NewmarketToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication).
You’ve heard the expression “dog days of summer.” It’s a euphemism for the long drawn-out days of repetition that are indicative of a long baseball season. I’d like to attach the saying to the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford. After all, hasn’t it been a long and drawn-out "season" for the middle class here in Ford’s Ontario?
What got me thinking this way was something that hit me in the grocery store the other day. Surprisingly, it was not the inconsistent pricing that has become commonplace these days, but rather the advertisements. As I was standing in the produce section, the ‘Muzak’ was interrupted by a voice — much louder than the preceding music — which told all the midday shoppers all about how wonderful our schools are these days. As a teacher who retired just two years ago, I am keenly aware of how our school systems are doing. Wonderful is not the word I’d use to describe it.
"Criminal" seems a bit more fitting. Ford’s conservative government — in true modern conservative form — has been underfunding its two major portfolios, education and health care, since being voted in. Ford went ahead with Bill 124, which would have cemented underpayment to the province’s vital employees, while simultaneously paying $225 million to Molson, Labatt and Sleeman for breaking a provincewide contract six months early.
Think about that: Ford has no problem throwing $225 million at billion-dollar corporations so that you can buy beer at the corner store, but he (and all of his MPPs) would rather invest the money in billionaires than in your children or health care. I don’t know about you, but I do not feel valued by this government.
But wait a minute; what’s that I hear? It’s that same grocery store ad interrupting my under-regulated grocery shopping experience. What’s that, Doug? You say that Ontario is the best place in the world to live. You say that we have never had it better. Really?
Does Dougie really think that the people of Ontario are so unintelligent and gullible that we are going to fall for his used-car salesman charm? So, how many taxpaying dollars are going to be spent telling us how awesome the Ford government is? I can’t say how much is being spent this year — I expect it to be a very large number — but I can say that the Ford government has rewritten the leaderboard when it comes to advertising spending.
In 2021, the Ford government spent over $79 million on ads, the highest amount to date in the history of Ontario. Given the invasiveness of the ads right now (television, radio, billboards, social media, etc.), I expect the value to be higher for 2024. It seems to be a staple play in the conservative playbook: Once your popularity polls dip, you engage in a heavy-handed advertising campaign to misinform the voters. Sound like anyone else? Putin? Trump? Poilievre? Ford.
That’s why it’s important to remember the ‘Doug daze of Ontario’ next time you cast a vote in Ontario.
M. Henry
Bradford
