Ontario Has a New Premier: Rob Ford's Younger Brother

[Sunsilver]

Urrrghh....

And he has zero political experience, and has publicly said he is a big fan of Donald Trump. Liberals are referring to him as 'Trump Light'.

Under the last Conservative government, many government services were slashed in order to balance the budget. I found myself teaching my nursing patients how to do their own wound care, and give themselves IV's. Water testing was downloaded from the province to the municipality, which resulted in multiple deaths in Walkerton, Ontario, when the water became contaminated with E. coli, and the idiots who were doing the water testing had no idea this was a problem. (They falsified the samples to hide the problem!)

Yup, I am just a tad nervous right now...

[Sunsilver]

Although Doug says he is opposed to the legalization of marijuana, the Globe and Mail presented very strong evidence that he was the major distributor for pot in Etobicoke during the 1970's. If you wanted marijuana, Doug was the person you went to.

All the druggies used to hang out in the parking lot at James Gardens during the evening, and that's where all the dealing went on. I would frequently go to James Gardens/Lambton Woods to walk along the woodland trails there, and often wondered what the heck was going on with ALL THOSE CARS!!

Poor naive teen that I was...I had NO IDEA!!

Another favourite place for the dealers was Royal York Plaza, the shopping plaza directly across from my old high school, where our family did all their grocery shopping, banking, etc.

So, you might say Doug honed his business skills dealing pot as a teenager. Maybe his acumen will come in handy when pot is legalized later this year...

[Túrin Turambar]

I've only followed the ON election slightly, but I'm not sure if too much can be read into the result - after 15 years of Liberal Government the Conservatives must have been favoured to win under pretty much any leader. And while Ford is a populist, it's possible to take comparisons with Trump too far. Pretty much every right-of-centre populist everywhere is now being cast as a new Trump. But yes, an interesting and significant contest and result as far as a provincial politics goes.

[Sunsilver]

My main concerns are his lack of experience and the shady background of his family. When Rob Ford was called out for his drug use (cocaine) while mayor of Toronto, it is quite possible his younger brother was serving as an enabler or supplier of drugs.

I am not comfortable with someone who has been involved in an illegal business being in power. It doesn't bode well for their business ethics. His support for Trump just makes me think 'birds of a feather....'

He is also in favour of restricting access to abortions, and possibly making major cuts to health care, which is another big concern I have.

Anyway, early days yet...I COULD be wrong!

But that's what I thought about Trump, too...

[River]

Hold onto your butts Ontario. And be thankful he's only leading a province in a G7 country. Not a whole G7 country. That might end up being the G6 if Trump's sh*tfit carries on.

[Jude]

I've been trying to give Doug Ford a chance, and I've generally thought he's dealt with the pandemic well.

But:

Ontario PC fundraising letters labelled 'invoice' blasted as a 'scam' as calls mount for investigation

The article contains a picture of the fundraising notice. It definitely says "INVOICE" in big letters at the top, and "donation" in small letters at the bottom. Have a look and judge for yourself.

I've now completely revised my opinion of him.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's really messed up! (I initially typed a different word.)

[Jude]

Update on yesterday's news: the police are considering an investigation into the letters.

The article has a picture of the envelope that contains the letters: it actually has the words "IMPORTANT - INVOICE ENCLOSED" in red letters.

Disgusting.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Has Ford made any kind of a statement about the matter?

[Jude]

Premier Doug Ford's office still silent as police consider investigation into letters

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It would help if I actually looked at the link you posted, eh? (I read the first article, but hadn't read the second one when I posted before.)

[Inanna]

Pathetic.

[Túrin Turambar]

I have no idea how they (whoever was behind it) thought they'd get away with it.

[Sunsilver]

Here's a link. And just to clarify, the upcoming election is a FEDERAL election, not provincial. It will take place September 20th, 2021. However, the Ontario branch of the PC party was the one responsible for the letters.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ ... -1.6144899

I decided long ago that I wasn't going to vote for the Conservatives in the federal election. The new party leader is a nobody, and the party can't even decide if climate change is real!

At least Trudeau cares about it, and stepped in to help a local nursery when the provincial government cancelled their tree planting program, leaving Somerville Nurseries stuck with millions of seedlings it no longer had a use for!

https://www.simcoe.com/news-story/94309 ... e-program/

[Jude]

And he just won another majority in yesterday's provincial election.

Way to go, Ontario.

[Sunsilver]

Not happy about this. He wants to privatize health care, and has proposed a mega highway, the 413, and has allowed all his buddies to buy up land along the proposed route.

He is also not protecting green space and wildlife.

Unfortunately, he did not face very strong opposition in the election. The Liberal candidate lost his seat in the previous election, the 2018 election, and was unable to regain it in the current election.

[Jude]

I'm not sure if anyone outside of Canada is following this, so:

How developers influenced the Ford government to open up their Greenbelt land for housing

This is a huge scandal in Ontario since the Auditor General's report came out last week. There have been calls for Ford's resignation, but he's not going to, because he has no shame.

[Sunsilver]

Yep, just like I said above!