The Toronto Star ran an expose on the Ontario Tire Recycling Commission and the outlandish spending going on amongst its executive committee. Outrage practically dripped off the page. The author could barely contain his disgust. Unfortunately that feeling never took hold amongst Ontarians—for them this sort of excessive entitlement is par for the course. Citizens have become inured to government waste and deceit. It has become so common that we expect it.
The question isn’t when the Provincial Liberals will do something immoral and/or illegal, but rather how much Ontario taxpayers will have to fork over in order to fix it. Incompetence of this sort—not just the sheer amount, but the fact that it is not getting any better—has never before been seen in Canadian politics. Trust the Ontario Liberal Party to reach these unprecedented levels. They’ve already plumbed the moral depths and run up record spending (not to mention a debt on par with a Third World nation!). They’ve spawned scandal after scandal, lied, backtracked, and covered up. Worse still they even cheated to win in Sudbury (allegedly—justice moves suspiciously slow when grinding the governing Grits). But despite it all they keep getting re-elected.
It doesn’t make sense. Are the people of Ontario truly that gullible? That stupid! How else can you explain the provincial Liberals continued success?
Me, I blame ‘the Six.’ (That’s the fancy new hipster term for Toronto—referencing the city’s ‘416’ area code.) The GTA keeps voting these charlatans into office. Who can blame them? The bribes—sorry, election promises—just keep coming. And keep getting bigger. Billions of dollars are earmarked for Hogtown every election.
Here in the North we’re a little smarter. For the most part a map of the province’s electoral preferences shows a big Orange cap on the top. Of course the NDP could sweep every riding north of Parry Sound and it wouldn’t matter. Northern Ontario has eleven ridings—eleven out of one hundred and twenty-two! (That includes the 15 new ridings just created—14 in Toronto alone!)
Some argue that the province should be split, with the north forming its own independent political entity. People scoff, but it’s not that crazy an idea.
How is it fair that our regions' future is decided by officials we didn’t even vote for? (Many of who have never been further north than their vacation home in the Muskokas!) Big city folk with no understanding of our realities, people whose knowledge of mining stops at the Toronto Stock Exchange or whose image of hunters begins and ends with Bambi! Mining, a major employer in the North faces increasingly harsh—and senseless—restrictions. Even Ontario’s once-thriving pulp and lumber industries aren’t immune, having been felled by tree-loving Toronto politicians. It takes a special kind of ignorance to value every single tree unaware that the majority of northern Ontario is covered in forest!
This argument is nothing new. Rumblings have echoed throughout the North before and will again. Nothing will come from it. Our region is just a golden goose to provincial politicians. They raid the resources, steal our taxes, and then throw the North a bone or two.
Maybe the appointment of a Toronto area MPP as head of FedNor and his subsequent diversion of funds meant for the North to his cushy riding will finally spark outrage. But don’t hold your breath. Citizens should have long since taken to the streets with torches and pitchforks in hand. The sad truth is the Ontario Liberals have ruined this province and no one cares—not the politicians and not the citizens. And no one will care until the bills come due…and then there will be hell to pay.
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