Voters need to consider options ahead of June’s Provincial election

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In the 2018 provincial election in Dufferin Caledon, Progressive Conservative candidate Sylvia Jones emerged victorious with 29,702 or 53.08 per cent of the votes cast. But the combined vote for the other party candidates was just over 26,000. (According to Wikipedia figures.

The close vote count needs to be emphasized as the clock winds down to the June provincial election, one of the most important in Ontario's history.

Residents of this riding can either choose to endorse or reject the dubious record of the Doug Ford Conservative Government. Unlike its erratic, if not shambolic, handling of the COVID crisis, (including its shameful restriction of salary increases to overworked nurses to one per cent), it has been highly disciplined in ramming through its pro-sprawl, pro-developer, and anti-environment agenda.

Just some examples includes it promotion of the environmentally destructive and economically ruinous Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, its undermining of the decision-making powers of conservation authorities, and the excessive—hatchet like—use of non-democratic Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZOs) which allow development projects to proceed without any input or challenges by residents who might be negatively impacted by those projects.

Tossing out this government will require difficult decisions by party supporters of all stripes, but especially by fiscally conservative, but pro-environment moderate Conservatives. Hopefully they are dismayed, if not disgusted, with this government's record and will consider changing allegiances, at least for this election

The question that needs to be asked is: “Who would they vote for?” Possibly Liberal? It is highly unlikely, if not downright improbable, they would vote NDP.

And that is something the New Democratic Party needs to be cognizant of. It should concentrate its limited resources on regions it has a clear shot of taking, such as Windsor, Oshawa, Brampton, and a few strategic downtown Toronto seats, and not field a candidate in Dufferin Caledon, which has not a chance of winning. Doing so will only split the vote and allow the Conservatives to recapture the riding.

Liberals, New Democrats, Greens, and moderate Conservatives must bury their differences and work together (at least for this election). If they don't, Doug Ford's Conservatives, with the help of their developer friends and its hard core base will come up the middle and be reelected. 

If that happens, he will be free to continue with objective of handing this province over to the developers. Ontario may never recover.

Dan O'Reilly

Caledon