Dear Editor:
Premier Doug Ford of course, has a history of mistakes.
He cancelled renewable energy contracts, at a cost of $230 million, even as electricity demands grow. He (illegally) froze health care worker incomes during the pandemic, when we needed nurses most. He tried giving wealthy developers a huge piece of the protected Greenbelt, a move which is under criminal investigation by the RCMP.
He plans to build Highway 413 through farms and environmentally sensitive lands, when experts say transit and lower Highway 407 tolls would reduce traffic congestion more cheaply and faster.
He stands idly by while 2.5 million Ontarians can’t find a family doctor and while hospital emergency rooms are overcrowded or closed. He prioritized online gambling and availability of alcohol at gas stations over accelerating access to $10-a-day child care for working families.
According to the auditor general, Ford used a procurement process which was “not fair, transparent of accountable” when giving an Austrian company a 95-year lease and parking for a spa on Ontario Place lands. She noted the cost to tax payers has ballooned to $2.2 billion.
And a recent survey of 12,000 Ontario education workers points to a crisis of understaffing, insufficient support for students and a poor state of repairs in Ontario schools.
Now, as the U.S. declares economic war, yes war, on Canada, and as Canadians and their leaders are furious, concerned and focused on minimizing the damage, Ford sees the opportunity for an unnecessary, early, $200-million election.
Unbelievable, and quite possibly Ford’s most cynical and worst mistake yet!
Peter van Vloten,
Fergus