One of the things I enjoy about writing a weekly opinion piece for Doppler is the comments I get about my Listen Up articles. Some readers disagree with what I have written, and I like that. Of course, I like the ones who agree with me too! But I enjoy the back and forth in most instances and believe it is important for people to have a venue to express their viewpoint on issues of the day.
A couple of weeks ago, one person commented on Listen Up, “I find Hugh’s views very partisan at times, (Conservatives good) (Liberals bad)”.
Another commented this past week, “Hugh identifies as a Conservative, as do I”.
In terms of identifying as a Conservative, both these people are right. I do. Many of us come with some kind of political prejudice based on our own set of values and I am no exception to that. But as for the concept of Conservatives good, and Liberals bad, I do not necessarily subscribe to that.
In fact, I know of very few people (Donald Trump being a huge exception) who serve in public life who are not there for the right reasons. Over the years, I have become friends with many people whose political views are different from mine. I have learned from them, and I hope, at least on occasion, they have learned from me.
One particular relationship I have enjoyed over the years is with Bob Rae, hardly a Conservative and now Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations appointed by the Trudeau Liberal government. In my view, he is a statesman who has served Canada well. I still have a picture of him which he signed shortly after his NDP government was defeated by the Harris Conservatives which reads, “To Hugh, who paved the way to my retirement!”
Those were the days when party politics were much less divisive, where people with opposing views could still respect each other and sometimes even develop friendships. It is a pity and a disservice to Canada that those days are, for the most part, gone.
I have a problem with boot lickers in any political party, those who believe the particular party they support can do no wrong and any other political entity can do nothing right; an attitude that says if you are not with me, you are against me and are therefore my enemy. We are seeing these days how that attitude is affecting the political landscape in the United States, and we never want to see that in Canada. The hard facts are that no political party is perfect.
That is why I am not afraid to speak up when I believe the political party I would otherwise support is on the wrong track. And yes, just as there are within the Liberal Party, there are examples of that in the Conservative Party as well.
I like Doug Ford. I think on balance he is a good Premier. But he made a huge mistake on the whole Greenbelt issue. He and his handlers should have known what the backlash would be.
A more recent error is his apparent backtracking on his commitment to dissolve Peel Region. He is likely right to reconsider given what now appears to be a huge increase in costs to taxpayers and individual municipalities within the region, but it is a rookie mistake to make the announcement first and do the research afterward. He should know better and so should the advisors around him.
It is interesting though that despite missteps, polling shows that the Ford government has not slipped in support and remains out front. Many pundits believed their popularity would plummet, but it has not.
Doug Ford is a people person which makes it easier for sins to be forgiven. But you can only go to that well so many times, and with the election of Bonnie Crombie as the new Ontario Liberal leader, the Ford government will have to sharpen up on their homework if they want to maintain their lead.
In Ottawa, the federal Conservatives are riding high, well into double digits ahead of the governing Liberals. But, this is not necessarily because their leader is liked, as is the case in Ontario, but rather that the current Prime Minister is now largely disliked. And so, if the leadership in the Liberal Party changes before the next election, these polling numbers could change dramatically.
Federal Conservatives have spent a lot of time working on improving their image, and to a degree, it has had the effect they are looking for. As the polling shows, many Canadians who now do not support the Trudeau government are looking to the Conservatives as an alternative which puts them in a very comfortable position.
So why blow it with some of the antics of the past week or so? Everyone knows the Conservative Party is opposed to a carbon tax. But why use that as an excuse to vote against Free Trade legislation that can only be helpful to Ukraine, especially when polling again shows most Canadians strongly support Ukraine in the current war there?
What did the Conservatives have to gain? As journalist Andrew Coyne wrote, “Opposing the Ukrainian/Canada trade deal makes Conservatives look as silly as Liberals. Conservatives are spending valuable political capital for no discernable reason.”
In my view, all the Conservatives accomplished with this initiative was to give the Liberals weeks of talking points to the effect that Conservatives don’t support Ukraine when most Canadians do.
And then there was the filibustering on the government’s spending plans to protest the carbon tax that took place this week. What did that accomplish other than keeping parliamentarians up all night? Most Canadians would not see that as anything more than childish games. It’s like the Grinch, trying to steal Christmas. It does nothing to improve the Conservatives’ image.
And so, those are some of my concerns related to the Conservative Party at both the provincial and federal levels. I await the comments from some of my readers that in reality, I am a closet Liberal. I can assure you I am not.
I still identify as a Tory!
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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Doug Ford makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Search “Federal government introduces methane reduction strategy while Doug Ford ramps up natural gas.”
Cities are stopping him.
Search “This community just threw a wrench into Doug Ford’s plans for new gas plants”
“So why would the Ford government ramp up gas plants which are more expensive than wind and solar, increase climate pollution by 700 percent,… and put at risk $27 billion dollars in federal money coming to the province [under the Clean Energy Regulations],” Mike Schreiner,…leader of the Ontario Green Party,“
“It just makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.”
Ontario used to be 96% non-fossil fuel power.
Now we are down to 90% and dropping rapidly due to Ford’s meddling.
“Multiple studies have shown that the province can meet its power needs without building new gas plants, and that solar and wind power, as well as programs that reduce electricity demand through incentives and efficiency, are much cheaper in the long run.”
Short run as well.
Power demand in Ontario went down from 157 TWh to 132 TWh for 12 years 2005-2017 in spite of the population going up due to energy conservation programs.
Until Ford cancelled them all in 2018.
No sense whatsoever.
None.
Why would anyone build gas power plants in Ontario when the feds require them to be shut down by 2035?
“…even if the feds shut them down, the Ford government is promising they’ll continue to get paid.”
Typical.
Another waste of taxpayer dollars.
Talk about imperfect. Doug Ford makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Ford has been a disaster for Ontario. Particularly the environment.
Also attempting to destroy the Greenbelt, Science Centre and Ontario Place. So far.
None of that was in his campaign platform.
In fact he campaigned to protect the Greenbelt.
Backtracking on mistakes is a Doug Ford hallmark. Creating and repealing legislation willy nilly.
I’ve never seen anything like it.
Ford backtracks a lot.
One bad idea after another. CUPE with Bill 128, unreadable license plates, Autism and education funding cuts, carding, playgrounds etc etc.
Headline: Doug Ford’s Government Has Reversed 9 Major Policies.
Ford spends more time backtracking than going forward. Most people would just try going the opposite direction. Not Ford.
He already backtracked on his Greenbelt mistake after an investigation found major errors.
He needs to backtrack on his Science Centre and Ontario Place Spa mistakes after investigations have also found major errors there.
So full of it you could literally see his eyes turning brown during the Science Centre destruction announcement. Nothing he said about it is true.
Has Ford ever been inside the Science Centre? The displays would baffle him.
Ford has no use for science or facts or truth for that matter.
Search “Ontario seeks more wind, solar power after cancelling green energy deals.”
More backtracking.
Ford had cancelled 750 green energy projects and wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Those projects would have been completed and producing clean power by now.
Solar and wind are the cheapest sources of power.
But Doug Ford is also trying to build dirty nat gas plants.
Gas is the most expensive source of power.