Uniting progressives to defeat Doug Ford, Hepburn, March 22

Here we go again. In 1995, unpopular NDP and Liberal leaders resulted in the election of Mike Harris, who promptly cancelled most Toronto transit expansion plans and filled in the Eglinton subway. This set back our transit infrastructure by a generation.

In 2010, an unpopular opponent resulted in the election of Rob Ford, who promptly cancelled Transit City. Eight years later, there are no shovels in the ground for a Scarborough subway or LRT, and the Finch West and Sheppard East LRTs have been delayed by almost a decade.

Now an unpopular Liberal government will most likely result in the election of Doug Ford, who plans to slash government revenues. The only way to do that and keep the lights on is to cancel social programs and capital spending, and five will get you 10 that the subway-obsessed Ford will scrap the Finch West and Sheppard East LRTs. But as Ontario won’t have the money to build subways on those routes, how many more years will we will be stuck with buses? Twenty? Twenty-five?

The people of Ontario and Toronto keep electing leaders who promise transit infrastructure, and then elect new leaders who cancel it. As a result of this game of transit ping-pong, the GTA has a system that is decades out of date. Mr. Ford, it’s your serve.

Jason Shron, Thornhill

Does columnist Bob Hepburn not understand that Doug Ford and the Conservatives are heading for a majority government because many voters do not support the progressive policies he believes in?

There are a large number of people in this province and throughout the world who are sick and tired of being told by the progressive elite what they should think, who they should have the right to hear and how the world should operate. Whether you like it or not, I am afraid it is farewell to Kathleen Wynne, Andrea Horwath and soon, I expect, Justin Trudeau.

Greg Sheehan, Mississauga

With Canadians mired in a 19th-century, first-past-the-post electoral system, the outcome of the provincial election is a foregone conclusion, based on the current polls. Unless the Liberals and the NDP agree to field a single candidate in each riding, the progressive vote will be split, thus enabling the reactionary Tories to secure victory.

Must we reject the lessons of history, specifically those taught by both the Charge of the Light Brigade and Custer’s Last Stand, by rushing headlong into an election with a doomed strategy?

Given what’s at stake, surely the time is ripe for thinking and acting outside the box.

Peter D. Pellier, Oakville

Here we go again. Bob Hepburn calls for us to vote strategically June 7 to avoid a Doug Ford premiership. Don’t vote for the candidate of your choice but rather for the person most likely to defeat the Tory candidate in your riding. This breeds cynicism and it won’t work — and Hepburn, by his own admission, knows it.

What he should do is push for a better way, a way that allows people to vote for their choices. That way is proportional representation because it means parties will get the number of seats they deserve based on the number of votes they receive. We might not get a majority but we get something better: a government that consists of various voices that will have to co-operate to more fairly represent voters’ wishes.

Doug Ford professes to believe in fairness. Bob Hepburn should join him.

Geoff Rytell, Toronto

Bob Hepburn makes some fine points. He is absolutely correct that strategic voting rarely, if ever, works.

A large percentage of eligible Ontario voters do not turn up at the polls. The focus for the Liberals, NDP and Green parties should be to get out the vote. An increase of 5 per cent in voter turnout motivated by the thought of derailing Doug Ford and his policies (which do sound remarkably like the Mike Harris days) would likely be more than enough to defeat most PC candidates. If parties spend their energy and money on this, there may be a chance to defeat Ford.

Ontario cannot afford a four-year experiment with Ford as premier. Progressives, please get out and do your civic duty: vote. Young voters: please vote, or else reap the consequences and guilt of the Ford damage for much of your lifetime.

David Bourque, Collingwood, Ont.

As a fiscally responsible Liberal, I am disappointed to see Doug Ford fears being expressed that are, in my view, exaggerated, misplaced and unfair. Ford may not have extensive political experience or have had a distinguished career as a Toronto councillor, but unlike our provincial government, if he says he will balance the budget, he won’t mislead the public and do the opposite. Since when is that progressive?

What is progressive about hiking the minimum wage by 24 per cent in one year, resulting in job losses and hours cut for those it was intended to help?

What is progressive about subsidizing hydro and leaving the billion-dollar burden to millennials and their children?

I do not respect governments that try to buy votes with our tax money. Where did the Paul Martin Liberals disappear to?

The Doug Ford I know, like his brother Rob before him, will look out for the little guy. Fears of Armageddon are misplaced.

John F. Campbell, councillor, Ward 4 Etobicoke Centre, Toronto

The Star’s promotion of Doug Ford’s election campaign is getting a little tiresome! Every day a new article and picture of a smiling Ford, with extensive coverage in three sections of last Saturday’s paper.

Ford spouts slogans promoting his desire to overturn progressive policies and drag the province back to the Mike Harris era. Let’s see some balanced coverage of all parties. Challenge leaders to account for how their plans will be implemented. The Liberals and New Democrats are putting forward well-thought-out plans to move the province ahead, and I would like to see more in depth coverage of those ideas.

Teresa Porter, Newmarket

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