There was an opinion piece in the Toronto Star the other day about the trials and tribulations of Ontario’s attorney general Doug Downey. It was about him trying to defend Ontario premier Doug Ford. It would certainly be a tough job if the attorney general did not owe fame and fortune to the premier.
According to the opinion piece by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn, it is tough to defend stupidity. Maybe if Doug Ford had not parachuted that ward healer from Severn into my riding, I would be more sympathetic.
And contrary to Regg Cohn’s column, Downey is not a Barrie lawyer. We already have enough lawyers in Barrie. Downey was the conservative’s go-to guy when he was on the local council in Orillia. He lives further up the road in Severn. His appointment to my riding of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte was probably just another way for Doug Ford to tell former conservative leader Patrick Brown that he was no longer wanted in Ontario politics.
Not that we were looking forward to having Brown in our riding but oddly enough, Downey turns out to be worse. We had no idea that Downey was the contemplated replacement for Ford’s first choice of attorney general, Caroline Mulroney. Her training and experience in law in New York State seems to require a different outlook than we need in Ontario.
Downey’s job is obviously not to protect our charter of rights and freedoms. Doug Ford called back Downey and the entire legislature from summer holiday when he wanted to use the ‘Not withstanding’ clause of the charter to suppress third party advertising for 12 months before an election. Downey was the guy who rewrote the act taking away our basic right to freedom of speech.
It seems we can still say whatever we wish about our premier. We are just not allowed to pay for it to be said where too many people might notice. He can lie to us, he can make outrageous promises, he can cheat us, yet we are not allowed equal time or equal access to communications to question what he is doing.
Despite Regg Cohn’s sympathetic view, I think Doug Downey might just be another front man for a con man.
-30-
Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to: