By Robert Hurst …
Is this one of the dumbest moves by an Ontario Premier since Dalton’s gas plant fiasco?
Premier Doug Ford is cancelling the election of District Chairs in Muskoka, Peel, Niagara and York. He is cutting Toronto’s City council in half. Ford is changing the rules of local elections, in the midst of a campaign, without any discussion or consultation.
This will play well to Ford Nation. The new Premier, they will say, is a tough guy; a man of action cutting fat and waste.
But are his motives pure?
Isn’t this a petty move, driven by a political family, who now has enormous power, to get even with past enemies?
With apologies to Liz Barrett Browning, How Do I Revenge Thee? Let Me Count the Ways:
The Brothers Ford often railed against the lefties and socialists who fill Toronto City council seats. This decree is a nasty attack on that gang. Robbie, wherever he is, up or down, must be cheering “You Go Bro!”
Ford’s move is payback to Toronto Mayor John Tory, who beat Doug Ford in a bitter 2014 election. The ever wishy-washy Tory complained the Premier was “meddling”.
The dictum is also retaliation to Ford’s political foes, Patrick Brown and Steven Del Luca who were running for District Chairs in Peel and York. “There’s a new boss-man in town. Don’t screw with me.”
Here in Muskoka, one wonders what motivated Ford to cancel the election of our own District Chair. Could it have something to do with the crappy road to the Ford family compound on Fawn Lake south of Huntsville? It’s widely known the Fords often complain to local officials about that road.
Ford’s new Municipal Affairs Minister, Steve Clark, said the move is “another example of the Province getting out of the way and making local government work harder and smarter.”
What tripe. What artifice.
Clark, who knows something about local government, should be ashamed of himself. He was once the Mayor of Brockville.
Last week over beers, some friends and I began discussing the candidates for District Chair. Gord Adams was proposing a single-tier Muskoka government and Hugh Mackenzie was opposing it.
“This is a discussion that’s long overdue. It’s a debate we want to have,” said one of my friends.
Doug Ford has summarily cancelled that discussion. Apparently Adams and Mackenzie have now withdrawn.
The good people of Ontario elected Doug Ford to pursue honest and responsible government. This arbitrary edict is none of that. A political leader in a democracy, who is motivated by revenge against enemies real or perceived, is a leader who is flawed and will soon fail.
One hopes the new Premier and his advisors will understand this, learn a lesson and not repeat it.
Nevertheless, for Doug Ford, just 30 days in power, it’s “Strike One. “
Robert Hurst is the former President of CTV News. His first reporter’s beat was at Toronto City Hall.
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No one said that Premier Ford’s cancelling of the election District Chairs or the elimination of almost half of the seats on Toronto City Council were in any way comparable to Nazi Germany. The point was that these decisions were taken without consultation with the affected parties and were never once mentioned during Ford’s election campaign.
As citizens who disagree with this action, we have a right and a responsibility to make our views known to Queen’s Park. To sit by and meekly accept whatever is dished out by this Premier (or any other elected leader) is the first step in accepting undemocratic practises. It’s a slippery slope from there.
How can you possibly compare Premier Ford to Prime Minister Trudeau? Exactly what action(s) of Mr. Trudeau were not terribly well thought out? And do you actually support ANY party, or are you just a chronic complainer. Criticism without alternative(s) is abjectly toothless.
With respect to the writer, I find his submission to be rubbish.
A copy of this letter to MPP Norm Miller was sent to Huntsville Doppler for publication ~
This is my second letter to a politician! My first was to Right Honorable John Diefenbaker in 1960. This was a laudatory epistle, thanking him for the Bill of Rights. My second, to you Mr. Miller, is not complementary.
Even-though we are at opposite poles of the political spectrum, I have always held you in the greatest esteem, as a man of integrity and principle.
Not so now! I am deeply disappointed.
Where is your backbone and that of your colleagues of the caucus?
Contracts are cancelled on a whim, seriously damaging the reputation of the integrity of the Province of Ontario. Your leader has pronounced that Ontario is open for business! Do you think that companies consider investing with the provincial government if they cannot trust it?
The Premier interferes with the municipal elections, while everything is in play. Particularly with cancelling of the election of District Chair here in Muskoka. You don’t change the rules of the game just as the referee is dropping the puck!
The cancellation of the educational curriculum on our children’s health and reverting to an out-of-date, 20-years, curriculum is unforgivable.
Decisions seem to be made out of spite or pettiness or kow-towing to vocal minorities.
Do you and your fellow MPP’s, really agree with these, seemingly impulsive, decisions?
In closing, I find that the quotation I came across recently, appropriate, by Bertrand Russell (English philosopher and mathematician) “The trouble world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.”
JOHN BOYSEN
Seems like a Trudeau move, not terribly well thought out. Smaller govt usually gets things done. I’m willing to see if it works. Bet my bottom dollar that the boundaries are gerrymandered to give the conservative thinking candidate a better chance. Creative indeed.
Toronto was only the first. I think and hope that a lot of politicians will find themselves running for fewer places at the trough. The ones who have worked hard all along won’t care, the others will whine and complain.
Ford claims that he campaigned on smaller government but not necessarily his own. To cancel voting for a District Chair is not making District council any smaller it is taking away democratic voice of the people.
I wonder when the road to Fawn Lake will get upgraded? So whoever gets the District Chair will need to get Council to pass the road upgrades.
We have just seen the vindictive nature of the Ford Government
Since we will soon return to Germany – where the realities of standing up to Hitler meant certain death (see Dietrich Bonhoeffer etc.) I am amazed at how easily people try to draw parallels to our trivial situations (“First Starbucks dropped Mocha Latte, and I didn’t like Mocha Latte, so I said nothing….”) our own petty sense of injury or offense colours everything…REALLY? My frequent posts on Facebook show I am no special friend of the Left or the Right, and I have little doubt that politicians have their own agendas, but, REALLY folks, do you think THIS restructuring is on a par with the Nazis or our own Prime Minister’s imposition of a policy that destroys babies and oppresses women? We seem to lack the ability to differentiate between trivial and tragic.
To make my point about the evil, one – sided reporting by the Star in this Province, I really can’t believe the stuff on the Front page of the Sunday Star.
“Nearly half (47%) disapprove of Ford. If it was the other way ’round and the Liberals had their person at the helm this sad facsimile of a once proud newspaper would read ” firm majority of respondents (53%) declare the Premier is doing the right thing.
One last wee note here. Someone, somewhere in their comments about the Ford family extended sympathy to Rob Ford and his substance abuse while in office. Alcoholism is a disease! Believe it! The cure is possible but oft times difficult. Recovering alcoholics are fine people and deserve a pat on the back when they make it! There are far more Alcoholics in politics than the average person dreams. Bob Rae, when he was the NDP Premier of Ontario, put a stop to funding rehab at the private institutions that brought good results for this malady.
Saying nothing, on an issue of this importance, is not an option. To paraphrase a poem written a clergyman in Germany prior to WWII
– first they came for the District Chairs … and I did not speak out, because I was not a District Chair
– then they came for the Town Council members … and I did not speak out, because I was not a Town Council member
– then they came for … you can fill in the rest … and it ends with
– then they came for me … but there was no one left to speak out for me.
I am interested in your opinion ( I don’t agree with it) but I’m also interested in Robert Hurst’s opinion. The “Thumper” philosophy, from “Bambi” (“If you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all”) has never served us well.
Agreed. There’s a Trump-like selfishness and refusal to consult here. I was hoping Ford wouldn’t go that way, and very disappointed that he has.
It is my hope that Hugh will reconsider contesting the District Chair.
Who better to sit down to discuss the future of Muskoka with the Premier? Experience at Queen’s Park, sitting as District Chair and Mayor of Huntsville , a well known and respected provincial conservative; these are important attributes of Hugh.
Like it or not, the Premier has decided to “discuss” the future of regional government. I want Hugh in our corner.
Robert, your points are well made but the horse is out of the barn. Let’s give it a good ride.
“Revenge is best served cold”. However, I question the maturity of our new leader as these maneuvers did nothing to further his personal political career.