OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor ([email protected]). This letter is in response to a letter from Simcoe North Liberal candidate Aaron Cayden Hiltz published June 6, titled, 'Liberal says election a life-changing experience.'
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My initial reaction to the Progressive Conservative (PC) win this election was a great deal of pessimism and concern.
Interestingly, it was the Simcoe North Liberal candidate's letter to the editor that restored my hope and made me realize that I have gotten too caught up in the negative discourse from many sources.
As Aaron reminds us, our MPP for this term, Jill Dunlop, has shown guts to put her name out there and to run for public office. I am certain I will not agree with every decision Dunlop and the Ford government makes, but that would be true of any party.
I am reminded that the way forward is cooperation and working together, not partisan attacks and assumptions based on political beliefs and ideology.
With the PC party it has been difficult for me to recognize this for two basic reasons.
1) Many of those who I have known who claim to speak for conservatives have been angry, negative, intolerant people who want to control others and impose their view of what is best on us all, and have seen more empathy and realism from those in other parties.
I have come to realize that, at least at this time, at the provincial level my personal experience may not be reflective of the overall reality. I can hope.
2) People close to me have tended to buy into negative messaging about politicians, government, institutions and so on and that has excessively, and unfortunately coloured my thinking.
At the federal level, I hope the Conservatives choose someone more like Dunlop and Ford than Poilievre.
Poilievre’s paranoid, angry, and destructive approach was also an influence on my thinking, even though the federal party is different from the provincial.
He represents the kind of people I mentioned above, who I believe would tend to destroy the Canada I have grown up in, and known, and love.
It is my fervent hope that Dunlop, Ford, and PC MPPs are reasonable people who will listen to all Ontarians and work with anyone who is willing to work together instead of lobbing personal and/or partisan attacks.
Let's get this done.
Daniel Dickinson
Midland
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