OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). This letter, about voting trends, is from Matthew Lund, who is associated with the Green party.
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Well, another election season is upon us and Simcoe North is currently steering as it always has towards another blue Member of Provincial Parliament. My parents used to tell me that “you could run a cow down the street wearing blue" in this area, and they would get elected. But that has had me thinking, what kind of person actually votes for a conservative in 2022? I will attempt to answer that in this article by illustrating the five types of people that will vote PC this year.
Rebellious Millennials
Yes, those that will be voting for the first time this year may, in fact, be voting Conservative. As I speak with these kids, it becomes apparent the backlash Justin Trudeau’s politically correct movement has had.
Trudeau has advocated on behalf of women’s rights, gay rights, and tolerance. And while these are all noble causes to advocate on behalf of that I agree with, teenagers are by nature rebellious and a generation of being told to be accepting by teachers, parents and mentors, has led to parts of this next generation wanting to stand their ground against this message.
For youth experiencing this mentality, I urge you to view both sides of this coin and perhaps see why there has been such a campaign brought forth. Your generation has grown with love and compassion the likes of which no generation before has ever known. The more we work together as a community the better our community can be.
The Extremely Fortunate
Yes, voting Conservative usually comes with tax breaks and subsidies to the ultra-wealthy. The entire Bradford Bypass is being forced down people’s throats, so that Ford can give back to his favoured donors. Don’t be fooled, there are many lavishly wealthy folks living in the Simcoe North region.
Our economy is currently on the brink of collapse as the growing divide between the haves and the have nots continues to grow further. How rich can people continue to grow, when there is no money left to collect from the remaining 98%. I get, this group voting Conservative. Quite frankly, aside from Maxime Bernier’s PPC, all other parties would tax this group appropriately, meaning these people would begin to pay a fair tax, taking some of the burden off the middle class and the poor. The key to everyone else with this train of thought, though, is to ask yourselves as the majority. Are you more financially comfortable now than you were four years ago when Doug Ford was first elected?
Religious Conservatives
I never quite understood this one myself. Don’t get me wrong as I am all about faith, but for Christians in our community, I would argue that being a Conservative would be the last thing that Jesus Christ would ever condone. The Christ I was taught about in school was about serving the poor and the less fortunate, the sick and the destitute, about being good stewards of the Earth and taking care of our planet. Today’s Christian Conservatives seem to feel it is OK to legislate morality and remove free will. Again, a virtue counter to the teachings of the Judeo-Christian ethics I was raised on.
Strategic Voters
Yes, as Canadians, we are more likely to try voting someone out, rather than voting someone in. We have this idea in our heads that we can somehow fix things by continuously volleying the ball back and forth between Conservatives and Liberals.
This creates a paradigm of revenge politics and undoubtedly four years of attempting to undo everything the previous government implemented. The strategy of strategic voting has always failed us. I get that there is a growing sector of Canadians, disenfranchised with our “rigged” political system.
Justin Trudeau may or may not have breached ethics, according to his critics against Canadians, but history will show by a simple search, that our history as Canadians has seen that of the 21 most prominent federal political scandals our country has endured, 10 have been Conservative scandals, while 7 have been Liberal scandals. Does that mean we need to vote for the lesser of two evils?
Or perhaps its time we as a country start truly examining the alternatives and not simply discrediting them on the basis of hyperbole.
Traditional Conservatives
Yes, we are steeped in tradition. My grandparents always voted Conservative, my parents always voted Conservative and I always voted Conservative. When you are engrained that deep with indoctrination it is hard to step back and really see the bigger picture.
Today’s Progressive Conservative party is anything but. They are neither Progressive nor are they Conservative. Today’s PC party is the remnants of a merger that saw The Former Reform party ultimately assume control of the party to instill their doctrine and faith-based legislation into the party.
The previous PC party was much closer to the centre with an eye to moving Canada forward and while local federal MP, Adam Chambers, would fit this bill, neither Jill Dunlop, Doug Ford nor anyone in the current Provincial caucus would fit this glove.
In fact, a thorough examination of Dunlop's voting record will show that she has perpetually always propped up Ford’s government by doing whatever she is told to do (including skipping out on all local debates), even when the will of the majority of Simcoe North voters were in direct conflict.
The real truth is the message that Doug Ford is selling such as making life more affordable for the middle income, and lightening the burden for Canadians is a rather false narrative.
Opening up Ontario for business really should say Ontario is open to the highest bidder. Health care will continue to be defunded, continuing to lay the ground work for Doug Ford’s People’s Health Care Act, which will ultimately lead to the re-privatization of health care in Ontario.
Education will continue to be defunded, while Ford works to fund private schools ahead of public schooling. Our climate will continue to be defunded and regulations will continue to disappear furthering the climate emergency and leaving that burden onto your kids to deal with, which by then, may be insurmountable.
And meanwhile life will not get any more affordable.
Kathleen Wynne’s tax rate was at 20% with Doug Ford’s is now at 22%. You were duped, and they will continue to dupe you from the both the provincial and the federal levels. Jill Dunlop does not want to represent the constituents of Simcoe North; Dunlop is only out to serve herself and Doug Ford.
In conclusion, the Conservatives that you may have once loved no longer exist. Just imagine the horrors we may begin to face with Doug Ford as our Premier after another four years of cuts that hurt families and bad legislation meant only to benefit the wealthiest in this province.
Please Simcoe North do me a favor, do my children a favour, do yourselves a favour and do your children a favour and vote ABC this year. Anything But Conservative. But whatever you do, make sure you get out and vote.
Matthew Lund
Washago
