By Pepper Parr
June 14th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
We get about eight, sometimes as many as a dozen media releases announcing what different Members of Cabinet were doing in the way of public statements.
Anything would justify an announcement – it was difficult to keep up at times.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford
Today, the government invoked the “Notwithstanding Clauses in the provincial governance protocols that we have.
The Gazette re-published an opinion published by the Globe and Mail this morning.
We can add to that the statement put out by the Leader of the Liberal Party in Ontario, Steve Del Duca, who does not yet have a seat in the Legislature. He was the Minister of Transportation in the Wynne government that went down to a disastrous defeat during the last provincial election when the Liberals were left with seven seats.
Many feel that the use of the Not Withstanding clause was the first step in a plan to call an early election once the pandemic recovery is in its third stage and the province is close to getting back to whatever the new normal is going to be.
Del Duca issued a statement today saying:
“Today is a sad day for our democracy. In the cover of darkness, Doug Ford has rammed through legislation that will undermine our right to free speech by silencing his critics.
Doug Ford’s power grab is nothing more than an attempt to save his own political skin while changing the rules of an election he’s already running in.
Make no mistake, Doug Ford is silencing the frontline heroes — the nurses, doctors, teachers, essential workers, and personal support workers who are speaking out against his government.
This didn’t have to be today’s reality. In 2018, Ontario Liberals fought to prevent the routine use of the Notwithstanding Clause in Ontario’s governance, but with the help of Andrea Horwath and the NDP, Doug Ford’s majority shut down our motion.”
This is a black day for everyone in the province.
Related editorial item:
It is time we find a way to get rid of our mini-me Trump. Let’s bombard him with emails and letters telling him exactly what we think of his latest stunt. I’ve already sent mine. Let’s make sure his government is not re-elected when the time comes.