Open letter to MPP Sylvia Jones

OUR READERS WRITE

The following paragraph comes from a Toronto Star article by Althia Raj on Friday, November 25, 2002.  It is your response to Marco Mendicino's request that you provide an OPP plan of action for the Ottawa blockades after you and Doug Ford refused to attend tri-level meetings (municipal, provincial and federal) to discuss such plans.  I quote:

“When according to text messages between Liberal staffers, Mendicino asked his Ontario counterpart, then Solicitor-General Sylvia Jones, to provide the federal government with a plan she told him:  I don't take edicts from you, you're not my f---ing boss.”

At that time and even now, the province is facing many serious issues that impact all citizens of Ontario.  Issues such as:

Health care and the state of our hospitals to cope with the dangerous variety of infections raging through our schools and communities that affect the most vulnerable: children and the elderly. You blame previous governments and the lack of commitment/work ethic of front-line doctors, nurses and medical employees;

Environmental protections for our greenbelt areas and farmlands.  Areas that your government and Doug Ford promised not to touch and now he is;

Refusal to appear at national inquiries to provide valuable information on possibly reforming the National Emergencies Act that Doug Ford promised to do until he didn't;

As the above quote suggests, your refusal to provide policing support in the early planning stages of the Ottawa lockdown;

Using strong arm dictatorial (no matter how legal they, they are just wrong) such as the Notwithstanding Clause to trample rights of Ontario citizens. After CUPE, who is next?  One of your influential advisors and political strategists said it in one word on CBC's Power and Politics: the teachers.

When confronted to give answers to these concerns your choice and Doug's is to not give those answers, run and hide or act like a teenage school yard bully by defending your actions with “you're not my f---king boss.”  Such a comment is beneath the dignity and respect not only of the offices you have the privilege to hold, but you owe to your colleagues in other levels of government and the constituents you are elected to serve.

As a voter in Dufferin Caledon, I am “your f---ing boss” and with only 18% of the total voting population voting for you (and 72% not,) you need to act like an adult; an adult who has huge responsibilities to serve the people of Dufferin-Caledon and the rest of Ontario.

When do you and Doug Ford plan to live up to those?

David McRae

Caledon