TORIES NOW BEST CHOICE FOR ONTARIO
The Ontario Liberal Party’s 15-year run in government is a remarkable political accomplishment. Polls suggest that spell is coming to an end — as it should. The party is exhausted, politically corrupt and hobbled by scandal. Bankrupt of fresh thinking, its policies are ever more erratic and deeply out of touch with voters. Ontarians have decided it’s time for a change.
When voters go to the polls on June 7, we urge them to bring in a gust of fresh air and elect a Progressive Conservative government.
We are not, of course, blind to the flaws of the PCs. The recent history of the party does not inspire confidence. It was only five months ago that it ejected former leader Patrick Brown after allegations of sexual impropriety, which were followed by more allegations of other questionable behaviour, and many of his key people went out the door with him. Surviving senior party officials spoke openly of rot within the PCs, and the leadership race that selected Doug Ford
— by a convoluted formula, despite his losing the popular vote and the majority of ridings — was not terribly reassuring.
On the campaign trail, Ford has stuck closely to his usual script of populist talking points while demonstrating a weak grasp on many policy files. The party and Ford himself have been accused of unbecoming riding-level shenanigans. And the party’s much-delayed “fully costed” plan of campaign promises, finally published this week, is not anything like advertised. Still, Ontario voters go to the ballot box next week facing the options on offer, not hypothetical ones we want. The Liberals are in urgent need of a major defeat and a long, purifying spell on the opposition benches. And the only other choice besides the PCs, the Ontario New Democrats under longtime leader Andrea Horwath, is one the province cannot afford. Horwath is intelligent and voters respond well to her because she is a likable person. But she has never before been a serious contender for premier. Faced recently with only mildly increased scrutiny, she has not held up well. She was shockingly cavalier about an incident involving her candidate’s casual use of an Adolf Hitler quote on Facebook. Horwath has seemed as unconcerned by other troubling comments attributed to NDP candidates, who apparently underwent only the most superficial vetting process.
As even the considerably left-wing Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne has noted, the NDP’s platform is cut from the same old cloth of socialist ideology: every social program under the sun should be universal, all funded by simply forcing corporations and “the rich” to pay a “little more.” And the party didn’t exactly do much to convince voters it would be a sound steward of the public purse when it blew the arithmetic in its budget plans.
This election, to put it mildly, has not seen a particularly good showing from any party. The people of Canada’s most populous and economically significant province deserve better. Alas, that won’t happen this time. But the Ontario PCs are at least — unlike the other two parties — not in total denial about the many things broken in the province today. The PCs are generally committed to reducing the size and cost of government and understand the importance of business as the driver of all prosperity. An inexperienced premier Ford will have experienced, credible legislative veterans around him. The lack of a proper campaign platform is certainly worrisome, but in reality no party’s campaign platform will survive the first day. Accountants will need free rein to assess Ontario’s true fiscal status — something the Tories have pledged to arrange without delay. So, while this is probably not the best choice Ontario has ever had, it is a clear choice: the Liberals must go and the NDP must not win. Ontario would therefore best be served by a PC government led by Doug Ford.