence. Canadians might not realize it, but they live in one of the most secretive countries in the developed world.

What’s cooking behind closed doors? Cutting programs in education and social care and medical care to put it elsewhere. Where?  Into private pockets? Remember the deficit which they’ve doubled. We Canadians are no longer apologetic. Some of us need to know before the world of serve-and-protect disappears in the rearview mirror.

And why the secrecy around those issued-then-recalled license plates? And did you know cops can come onboard your cell phones without you knowing? Look it up. Look it all up. We’ve never faced such a rapid degeneration of human rights in Canadian history.

David Courtney,
Belwood