Another election...oh, goody....(that’s facetious...in case you’re not sure)...

We got official word today that there will be a spring election in Ontario.  A damp, cold, foggy day.

That’s called pathetic fallacy...where nature agrees with the general state of the narrative.

Typically, I like politics...as a spectator sport.  I have half a degree in political science...and a real degree in English which lets me pay my bills (and taxes...hold that thought). 

This, however, is silly.  And let me start by saying to all three major leaders – Ms. Wynne, Mr. Hudak, and Ms. Horvath – shame on all three of you.  And again, shame.  You can – and should have done better.  And you could have...but you just didn’t want to and the rest of us get to pay your piper. An election is not an inexpensive adventure, but that we will all pay for...again.

Here’s what I don’t want to hear about over the next few weeks...although I most certainly will here your respective sound bytes and spins:

• gas plants (remember the 407 – same nonsense, different political stripes),
• make-believe-jobs (you’re all for it...except you cut civil servants, which by the way are the only employees – short of your endless personal assistants – you actually have the power and ability to employ,
• what your respective competitors are doing wrong.

Could the three of you, please, pretend you have manners...and vision...and a half a lick of sense?

Would you be kind enough to tell me some useful things?  

As you all seem to be lost for the sense of the useful (and woefully, unable to answer a straight question that is not spun like so much cotton candy) here is what I’d like to know...for starters:

What are you prepared to do for farmers?   

You know, the folks who supply food?  For us... 
The folks who farm chickens and hogs, potatoes and eggs, who are losing their shirts with every hydro, gas, and feed increase.  
Begin your answer this way, 
“My [state your name or party] will help farmers in these ways...”

Editor’s note:  I am not a farmer...but I sure do like those folks....and I spend as much time as I can buying from them at farmers' markets.  Not showing up and giving speeches near them, but paying them cash money for what they produce....

So, about those drugs that aren’t on your formularies...like Avastin.

We CAN afford these things.  We CHOOSE not to do so.   

It’s not cheap – I get that – but neither are other things we choose to pay for...like Viagra (and its endless companion formulas)...and fertility treatments. I’m not saying we should or shouldn’t pay for those options...but we pay for a lot of things (LIKE NEEDLESS, EXPENSIVE ELECTIONS AND ADVERTISEMENTS) we might want to reconsider.   

Give me an option...like paying ten bucks more on my taxes...voluntarily...or give me a charitable enterprise to sponsor.

About jobs...real, not notional ones.  

 Like nurses...and steel workers...and manufacturing staff and systems people.  Make it possible for small employers...mid-sized enterprises...and big honkin’ firms to keep jobs here.  Make them WANT to do that.  My cable company has its call centre in my community.  Give them some sort of break.  Encourage that.

How about pharmaceutical firms?  My vet meds come from a compounding pharmacy who can’t always supply the prescriptions because the imported components are lousy.  Here’s your hash tag, all: #MAKEITHERE.  It’s not only pharma that applies to. 

About taxes...I paid mine, this week....

...without reservation or complaint.  My charitable donations to Food Banks, community organizations, hospices, and back to school knapsacks for needy kids knocked me down to a few hundred bucks, which I paid.  Happily.  Because I have access to ultrasounds, CAT scans, colleges, universities, roads and other things.  I should pay for those.  So should you.  Instead of another useless campaign.

I’m sure you are all nice people but I am not voting for any of you.   

I PAY for you...your benefits...your retirement plans.  The ones many of my neighbours don’t have...the kind I’m lucky to have because I have employers who are willing to offer these (and I kick in too).

Quit giving me marquis candidates who I wouldn’t know if I fell over them.  Give me someone who actually has lived and worked in my community...who pays taxes...like ME.  (And I don’t mind that.)

The bunch of you have just cost us all millions of dollars (likely more) because you are all behaving like schoolyard bullies.  Grow up and make it work.

I am not voting for any of your candidates this time because none of you can be trusted or respected.  And in case you think it’s lost on those of us who pay the freight, you are all the same.  And shame on you.  You can be better...you can do better...and we deserve better.

#maybenexttime