The Ontario election won’t solve a lot of the problems we are facing in 2022 and beyond – although it might help illustrate the depth of some issues.
That was my last thought before boarding an Ontario Northland bus a week ago for a few days of rest and relaxation in the Algoma Highlands. It stuck around like old bubble gum on in my shoe while deking into almost a dozen communities along the way. And it lingered in the billowing smoke of a smudge fire at dusk before drifting out over a mirror-like lake reflecting a rosy sunset. Only a trout on a line could distract sufficiently, though not for long.
Why do we keep going through this democratic charade where the majority of constituents end up disappointed, disaffected and dismayed?
How can more people feel empowered to be involved in governance?
And will problems be easier or harder to decipher if the disenfranchised added their voice? Maybe we should work on educating those who do vote, before asking those who don’t, to scratch their X on the spot?
After returning to North Bay two nights before the votes are counted, I’m still scratching my head in perplexed fashion – as well as the itchy welts from a healthy share of blackfly bites.
Polls indicate the province’s electorate is split along familiar fault lines with party platforms thrown together without regard to building codes. Planks are made of paper-thin promises and fastened with water-based glue, ready to be washed away with the first post-election rain.
Barring a last-minute tsunami of ballot-stuffing, the Progressive Conservatives appear ready to capture more than 60% of the seats with 40% of the popular vote – again, with the left-of-right Liberals and more leftish New Democrats rearranging the deck chairs in their traditional ridings. Despite a truck-load of dubious Doug Ford machinations (before and during pandemic realities), the Red-Orange wave will basically land on the beach in a battle for Opposition status.
Higher long-term care deaths during the pandemic than other rich nations? Not a factor.
Several billion dollars in COVID relief transfers not quite tracked? Hardly a blip on the radar.
Watering down environmental protections in the midst of heightened extreme weather events? So boring.
Obvious vote-buying strategies regardless of deficit budgeting and a growing debt burden (with a fiscal calamity expected soon)? Hardly a worry.
A $10-B highway that doesn’t make much sense? Move along. Nothing to see here, folks.
Health care privatization by a thousand service management schemes? Too much detail.
Hospitals about to collapse from overworked and thinning ranks of doctors and nurses? Have patience. It’s only a problem when you or a loved one is sick, and then not for long.
I’m actually hoping to be proven wrong, that the polls are somehow faulty and the voters are smarter than the campaign strategists. It would be a great thing to totally misread the public mood.
But it feels like the old Liberal vs NDP fight is alive and well, giving the PCs plenty of room to run up the middle even with several extreme-right parties nibbling away at the base.
In Nipissing, we’ll likely get a first-hand look at how that scenario transpires with incumbent PC MPP Vic Fedeli challenged primarily by the NDP’s Erika Lougheed and Liberal Tanya Vrebosch.
Will Lougheed’s door-knocking plan these past several years get out enough votes to unseat a three-term Tory who showered the riding regularly with tax dollars?
Will Vrebosch’s experience as deputy mayor of North Bay, plus the deep family roots across the riding, swell under the Grit banner?
Will Fedeli’s golden goose pecking order with the Cons convince detractors it’s too risky to change their Queen’s Park representative?
Some people think I’d prefer to have the NDP take power, but the truth is I want all the best ideas being discussed outside party lines and much prefer a minority government situation where power is contained and shared.
I’d prefer a system where the governing party couldn’t throw gobs of tax dollars around six months prior to an election.
I’d prefer knowing that promises made during the election mattered after votes are tallied.
One of the things I noticed on my journey to the Soo and back, aside from relearning there’s absolutely nothing romantic about bus treks, is that our province is much more diverse in both culture and class than one might think. Bus riders are not attending very many $500-plate political fundraisers. Seems to me, that politicians might want to pay more attention to what’s going on because I’m betting there’s going to be more people riding the bus in the future. And they have a lot of time to think about their lot in life – while blocking out crying babies, the recent hospital discharge debating unseen voices, and a litany of ‘bored enough to call mom’ cell phone conversations.
The 'milk run' bus route between Sudbury and the Soo brought back a lot of memories. As a teen, I rode the Greyhound a couple of times a year to visit relatives. It stops anywhere and everywhere, with each new passenger threatening to ruin your day by slipping into the adjoining seat.
Things would certainly change if people could vote on buses, that’s all I’m trying to say.
Dave Dale is a veteran journalist and columnist who has covered the North Bay area for more than 30 years. Reader responses meant as Letters to the Editor can be sent to [email protected]. To contact the writer directly, email: [email protected] or check out his website www.smalltowntimes.ca
