Commentary

Voting is a precious right 

February 20, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

If Doug Ford is elected in the snap election he called, next week on Feb. 27, he will see to it that construction of Highway 413 begins its planned route to cross, in part, Gore Road and Airport Road. With an unconfirmed budget of $10 billion and a loose projection of 10 years to complete, the alternative of an almost empty 407 stands by to carry the load of trucks in need of suitable routes.

Doug Ford promises to deliver a tunnel under the 401, tentatively, with a budget of $60 billion. He also has plans to begin mining in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire, once again without attention to the very serious environmental consequences of such an enterprise. He repeated his plans several times during the candidates’ debate in North Bay.

You know, they used to encourage young men to go to war with the idea of protecting our freedoms to vote and speak our minds (without imposing on the rights of others) – of protecting our way of life and our sovereignty. It makes me wonder what excuse has been used in the last few decades to convince more young men, blinded to all but their dedication to the regime that has won them over, mind and heart, to dash into the front to kill people with whom they might have been pleased to share a coffee, not that long ago. I am not here to talk about Ukraine…

However, I want to talk about voting because, somehow it is more a precious commodity than ever. There are many regimes with restricted rules about who and how people can vote. Just in the last few years, to the south of us, where democracy is praised as particularly given in that nation, as an exclusive and essential right, yet, there are new laws throughout the land, taking the vote away from people who are not able to conform to new identification requirements – no stated ID, no vote.

There are countries on this globe where women cannot vote and the regulations to see to it that those who are allowed to vote are directing their votes to the appropriate person are forceful.

Democracy is thousands of years old – an integral emotional right, the balancing act that keeps a measure of sanity within a community, a nation; a time of accountability to the souls casting their votes, placing their trust.

Here in Ontario, on June 2, 2022 – quite recently as these things are counted, there was the lowest voter turnout, 44.06 per cent, to set a dismal, even shocking record. For whatever reasons it seemed that neither Horwath leading the NDP nor Liberal leader Del Duca really wanted the job of Premier of Ontario; it seemed they actually wanted to be mayors.

Indeed, after the election of 2022, Horwath did become the mayor of Hamilton and Del Duca went on to be mayor of Vaughan. They had conducted wasteful battles with each other and left Doug Ford, carefully saying nothing but, “jobs, jobs, jobs,” and winning a majority election.

Voters lost interest in the nonsense and did not bother to vote, showing the most profound contempt for our precious democracy, which the candidates had also treated with such deep disrespect.

Opposition leaders this election are each showing very much that each of them wants to be Premier; of the three major opposition parties, NDP, Liberals and Green Party, they are clear that they will not build the 413 and that they will undo much of the harm, as they see it and agree, on Ford’s environmental policies, his handling of the health care system, and his choices of how to spend provincial funds, apparently. For example, choosing to spend more than $2 billion, according to the Auditor General, on a proposed remake of Ontario Place over improving highways in the North. Just to mention a few objections to the way Doug Ford has run the Province.

Snap election or not, all of us must vote in this very important election. The Liberals, NDP and the Green Party oppose the construction of Highway 413 and its ruination of the local wildlife, waterways and farmland. The three parties promote ambitious plans to build sustainable and affordable housing, in part, by legalizing fourplexes and increasing density around transit.

Check out the parties and the candidates yourselves: the Greens, NDP, Liberals and Conservatives, as well as the Ontario Moderate Party and the New Blue Party, all have candidates running in the Dufferin–Caledon riding.

Jeffrey Halsall is a late entry as an Independent candidate. Send emails to ask your questions. You can vote in advance now by checking Advanced Voting at Elections Ontario.

People who claim they have no interest in politics can see the wreckage that comes when the electorate is not well-informed and not involved in who rules their own front yards. When we vote, we claim responsibility for our own property and cost of living – politics affects everything about our lives, our children’s lives. It is a charge we have taken on since the ancient Greeks were inventing public policy but we have seen how it can be lost if the population is not watchful and strong.

To simply complain about poor leadership by the person who refused to vote is as ludicrous as not checking on any other really important decision we ever make.

Please take this election seriously.

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