Getting it done – but not for the people

Ontario Progressive Conservative (PC) ads are claiming that the PCs  have – and will continue to get it done for the people. In our current age of misinformation and disinformation, this is a useful statement. It lets the viewer/reader imagine what ‘it’ might stand for and probably aims to lead the onlooker to identify with ‘the people.’ 

The Ford government has been in power since June of 2018. This extensive time frame allows us, prospective voters, access to evidence of what ‘it’ means: what got done and to the benefit of which people. The appeal of facts may not rival the false attractiveness of magical thinking, but recent results from South of the border remind us of that voting is a privilege, a right, and a responsibility in equal parts, and that it matters. Being able to view what happened in the past 6 1/2 years or so can inform the important vote we are asked to cast, albeit prematurely, in a mere 29 days.

Fordwatch and Fordwatch 2 provide fact-checked information about what the Ontario PC government focused on during its first and second mandates respectively. Numerous entries from media outlets based on journalistic rigour will remind us that private interests prevailed over public ones. The numerous legal battles over the unconstitutional Bill 124 alone indicate a refusal by this government to fairly compensate its workers as it funded for-profit entities. Private nursing agencies, for example, cost tax payers, upwards of $1.5 billion dollars for 2023-2024 alone. 

Why are we, Ontarians, subsidizing a private spa in Ontario Place? Why are the operators of long-term care homes that were sued for gross negligence allowed to expand their facilities? Why did the government not invest significantly to address the primary-care shortage in health care until it called this 2025 election? Why did the government spend $612 Million to speed up the expansion of beer and wine sales? The questions abound and Fordwatch 1 and 2 will highlight the lack of satisfactory answers.

Getting it done, it seems, repeatedly meant that rules supposed to protect the environment were changed or completely eliminated. Getting it done also meant that Minister Zoning Orders prevented public consultation in the decision-making process of numerous communities, as well as

silencing the voices of Indigenous groups. Getting it done meant favouring developers, particularly those who attended Ford family gatherings, in the Greenbelt scandal, in the planning of Highway 413, and in the rerouting of the Yonge subway. In fact, you may want to reflect about the timing of this hasty election. Could it have something to do with the, soon to be concluded, RCMP inquiry about the Greenbelt scandal?  

The Ford government wants to distract us from the fact that it’s underfunding important public institutions like the Education and Health portfolios. It’s also set to remove bike lanes in Toronto regardless of data showing it will have no significant effect on the problem of congestion. Finally, receiving a $200.00 cheque may contribute to making us forget that we are in a deficit situation. Why not invest that money in much needed social and housing programs?

Let’s not be fooled. The ‘it’ was generally not the public interest and ‘the people,’ more often than not, were individuals in the private sector. It’s all there in Fordwatch and Fordwatch 2. The facts are there. They will answer some questions, but raise many more.

 

Click on the links below to find the Fordwatch you fancy:

 

 

     Fordwatch

    Fordwatch: Education 2022

 

     Fordwatch 2: Return of the binos