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‘Form’ over ‘substance’

April 8, 2018   ·   0 Comments

Your front page story in the March 15 issue, ‘Mayor Williams calls for Ford-led PCs to oust Liberals’, confirms that today’s politics and politicians are about ‘form’ over ‘substance’.

What I mean by this is elected officials and candidates run on populism as a way to get elected. This ego-centric approach bandaids symptoms and does not provide a sustainable solution. It does not address the lack of willingness to make tough decisions needed to adapt to the social, human, economic and political changing needs, we face on a daily basis.

Let me give you a few examples from the article. First, Williams states – ‘I strongly feel he (Ford) brings a new direction and new vision to Ontario politics that is very much needed’. Do we even know what Ford’s ‘vision’ is? We know what Ford is against – carbon tax, Ontario’s sex education curriculum and raising the minimum wage. Populous rhetoric, like this, are media sound bites and play well with unhappy and angry voters. This is form. But…what is Ford for? What is his plan to do what Williams ‘strongly feels is very much needed’ and only Ford can deliver?  This … is substance!

Ford told local residents – ‘we will beat down the doors and announce that Ontario is once again open for business.’ Again, form and not substance. Ontario open for business is nothing more than a campaign slogan. And a bad one at that.

Next, Sylvia Jones’ comment – ‘Doug has energised the PC Party’s grassroots based on a call for respect for the taxpayers’. I feel like the grandmother from the 1980s Wendy’s commercial – ‘where’s the beef’?  And if we’re talking about respect, please don’t disrespect me by referring to me as a taxpayer only. I am more than a taxpayer. I am a citizen. Furthermore, need I remind you that I am one of the 14,193,384 people living in Ontario, who you serve at our pleasure.

Additionally, Williams states that Ford will ‘listen’. Listening is good. But I have yet to meet a politician that does it well. Active listening is being open and willing to come out a slightly different person. So far there is very little indication that Ford is a willing participant and practitioner of this form of listening. I lived in Toronto when Rob Ford, Doug’s brother, was the Mayor and Ford was a city councillor. There was very little listening going on there. Unless you consider shouting, using foul language and bullying people an active-listening practice.

The ‘P’ in PC stands for ‘progressive’ yet the Party elected a man over three women running for the PC Leadership. Ontarians need a leader who is willing to deep-dive collaborate with others to find answers and solutions to challenges we have never experienced. We don’t need someone with form. We need a leader with substance to deliver on a bold vision. Not a populist who is looking to the past to find our future.

While today’s world is not easy it is also full of endless possibilities for those willing to take a chance, work hard and be patient. We owe it to ourselves to step back and look at the big picture and ask ourselves – what is the right thing to do for all of Ontario and Canada? We owe it to ourselves to dig deep, past the form, to understand what really matters.

Progressive substance is about having the courage to make unpopular and hard decisions that will move our province and country forward. It’s not about placating voters with idle promises hoping for the return of a past that will never be again.

Susan Radojevic

Mono resident

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