To the Editor,
It’s been over a week since Ontario’s auditor general released her report into the Ford government’s decision to open up the greenbelt.
The report showed us many things that should anger us all, including: 1) A handful of landlords are expected to see their property value increase by $8.3B dollars. One family, the De Gasperis Family, owns 58 per cent of this land, is a friend of Ford, and a long time PC donor; 2) Progressive Conservative party staff members not only used their personal emails to do government business with lobbyists, but regularly deleted emails. The Liberal Staff member who deleted emails related to the Liberal gas plant scandal was jailed for four months. Ford’s people get to keep their jobs and are told to do better. 3) When seeking public consultations, over 35,000 comments from Ontarians advocating against the greenbelt carve up were ignored 4) Doug Ford and the PC keep parroting “we’re doing this to address the housing crisis,” when in reality it’s been confirmed that this land won’t be shovel-ready for years, will cost billions to develop, and houses could be 25 years away.
In Ontario, only 18 per cent of eligible voters voted for the PCs in 2022. In Bay of Quinte, only 22.5 per cent of eligible voters voted for Todd Smith. Doug Ford and his team are doing whatever they want, because they know folks are losing interest in politics. Folks are exhausted after years of begging for help and being ignored, and we’ve become numb to the lying and gaslighting from this government. Ford and his MPPs are not our friends. They never have been. Their friends are powerful, with deep pockets, who laugh in the face of ethics and conflicts of interests.
The billionaires of Ontario have Ford’s ear and he is executing their agenda. The behaviours from the Ford government make it evident that they don’t care about the 99 per cent. I’m angry that Doug Ford says he cares about us, but has proven over and over again that he actually works for the super rich who can buy their way out of problems the rest of us cannot.
I cannot sit back silently while the Ford government decimates the environment, health care, and our education system, while the Provincial Bay of Quinte representative chooses to empower Ford instead of fight for us. I hope others join me in making much needed noise.
Alison Kelly
Athol