The good news is that the voters of provincial Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte will be able to do something about their representation at Queen’s Park in the June election. They have a better choice than carpetbagger Doug Downey. You remember Downey, don’t you? He was Doug Ford’s choice of candidate for our riding to keep Patrick Brown—the then disgraced former provincial leader of the conservatives—from running in the 2018 election.
Downey was a poor choice for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte. A ward-healer in Orillia for a few years, Downey was the conservatives go-to guy in Severn Township. He was appointed to the Trent-Severn Waterway at one point. What he accomplished there remains something of a mystery.
But his appointment by Doug Ford in our electoral district was not exactly great news either. What we did not get was representation at Queen’s Park. We got something of a shadow member. This is more like a ghost—a ghost is something you talk about but never see. Why would he bother to stop in Barrie on his way to or from Toronto and home in Severn?
His excuse to our local pseudo-news people was that he became too busy when Mr. Ford found that Brian Mulroney’s kid was not the best choice of attorney general for Ontario. Caroline Mulroney’s training and experience in New York State was not exactly what was needed. That was when Doug Downey was appointed attorney general.
For almost three years now, Downey has been the legal expert for a government that doesn’t like rules that get in their way. One of the first laws to be passed by the government under the supervision of Downey was Bill 257. This bill allowed the minister of municipal affairs and housing to over-ride any impediment to using ministerial zoning orders (MZOs). It was a carte blanche arrangement to ignore municipal zoning, wetlands, farmlands, conservation planning or good planning or any other impediment to when developers wanted to build anywhere in Ontario. This Ontario government still has some friends, you know!
But there is certainly no reason for us to vote for Downey in June.
-30-
Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to: