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27° Partly CloudyRe: Ford’s Dystopian Dreams (Editorial, July 1). I was both taken aback and moved by Chris Fanning’s editorial this week regarding Premier Doug Ford’s government advertising campaign, which panders to the hardliners in life.
The editorial felt like a movie. Chris’s description of his dream-consciousness activating the reality presented in one of these black and white ads reminded me of old black and white movies. I had looked at the clock on the wall in one ad: in films, the clock is always ticking towards midnight, when a reprieve could occur…but doesn’t.
At exactly 12am, the executioners inject a death drug, or the switch is pulled to electrocute the prisoner, while the audience, people beyond the glass, watch a deliberate killing of a human being.
An ominous movement towards inhumanity is exposed in these ads. I am very grateful to read an editorial elucidating this undermining of Canadian society. It is a personal smack because our tax dollars fund the ads, while we have no say…except on voting day.
Barbara Dahlman, Prince Edward County
Re: Boys Club (Editorial, June 24. Thank you for a very timely and revealing editorial. Does this growing community really think a salary near the poverty line is going to attract the best talent for council positions? I think not. Perhaps the editorial should have been entitled, “You Get What You Pay For.” With these positions being considered full time, the County must up the ante or the best people just won’t be interested.
Peter J. Duffin, Picton
Re: Sparks Fly over Council Pay (News, June 17). There is more to worry about at Shire Hall than that the present low pay is “deterring potential candidates from running for Council.”
A bigger deterrent is that you have to be able-bodied to get into the building in the first place. So, if you want to run for Council, and you get elected, you won’t be able to get to Council meetings unless you are willing to use a ramp that doesn’t meet Code, or use an elevator which is designed for goods, not people.
If you can use the front steps, those with severe arthritis have pointed out that the very top step, at the doorway, is too steep and difficult to navigate. Disabled parking spots are at the very back of the lot and lighting is poor.
There is no closed-captioning during Council meetings for those with hearing issues (you haveto wait for the YouTube version the next day). If there is extra money that can be used for pay increases for Councillors, my vote would be to use funds to make our government headquarters totally accessible.
When there is true equality of access to Shire Hall, perhaps other ways people are held back from running, such as pay levels, or needing paid time off work to attend council meetings, can be considered.
It’s 2026 and time to fix the lack of equality of access to Shire Hall.
Irene Harris, Picton
Re: Ford’s Dystopian Dreams (Editorial, July 1). I am amazed at Ford’s continuing, flagrant misuse of taxpayer dollars on propaganda. Or should I say, on fear mongering. And the ads are everywhere. Even on the limited-advertising radio stations to which we listen.
I have two particular notes of praise for calling out the Government of Ontario on this. First, mentioning Leni Riefenstahl. I had to remind myself about her: she was a filmmaker who, though escaping prosecution for war crimes, was an apologist /propagandist for the Nazis. The mention underscores the outrage we should all be feeling at our tax dollars going toward such junk messaging.
Second, I applaud the front-end acknowledgment in the article about how lucrative the ad campaign is for the Gazette. But you need to be absolutely unequivocal. Casual readers need to understand clearly that, while the Gazette accepts and cannot afFORD (sorry for the pun) not to carry such advertising, as your editorial shows, the campaign’s substance is egregious and a misuse of taxpayer dollars.
JC Sulzenko, South Marysburgh
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