Dear Editor:
On May 31 of this year, the provincial government was faced with a critical vote: whether or not to extend its Emergency Powers to Dec. 1. It was passed by a majority vote of 36-22. That all sounds good until one does the math: 36 plus 22 does not equal 123 (the total number of MPPs able to vote on such matters). In fact the total number of votes is less than 1/2 the MPPs able to vote. This got me curious, so I acquired a list of MPPs and how they voted, I couldn’t have been more shocked!!
Sixty-five – yes, 65 – of our MPPs did not vote on this very important decision, that has seriously affected and will continue to seriously affect every person in Ontario until Dec. 1. My belief, and I hope is every Ontarian’s belief that we elect people to represent us who have the courage to stand up and make the tough choices especially when it comes to something as important as extending the government’s emergency powers.
I am a staunch supporter of conservative values, and will continue to support those values. When I first met my MPP Randy Pettapiece, it was a phone conversation when he was looking for support for his nomination as the Progressive Conservative candidate for Perth-Wellington. We struck up a good conversation that left me with a favourable impression. I supported him at our nomination meeting and he prevailed. During his first election (against John Wilkinson) I did all I could to help him prevail, and he demonstrated to me a huge amount of internal fortitude. He squeaked in by a very small margin. I considered it an honour and privilege to work with him (win or lose). I was privileged to be invited to his swearing in ceremony, which I attended.
With that kind of history, it seriously pains me to say that Randy Pettapiece was one of the 65 MPPs who did not vote. The decision either way was tough, really tough, but to cowardly not vote, that is inexcusable. Randy, if you are reading this, I want to publicly tell you I am hugely disappointed in your action. If you value my support, Randy, in the future, then I would expect you to act with the courage your office expects of you.
Randy Pettapiece is not the only one to make mention of: Doug Ford (Premier), Bill Walker (MPP Grey Bruce) are examples of two others we should be familiar with, who took the coward’s way out. Shame on all of you.
Wayne Baker,
Wellington North