Letter: Reader not pleased with what scandal has exposed in government

Editor's note: Mr. Boileau writes this as an open letter.

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Vic Fedeli. I recently wrote to you about the Greenbelt scandal and the repercussions that would come from developing sensitive wildlands and critical farmlands.

I wrote about protecting these lands and that there is no need to take them up for housing. There are plenty of brownfield lands that are already serviced that could be built on. These lands will satisfy the need for 1.5 million dwellings, by 2030, or whatever timeline there was for this. I wrote about being incensed at the idea of developing these lands for well-to-do homeowners and that this would not do anything to alleviate the housing crisis we find ourselves in, most definitely as a result of senior levels of government and their policies. I railed against the idea that we continue to build car-centred development and that building on the Greenbelt would be nothing but.

There was no call from me or from anyone else that I heard, not to build homes. No one said we should not be building houses. The message was clear, we need dwellings for new Canadians, for young couples wanting to start a life and a family, and people who are less well-off and in need of an affordable place to call home. A starting point for young people to move forward in life or for disadvantaged folk to lift themselves out of poverty and to contribute to society in whatever way they can. A dwelling of any kind is the place to start.

This letter is not to go over my grievances, although I still have one glaringly obvious difficulty. That of your leader's pledge to end corruption, I think he called it cronyism. But this is a separate issue.

This letter is to say that I am pleased. Not for decades has a conservative government of any level taken the decision to roll back on anything it has said it would do, no matter how vigorous the public opposition.

Kudos to your leader. Doug Ford has handled, rather clumsily I should say, a humiliating situation. It takes an awful lot of guts for a conservative politician to admit wrongdoing of any kind. In my recollection they have a lot to be apologetic about, but that is my humble opinion. I just wanted to say Kudos.

However, as you can tell, I am not a right-winger. Although I played the position in hockey, I am left-handed you see, I have never voted, and will never vote conservative. Full disclosure, they call me the godless socialist at my place of work. And I wear the moniker with pride.

I am still not pleased with what this whole scandal has exposed in your government.

It has indeed exposed the graft and corruption your leader had said he would end, all those years ago. And this isn’t the first time; probably won’t be the last. Dean French, ring a bell. You and your leader have had three cabinet ministers resign in the last few days. You and your leader have had to shuffle your deck of ministers twice to compensate for this.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in those cabinet meetings. I am sure all your ministers, or any of the MPPs for that matter, yourself included, have been buried with calls, emails, or constituency event conversations.

As a reminder, when you and your leader were campaigning in 2018 Doug Ford said he would end the gravy train and clamp down on cronyism. These are laudable goals that are easy to say. I would argue they are attainable goals if you and your leader are vigilant and thorough in your oversight. Influence peddling will never go away. It takes a person with fortitude and integrity to avoid it. As the shoe brand says, Just Do It!

I wanted you to know, Vic, that I can write letters of thanks as easily as I can of concern. It may not seem like a Thank You letter but in my opinion, it is, all the same. And that’s just my breeze from the cheap seats.

Andre Boileau

North Bay