Category: Provincial Politics

Government Giving in to Greed.

by Peter Lowry

It’s the greed that keeps on growing. Premier Doug Ford wants Ontario to step up its gambling. If the pandemic keeps the casinos closed, feel free to try your luck on-line. What is your pleasure? Casino games, blackjack, craps, poker, pai gow, roulette and slot machine simulations or new sports betting, just name your passion. And make sure that premier Doug gets his cut of the take.

And our premier is not thinking small. The Ontario government wants a share of the potential on-line billions. He and his government are betting that we will trust the Ontario-based on-line casinos over the off-shore breed. The government estimates that the on-line market in Ontario is worth at least a billion dollars a year, while the industry downplays it as about half a billion.

With Ontario casinos closed for the pandemic, the government is obviously hurting. Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) cannot do its job. And don’t look too surprised in the next month or so if Rod Phillips, former MPP and long-term care minister, shows up as head of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission or running its new iGame Ontario operations. The job will be to get the gaming gravy train moving again.

And with reputable sponsors such as the Toronto Star operators offering to front for one of the iGame Ontario licensees, there are some positive indicators.

What might also help to swing Ontario to the on-line versions will be the short-sightedness of the large Ontario casino managers. Neither Great Canadian Gaming nor Gateway Casinos and Entertainment are good at customer facing. They seem bent on eliminating many of the dealers and customer services on their gambling floors. Neither company will entertain having fully staffed craps tables despite the proven draw of craps in places like Las Vegas. Both companies will be pushing large electronic versions of customer favourites such as blackjack, roulette, and craps when back in operation.

There is a great draw for people in the noise and excitement of casinos and their table games. If all the government wants is our money, why bother?

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

The Dilettante Departs.

by Peter Lowry

Rod Phillips always struck me as a dilettante in business and in politics. I guess I thought of him as former Metro Toronto Chair and newspaper mogul, Paul Godfrey’s protégé. He was also always on the good side of the Lastman family. He piloted the late Mel Lastman through a few stormy seas as the first mayor of the newly amalgamated greater Toronto. It was really too bad that he could not give himself the same good advice.

Rod Phillips has always seemed to have an inflated impression of his invulnerability. He considered his holiday trips to Switzerland and the Caribbean in 2020 were of nobody’s business but his. When he went to St. Barts for Christmas, against the advice of the Canadian government, he even had premier Doug Ford lying for him. That fiasco cost him the job of finance minister for Ontario.

You can’t keep a guy like Phillips out of the limelight for long. Ford foisted the most thankless job in Ontario on him. Long-term care homes in Ontario have been going downhill for many years. Former conservative premier of Ontario, Mike Harris, is the poster boy for private long-term care homes and is still chair of Chartwell, the largest private sector long-term care provider in Canada.

If you have never seen a fish out of water, you should have seen Phillips at some of the photo ops prepared for the minister at those long-term care homes. It was though he was afraid to touch anything.

(Let me add a personal note here: As president of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and as chair of public education for the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, I have visited long-term care homes across Canada and in many parts of the world. Ontario has nothing to brag about.)

Probably Phillips’ main success in long-term care was to mandate that all staff be vaccinated. And if that was a no-brainer, he also made sure some inspectors were hired so that the province might defend the homes with more knowledge of the situation.

And there he goes, off to his next challenge in the world of business. He left when only half the long-term care homes in Ontario had outbreaks of Covid.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

Thanks to ‘Doctor’ Ford.

by Peter Lowry

You have to admit, you pay more attention when Ontario premier Doug Ford or one of the other premiers tells you what to do to ward off Covid-19–Beta, Delta or Omicron. Ford got the idea from the prime minister. He just lacks the self-assurance to do a single such as Justin Trudeau used to do in front of Rideau Cottage. Ford brings along a doctor or two, or, at least the minister of health, for back up.

He even brings along his boy wonder, the minister of education, when speaking about the opening or closing schools. (We do that a lot in Ontario.)

At the moment, our restaurants are closed and the schools will be open next week—maybe. The gyms are definitely closed—unless, maybe, your customer can be certified as having a medical need for a workout.

But where we are really confused is why children sent home for having Covid in Ontario will not be added to the numbers having Covid. Are they really keeping the numbers secret in Ontario? You can bet that Jason Kenney in Alberta will soon pick up on that idea. If you hide the numbers, who will worry about Covid?

But if they end up closing too many schools because there are no teachers left without Covid, the jig will be up. Maybe that is why premier Ford has waited until the teachers can have the better masks, so they might stay Covid free.

Franky, there are likely many Ontario residents who have no clue as to what is happening with Covid-19. It is not that they don’t care. They are the ones who have stopped reading newspapers because they are depressing. And TV news is not as funny as the Big Bang Theory. They get their news from social media along with the latest on the stars in Hollywood.

And we have to face the facts, the provincial premiers and their sidekicks and doctors are not as entertaining. They need to come up with better one-liners.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

Try Tyranny.

by Peter Lowry

If Canada ever disassembles into its individual provinces, would you expect Quebec to be the first to opt for a dictatorship, or the last? In the province of Camillien Houde and Maurice Duplessi, it is a question. After all, it took Quebec 300 years to shake the shackles of the Roman Church.

This question arose as we were contemplating Quebec premier François Legault’s announcement the other day of what he calls “a health-care contribution.” It seems that he wants anti-vaxxers to pay a substantial fine if they catch Covid.

And you can stop laughing now. He’s serious. You might start to wonder though about smokers who get cancer or car drivers who get injured when travelling a few kilometres per hour over the posted speed limit. Is there any limit to these types of fines?

Wouldn’t it be better to just mandate that everyone gets vaccinated? We do that for other vaccinations. Your kids routinely get their shots. Objections based on religion or moral objections be damned. Who gives the anti-vaxxers the right to roam free and cause death and destruction in their wake? Either get your shots or get sent to the new version of a leper colony.

And you should be aware that Legault is not just horsing around. This is the same guy who defends his discrimination about religious symbols. He thinks it is okay to fire an employee of the province who dares to wear a cross or a turban or a yarmulka. So much for freedom of religion in Quebec!

It will soon be the same for anyone with the nerve to speak English in Quebec. Legault’s quasi-conservatives think it behooves them to protect the French language from any and all comers. It must annoy them that the language police in France do not seem to share all their concerns.

But after all, English-speaking Canadians have to listen to what Americans are doing with their language.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

Where is Boy Wonder?

by Peter Lowry

He used to be Stephen Harper’s Boy Wonder but today he is supposedly guarding Gotham as sidekick to Ontario premier Doug Ford. His role is that of minister of education. He is probably taking a holiday from the criticism and condemnation he gets in that job. Maybe he took one of those Sunwing Airlines’ fun-filled one-way flights to Mexico. We have no idea.

Mr. Lecce seems to be missing in action at a time when Ontario parents would like to have a properly functioning education system teaching their children the Three-Rs. There is a need for two million children to be in school and there is very little being done about it.

A low-level person from Mr. Ford’s office issued a statement from him that schools would not re-open until January 17. At the same time someone from Mr. Lecce’s office informed the media that retired Ontario educators will be allowed more teaching days so that they can fill the gaps for teachers with Covid. We will not be told how many teachers or children have Covid from now on as no statistics from schools are being announced to the public. The exception will be when a school has to close.

But announcements from the minister of education’s office are not going to cut it when children are suffering under the confusion. And the parents, and, in some cases, the grandparents, are trying to pick up the slack for an education system that seems to be functioning on the whims of people who do not understand the system.

It seems that some communications experts are telling the politicians that they should not always take the direct blame for the problems. Maybe their advice is the same as when the federal conservatives were involved in an election and did not want to be seen with their provincial counterparts. They were probably told to hide.

And maybe Mr. Lecce is hiding. There is no excuse for someone who has no understanding or sympathy for the public school system to be in his position. It has been said that communications people seem to have big egos. Maybe that is Mr. Lecce’s problem.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

Ford’s Failure.

by Peter Lowry

It is becoming obvious to most Ontario citizens that conservative political philosophy is not good for hospitals. And premier Doug Ford and his conservatives have doubled down.  Ford and his health minister Christine Elliott have crushed the system from the day they took over from the defeated Wynne liberals. They cut back the system to the point that the Ontario hospitals cannot deliver the service that we so desperately need.

And do not just blame the pandemic. They were cutting back from day one. They cut back on the Ontario Autism program and had parents shouting at them. They cut back on recipients of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Nobody speaks for them and they just went hungry. And then the Ford administration decided to cut back on the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).

The original concept of having LHINs was that bigger is not better. The system needed people in the field who would work for the patients, co-ordinating seamless access to the wide variety of services needed. Ford and Elliott did not improve the system. They went backward. They reduced the number of LHINs. They made the LHINs bigger and more bureaucratic. The people working in the LHINs no longer fought for the patients; they fought to keep their jobs. The LHINs lost interest in solving the patients’ problems; they were trying to solve their own.

The pandemic showed us all the weaknesses of our Ontario hospital system. We were already stretched to the limits before the pandemic. We had hospitals with empty wards because of the lack of adequate staffing. We lost medical staff to other provinces and to the U.S. because of the skimping on the number of jobs and on salaries.

To pass a law limiting what one group can earn is denying them the right to collective bargaining. To fail to negotiate with a particular health service, such as optometrists, is sticking your head in the sand.

Any professional soldier can tell the Ford government what to do in these pandemic circumstances: you capitulate.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

Come Back in May.

by Peter Lowry

It was good for a laugh. I was checking some political polls to find out what Ontario premier Doug Ford was reading. He seems to lack any understanding of polling. It is probably best to leave him believing polls taken five months before the election. This politico will decide in early May who is likely to win the Ontario general election scheduled for June 2 this year.

The voters have far more important things to think about this January than the upcoming election. It might be top of mind with the politicians but the voters have far more serious concerns. We are still in the grip of a pandemic. Our hospital system is collapsing. Our children are not in school. A large part of our workforce cannot work. The economy is in a tailspin. The support systems are failing.

And Doug Ford is sitting on the throne of Queen’s Park thinking about his re-election. He might get a surprise in June. He is likely not aware that polls deal in the past, not the future.

But Ontario is not even thinking election. Which benefits Doug Ford’s conservatives, as it does the other two major parties. No matter how the pollsters ask the question, how we would vote gets little thought. Many people are proud that they even know what party is in power at the moment. It has been interesting to note that the other two major parties seem to have equal levels of support. It should not please Doug Ford that more than 50 per cent of respondents do not want to vote for his party.

It is clear that the official opposition at Queen’s Park is going nowhere. Andrea Horwath has been leader of the Ontario new democrats for the past 12 years. She is getting the same level of support as the leader of the liberals, whom most people have neither met nor heard of.

It is obvious that Ontario voters will get a better chance at considering Steven Del Duca, the liberal leader, as the election gets closer. It is also likely that they will get a chance to measure the job Doug Ford has or has not has done in Ontario. Either way, the polls will likely tell more as we get closer to the election in June.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

The Ghost Candidate.

by Peter Lowry

The other day, Ontario premier Doug Ford announced his conservative candidate in Durham for the June election will be a long-time law partner of health minister Christine Elliott. The gentleman, so named, made all the right noises at being so honoured. What he might possibly contribute to the well being of voters in Durham did not seem important enough to mention. He becomes just another ghost candidate.

And this is why people who know Canadian politics are deeply concerned about the constant erosion of democracy in this country. It is part of a growing pattern of less and less consideration of the needs of the voters in the electoral district.  It is taking us towards a form of proportional voting where you only get to vote for this party or that party. The voter only gets to hear from the party leader. And that is for whom the votes are cast. It is a system that works very well for countries with a high level of illiteracy.

But the problem is that the system is just one step away from totalitarianism. The only safeguard to the system is when there are enough strong parties to ward against any one party winning a majority in the country’s legislature. And even that is no guarantee.

There are those who think that preferential voting would help preserve our democracy. Preferential voting is where voters number their preferences on the ballot. There is an illusion of fairness as you eliminate the candidates with the least votes and then count their second, third, fourth, etc. choice until someone has more than 50 per cent of the vote. What you have really done—especially when there are a large number of candidates—is drilled down to the least offensive candidate. And that is not what the voter wants when there are problems to be solved in the particular jurisdiction.

Canadians should realize that we have a marvellous system of government where we are able to choose the person to represent us in local, provincial and federal governments. We should be sure to question that person we choose. And we should be certain that he or she has our needs and wants in mind and can effectively speak for us. Ours is a democratic system with many safeguards. Let’s keep it that way.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

An Exciting Year Ahead.

by Peter Lowry

With the prospect of more covid to cure, there are those less enthusiastic about the year ahead. For a political junkie though, this is going to be an exciting year in Ontario. The political parade will be fascinating. The first, that all Canadians will be watching, is the provincial election in Ontario slated for June 2. That will be the date when Ontario decides what to do about Doug Ford and his bombast. We will round out the year in Ontario with our municipal elections in October.

What fascinates me are the Ontario voters who are committed conservatives. Most appear to be convinced that Doug Ford will get a second term. I expect that they feel this way as he has done such a rotten job in the first four years that they want him to have a second chance.

And I do remember how appalled we were when the Mike Harris conservative government won re-election in 1999. Bad things can happen to good people.

One conservative pointed out to me that in a choice between a new democratic government led by Andrea Horwath and a liberal government led by a liberal nobody knows, why not vote for Ford? That was another frightening thought.

In case you were not aware, the name of the liberal party leader is Steven Del Duca. He is not a member of the legislature at this time but was a member of the Kathleen Wynne cabinet. I realize that is not exactly a ringing endorsement but it is hard to recommend someone as premier when he has been sniping from the sidelines.

The other choice is Andrea Horwath. She has been leader of the new democratic party in Ontario since 2009 and has gone nowhere.

I expect Ford’s biggest boosters in this coming election will be the developers who have bought farms along the proposed route of Highway 413. They definitely want to see him re-elected. Whether that highway ever gets built is another matter.

-30-

Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

The Tzar of the Toll Roads.

by Peter Lowry

It seems the taxpayers in Ontario are paying for the warm-up to next June’s provincial election. Premier Doug Ford is betting that any and all mention of the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413 is another conservative re-elected. Ford is betting that voters in the greater Toronto area (GTA) are tired of the gridlock around Toronto and the hours spent on gridlocked highways.

But what Doug Ford does not seem to realize is that there are many years of planning behind these projects and they also require many years of any construction. And, frankly, the wasted time on the Highway 413—going from nowhere to nowhere—would involve paving over some very fine farmland and critically needed wetlands. The only people pleased with that bad planning are the developers who have been buying up the farmland around where the 413 would intersect with existing major north-south routes.

A government concerned about our environment would have ended the Hwy 413 speculation years ago. What the previous government was working on was the electrification of the GO trains. This is a critical need to speed commuter services. It requires new overpasses and power lines but will add more trains, coming up to speed faster and stopping faster. It will cut commute time. On the Barrie to Toronto run, a half hour can be cut from the time needed from Kempenfelt Bay to Union Station. The less pollution is a bonus.

And while the idea of having these new highways as toll roads must leave conservatives with goosebumps, Mr. Ford is denying it. He is at least smart enough to know that Ontario voters are annoyed with the tolls on the 407, 412 and 418. Not only are they priced too high for the benefits they offer but the money from them does not go to building new roads. After the election, the conservatives might get greedy and start selling toll roads again.

And the least likely to ever be a toll road—or anything else—is the 413. That particular plan parallels the 407 electronic toll route, only a short distance south. Having those two highways feeding west bound traffic onto the 401 near Georgetown is quite ridiculous. The Bradford bypass was never supposed to be a toll road as it is designed to move traffic from highway 404 over to highway 400 to take it around Lake Simcoe.

It should be mentioned that when the conservative government of Mike Harris leased Hwy 407 for 99 years, they got $3.1 billion for it. Today the highway is estimated to be worth ten times as much to the investor group.

-30-

Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]