This afternoon I was
reading on the Toronto Star website trying to get ideas on what I might want to
write about for today. I think it is fair to say that I have been feeling
disappointed in politics over the last few months. Since the federal election
there has been little to be too excited about from my point of view. While I
lean more towards the policy and ideas side of politics I still want to be
inspired and like my political leaders, and I feel a distinct absence of that.
I've spent nearly all of
my life in the province of Ontario. It is my home, it a place I love, but at
the same time if feels more and more like a place that is failing. I think it
is more than fair to say that the provincial political system is broken. The
Toronto Star recently reported on what can only be seen as corruption, or
dangerous blurring between politicians and big donors.
Cabinet ministers in Ontario's government have been given fundraising targets
and must appeal to big corporate donors in areas they are responsible for to
achieve their goals. This stinks. The Liberals held a fundraiser and raised $3
million in one night. I am naturally very suspicious of money in politics, I
think it has a corrupting influence and distorts the principles of our system.
Premier Kathleen Wynne
(OLP - Don Valley West) had promise in my eyes when she was elected. A left-of-centre
Liberal, I thought she had the approach to clean up the McGuinty years and
change Queen's Park for the better. The longer her term in office goes it seems
like the rot may be going even deeper. Billions of dollars are added to the
deficit and Ontarians have little to show for it. Indeed, our public services
remain strong, but infrastructure investment continues to lack behind.
The alternatives offer
little hope in my eyes. Patrick Brown, the new Progressive Conservative leader
comes from a more right-wing section of the Conservative Party. He speaks like
a moderate and has made gestures towards the middle, but I have to wonder if
the young leader promises anything else other than budget cuts, fee increases
and public strife were he elected. Does he offer any meaningful change to
reform the problems in Queen's Park? I have my doubts.
I am a New Democrat, with
the membership card and everything, yet I have been left very cold by Andrea
Horwath's (ONDP - Hamilton Centre) leadership. The zag to the populist right in
the 2014 election campaign and the NDP strategy during the minority years did
not greatly inspire me. Nor for a bunch of internal party reasons am I
particularly enamoured with the central leadership at this time. Nor do I see the NDP making clear policy choices to
fix the problems in this province.
I'm sure this is clearer
to Ontarians elsewhere, but it feels more and more that this province is stuck
in the muck. The old industrial economy has essentially vanished and nothing
has really filled its place. If it wasn't for the public sector and the Toronto
economic engine I wonder if the place wouldn't have already fallen off the
proverbial cliff. How much of our economy is being driven by a housing bubble,
which while creating jobs gobbles up farm land and puts housing out of reach of
the poor and the young?
Sometimes this is when
looking to mayors would offer more hope. I didn't vote for my current mayor and
I was unsure of her. I remain mixed on Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey, I have
real questions about her policy directions, but mostly it is the rest of
council's positions on transparency, city management, development and transit
that has me grinding my teeth. In an odd way John Tory might be the Ontario
politician I have the most faith in, but it isn't motivated by any excitement,
more of a basic competence. Even that opinion is given pause when I consider
issues like Smart Track and the Scarborough Subway.
In a recent conversation
with a friend I launched into a tirade about the status quo. There are so many
things wrong in Canada, Ontario, and the GTA that are perpetuated mostly by a
fear of change and acceptance of the status quo. Things could be so much
better. The lack of inspiration I feel about our current political class may
reflect more of my own cynicism than their actual capabilities. Given the sea
change on the federal scene perhaps there are some MPs out there who could make
a difference. I'd like to be proven wrong. Who is out there to believe in?
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