We keep waiting for signs that there is some life left in the Ontario liberals. It has been a while now and we can hardly wait for Doug Ford to stumble more than he already has. It is already obvious that the Ford government is going nowhere at his usual furious clip. A strong, viable and able liberal party must be at the ready.
The good news is that there is considerable opportunity to the political left of the Ford government. People are already being turned off by Ford’s raging right-wing politics and looking for people they can trust on the left. The need for trust obviously eliminates Andrea Horwath and her new democrats.
If there was ever a constant disappointment in Ontario, it has been Horwath and the NDP. They are like the country mice who were never told that this is the 21st Century. They lack policy, direction and hope. Andrea Horwath has now led the party through three general elections. She made it to being official opposition only because Kathleen Wynne decided that she should declare the last election over before election day.
Kathleen Wynne was a disaster as liberal leader. She embarrassed herself by getting re-elected in her Toronto electoral district. The only time she ever did anything as premier that might be considered progressive was when elections came around. Her last election was loaded with good progressive ideas but it was too late and voters had had enough.
But Wynne’s greatest failing was to take basically good ideas and spoil the delivery. Beer and wine in grocery stores was a good idea that was long overdue but she drew out the implementation until people were sick of the subject and her stream of announcements. There are still only a few grocery stores carrying beer and wine and the regulations remain oppressive.
What Ontario wants and desperately needs is a minimum wage that people can live on, support programs for the less fortunate that can do the job they are assigned to do, free prescription drugs have to be added to a truly free Medicare, education has to become free for all who will work at it, affordable housing has to come before mansions and luxury condominiums and the list needs to be kept open as we build a better life for everybody.
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Copyright 2018 © Peter Lowry
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