It was somewhere between Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs and the Mafia’s Omertá, a vow of silence. The only difference was that it was Ontario’s electorate that was being bled out. Some how, the conservative managers were able to convince that loudmouth Doug Ford to shut up. They also told the conservative candidates to stay away from confrontational events in their ridings—such as candidate meetings. The conservatives were in the zone and they coasted to victory.
Of course, what do you expect in a province with no discernible leadership in the political offerings. Doug Ford of the conservatives was the incumbent with no fixed IQ. Andrea Horwath of the NDP had aged poorly over too many years as leader. Steven Del Duca of the liberals reminded us of a turtle, without the security of a shell.
And we were really motivated to get out there and vote with all the lies they told us. Ontario voters are not all stupid you know.
And the election was jigged to the incumbent’s advantage. The lead-up to the election was long and the announcements many and heavy. It was sometimes frightening to hear what they had in mind for the use of our money. And the actual election was short, vicious and an insult to the electors. Also, the leaders had their share of daily insults for each other.
But an opportunity is hidden in the four more years of a loudmouth premier. The opposition parties can renew and refund and choose leaders who can lead and can make us proud. Please, let’s make them people of decency and character. They should be leaders whom we can all respect. And who will respect their opponents and will stay above the mud slinging.
We also need to restore democracy in our political parties. We need to recognize that the responsibility of our members in parliament and legislatures is to represent our electors. We need to hear our representatives speak out for us. There needs to be honest accountability to our voters.
Let’s stop this interference by leaders in the selection of our candidates. If we are going to continue our first-past-the-post voting, let’s be sure it is working for us.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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