Returning rebate

Dear Editor:

With the Ontario rebate of $200 per person this winter, I presume Premier Doug Ford is contemplating a tough season of high energy costs and unemployment.

Excluding his cheap ploy for votes, the premier is wasting $3 billion. Studies have shown that “windfall” rebates are spent on cigarettes, alcohol and dining out. Mr. Ford’s criteria for this rebate is about as simple as possible – file your tax return and stay out of jail.

This week, several police forces and the Ministry of the Attorney General expressed their concern regarding the lack of facilities to incarcerate criminals (those charged and those convicted).

Maybe, just maybe, Mr. Ford could see the stupidity of this rebate and spend the $3 billion on a jail? After all, 2,100 people have awakened in Ontario this year to find their car missing. Two hundred dollars won’t help them.

I’m returning my rebate so that it can be used with some forethought, not wasted on impulsive pleasures.

Jim McClure,
Crieff