It is so embarrassing when your electoral district has been saddled with a conservative place-holder. Doug Ford appointed the schmuck as candidate in Barrie-Springwater—Oro-Medonte to keep the disgraced Patrick Brown from showing up as an elected member at Queen’s Park five years ago. Those of us who live in the riding have been embarrassed ever since.
I expect we could have survived being represented by a back-bench nebbish but Brian Mulroney’s little girl, Caroline, blew her role as attorney general. Premier Ford needed an attorney general who was allowed to practice law in Ontario. And that is how a conservative ward-healer from Severn, Ontario became the back-up attorney general of Ontario. The guy is now one of the most self-important politicians in the province. And, as for those of us in his riding, he is too important to deal with us.
And, you have got to admit that Caroline Mulroney did her job as Doug Ford wanted it done. As attorney general, she had been busy firing all the liberals on the landlord-tenant tribunal. No liberal’s contract was renewed. She laid waste of the people with experience. She purged for political purity. She purged experience. She purged knowledge. She added more than a year to wait times for a hearing before the landlord and tenant board.
It is difficult to say whether this is the most egregious failing of the Tory government in Ontario. I, for one, will never forgive Mr. Ford for his treatment of the halt and the lame receiving Ontario disability support program (ODSP) payments. Others might consider his cavalier attitude towards good farmland and the wetlands that are vital to the farm crops, or the Ontario Greenbelt, as more destructive. And nobody can deny that the dumbass has set our hospitals back years in meeting their staffing needs—while enriching the doctors and others who can now run privatized clinics and care less about Medicare.
But I also note that the back-up attorney general delayed selecting a new chief justice for Ontario until he had a chance to consider all the candidates’ credentials. No doubt, he made a selection that would please his political master, Mr. Ford.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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