[All] We Can't Afford Ford by Susan K

[Susan Koswan]

Hi GRENers,

I have meticulously referenced all of the below to be accurate. Please 
circulate as you see fit.

Best,

Susan K

We Can't Afford Ford

Susan Koswan

Hard as it is to look away from the train wreck in US politics, we must 
focus on our own in Ontario. By wasting billions on cancelled contracts, 
legal fees and more, he is laying waste to environmental protection, 
climate action, and a healthier and better educated population.

A sample of why Ford has to go on February 27:

*Economy*

·$1.4 billion to cancel beer store contracts and expand beer and liquor 
sales into a larger marketplace

·$230 million to cancel clean energy contracts

·$1.1 billion lost revenue cancelling vehicle license fees

·$2 billion dollars plus on Ontario Place redevelopment plans that were 
not “fair, transparent or accountable”

·$4.3 million in legal fees plus $4.1 billion in backpay for Bill 124, 
ruled unconstitutional by the Ontario Court of Appeal

·$103.5 million on advertising, $63.7 million of which was ads to 
“promote the governing party.”

·$19.4 billion - the largest contingency fund in Ontario history

·$145.3 million plus for this election

·$3 billion for the $200/person “rebate” of our own money

*Ontario Healthcare*

·“Hallway medicine” increased, now averaging 2000/people/day in the province

·400 emergency room closures in 2022/23

·"Since Doug Ford took office in 2018, the number of nurses leaving the 
system has increased every year…For every 10 nurses this government says 
have been hired, six have left." Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) 
Provincial President Erin Ariss 
<https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ontario-nurses-association-celebrates-second-bill-124-legal-victory-as-ford-government-loses-its-appeal-of-earlier-decision-815337369.html>, 
RN

·Hospital and long term care staffing shortages met by increased 
reliance on for-profit agencies at double and sometimes triple the cost 
with no salary cap

·Long term care lacking “fully effective systems and procedures to 
ensure that residents receive quality care and services.”

*Environment*

·Repealed all protective environmental and climate change legislation

·Violated Environmental Bill of Rights multiple times

·Excessive use of Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZOs) ignoring local 
planning and environmental assessments

·Tripled <https://www.cleanairalliance.org/campaigns/gas/>energy from 
polluting gas-power plants since 2017

·Financially backing the contentious Wilmot land assembly

·$48 million to remove Toronto bike lanes

*Housing*

·Legislative changes that deepened the housing crisis with increased 
urban sprawl, destruction of farmland, new highway plans, and 
unaffordable rent due to multiple loopholes 
<https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Ontario%20Office/2024/04/rent-control-in-ontario.pdf>**

·Greenbelt scandal, still under RCMP investigation. “Owners of the 15 
land sites removed from the Greenbelt could ultimately see a collective 
$8.3 billion increase to the value of their properties.”

*Education*

·“Public schools are receiving $1,500 less per student compared to 2018, 
when the Ford government was first elected.” Elementary Teachers 
Federation of Ontario 
<https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/media-releases/fall-economic-statement-2024>**

*Culture*

·Shuttered and demolished Ontario Science Centre against government’s 
own expert advice 
<https://www.canadianarchitect.com/the-true-cost-of-repairing-the-ontario-science-centre-is-much-much-less-than-what-infrastructure-ontario-has-been-saying-and-the-proof-is-in-its-own-documents/> 


·Privatizing Ontario Place, including clearcutting 800 trees, and 
threatening and displacing local wildlife and ecosystems with sewage 
overflow plan

On top of it, Doug Ford is “100 percent happy” about Trump getting 
re-elected, and trash-talking how electing Liberal Bonnie Crombie or NDP 
Marit Styles would be “an absolute disaster.”

We can’t ignore what the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario 
<https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arbyyear/ar2024.html>, 
Financial Accountability Office of Ontario 
<https://fao-on.org/en/report/2024-25-expenditure-monitor-q2/>, Ontario 
Federation of Labour’s Ford Tracker <https://ofl.ca/ford-tracker/>, 
Registered Nurses Association of Ontario’s Policy and Political Action 
<https://rnao.ca/policy>, and Environmental Defence Protecting Ontario’s 
Environment 
<https://environmentaldefence.ca/campaign/protecting-ontarios-environment/>are 
telling us.

If any or all of this resonates with you, take the pledge—both 
provincial and federal—with Cooperate for Canada 
<https://cooperateforcanada.ca/voting-pledges/>to find the Unity 
Candidate in your riding.
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