Mere weeks from the Ontario election, I’m watching with some trepidation as Doug continues to promise tax cuts to people who don’t need them. Sure, everyone wants to pay less tax. That’s a given. But how about what we get for those taxes? Are people prepared to give up the things we very often take for granted?

The 407 highway has been lambasted for the fees it charges. Imagine how much you would have to pony up every day if you had to pay tolls on all the roads you use to get from here to there. Won’t happen, you say. Well, if we don’t pay taxes sufficient to cover road costs, it’ll be the only option to finance road-works.

Send your kids to school? (Went to school yourself?) How would you manage $20,000 a year per child from kindergarten to the end of high school? Have a spare $280,000 per child, because that’s what it will cost you. And then there’s college and university.

Want to see the same shitty medical care system in Canada as they have in the U.S.? While countries around the world have recognized that medical care on the public purse-strings is the way to go (the U.S. is still a holdout), Doug believes a two-tier system is right for Ontario. If you don’t like paying for prescriptions and dental care, how do you feel about forking out for every visit to the doctor, to the lab for tests, to the hospital for procedures?

Here’s where ON currently spends the money it collects:

Source: Maclean’s Magazine,  by David Thomas, Mar 28, 2018

Like most people in Ontario, I am concerned about the debt. With Ontario showing a very strong performance economically, this should be when we’re paying that shit down. But unlike those who think that tax cuts to corporations and those making more than $100,000 are going to help cut our deficit and deal with our debt, my question is, “How?” How will Doug cut taxes AND reduce our debt? Where will the money come from? Will he turn on his round heels yet again and sell off The Greenbelt? Sure he says “no” now, but what about when he realizes (because he has no frickin’ idea) what it costs to run the province.

Here’s where ON get’s it’s money:    Same source

We already have the lowest corporate tax rates in Canada.

And Ontario’s personal income tax rate is one of the lowest in the country. (Those two things are most likely why we are running deficits and building debt.)

So we’re going to cut those taxes?

And then there’s the whole “social conservative” thing, which is code for “Christian White People Are The Best.” The homophobic alt-right has a firm grip on Doug. They won him the leadership on the OPC party and you betcha they’ll get what they want: no sex-education curriculum, more hate-talk against the LGBTQ2 community, women’s right to choose not being protected.

Doug has already indicated he’s all for carding; POC and Indigenous people are gonna have to watch their Ps and Qs. As if life isn’t already tough enough being a person of colour or indigenous in a country where racism will roar if we let it. Doug also believes in the “free-market” – capitalism run amok – so you can kiss rent control and publicly funded transportation goodbye.

I am a little a’feard, I won’t lie. Doug in charge gives me the willies.  He is so Trump-like that I’m not sure why people can’t see what he’s up to. And he likes to play fast and loose with the truth:

DOUG: “Then we look at Ontario, three hundred thousand jobs have been lost.”

FACT: Since 2014, employment in manufacturing has grown in Ontario

DOUG: “We’re being burdened by the highest hydro rates in North America.:

FACT:Figures showthat Toronto and Ottawa have higher electricity costs than cities like Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg and Houston, but prices are lower than in New York City, Boston and San Francisco for commercial and residential customers.

DOUG: the PC Party is going to “turn this province around” and make it “the most prosperous region in North America.”

FACT: Gross domestic product of Canada’s largest provincial economy exceeds that of G20 nations Saudi Arabia and Turkey, making it the world’s 17th largest economy last year, according to data gleaned from the International Monetary Fund.

I was speaking with a neighbour last week about the blue sign on her lawn. I asked if there was anything I could say that would get her to not vote PC. Her response: “I don’t like Doug Ford but I’ve always voted Conservative.” Oy!

I don’t want to see what happened in the U.S. happen here in Ontario: friends and family turning against each other because of their political opinions. But when it comes to Doug, Imma draw a line in the sand. Anyone who supports that bigoted buffoon is no friend of mine because anyone who puts a blue sign on their lawn this election is clearly stating that:

1. They don’t support LGBTQ2s

2. They don’t want POC in their communities (let’s card ’em)

3. They think rent control, transportation & minimum wage increases are dumb

4. They don’t believe women have the right to choose

5. They are for a tax cut for the richest while the poorest fend for themselves

6. They are racist, bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic

7. They are selfish: Me before We, I’m-OK-Jack, screw poor people