I Don’t Want to Vote Liberal. But…

I really don’t want to vote for Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberals this June.  The Liberals have been in power too long in this Province and I truly believe that it is time for a change in leadership.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that there are any good options.  Especially since Doug Ford has just been elected leader of the Ontario Provincial Conservatives in a whirlwind leadership race and a close and messy vote.  Roughly half of the PC party members who voted do not think Ford will make a good leader and a recent poll suggests that 48% of Ontarians feel the same way.

One reason I cannot bring myself to vote for Doug Ford is because of Donald Trump.  As a polarizing figure with a populist platform, Doug Ford represents himself as anti-establishment, anti-intelligence and anti-elitist even though he comes from family money; just as Trump does.  While Ford tries to distance himself from the comparisons to Donald Trump, some of his supporters have been tweeting out the hashtag #MOGA or Make Ontario Great Again.  Others have called the PC party the “GOP of Canada” as their ideals have gone so far right.  We have seen what the United States has become under Donald Trump as President. I would prefer to have an intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, and articulate leader for the Premier of Ontario.

Some in the media are suggesting that Doug Ford may govern as a moderate.  Yet issues such as abortion and the sex education curriculum have already been raised.  I fear that he may take a page out of Trump’s playbook and campaign on a more moderate platform but then govern as a radical.  Lying, hypocrisy, serving special interest groups, and government waste seem to be the norm in politics leaving many voters unsure of who they can trust already.  And, as we have seen with Trump, voting for a leader does not mean they are going to keep their campaign promises.

As a child my mother often counselled me to choose my friends carefully because I did not want to be found “guilty by association”.  Her words of wisdom must have stuck as I can’t bring myself to vote for Doug Ford because of his brother Rob.  As the former Mayor of Toronto, who has since passed away, Rob Ford was embroiled in scandal and made himself, and by association the City of Toronto, the laughing stock of the media in Canada and abroad.  Drinking, drugs, and gang members plagued Mayor Ford throughout his term.  I have observed how a Ford in power behaves and I didn’t like it.  That experience is enough to make me say never again.  And no, I won’t give him a chance to grow into his position.  Many people said the same thing about Donald Trump.  But Trump the candidate is just like Trump the President. We, the people of Ontario, deserve better.

His platform is another reason why I will not be voting for Ford.  During the leadership campaign his main talking points were to keep taxes low, attract more business to the Province, and to reject the federally imposed carbon tax. While we will likely hear more about how he will implement these policies in the weeks leading up to the election, details are few at this point.  Especially worrisome is how he will cancel the cap and trade contracts as some suggest it could cost Ontario billions in penalties to do so.  I understand that no one wants to raise taxes to protect the environment but at what point do we start implementing changes to protect it before it starts costing us even more money to deal with the consequences of climate change?

The election results were barely in before Doug Ford started talking about abortion and the public school sex education curriculum.  We have had the abortion debate and women need to be able to make their own choices about their bodies in consultation with their doctors. Period.  And keeping children in the dark about sex and all the issues that goes with it is not empowering, healthy, or fair to them.  Children and teens need information and to know what possible consequences there may be for their decisions.  Learning about LGBTQ2 issues in a positive environment may make LGBTQ2 children feel recognized and included, leading to a better state of mental health for them. In my humble opinion it is misogynistic men who are vested in keeping their power and the patriarchy alive that try to control women and children through their bodies.

One last reason why I will not vote for Doug Ford is because I feel the Progressive Conservative party lost an opportunity to be progressive.  There were three women running for leader of the party and yet they elected the one male who ran.  Christine Elliott, a long time, well known MPP with experience was taking her third run at the leadership.  Yet the PC’s went with the usual (an older, white male) effectively maintaining the status quo. 

I will be watching the run up to the provincial election carefully.  I will be educating myself on each party’s platform and watching how the leaders preform. I will be looking for an alternative to the Liberals, but, unfortunately, I already know it will not be the PC’s.