It’s hard not to wonder why, according to Premier Doug Ford and Ontario’s governing Conservatives, no “consultation” is required when implementing policy – except for changes to the health curriculum in the province’s school system.
Scrap the existing carbon cap and trade deal? Consultation? Don’t even need a costing. Just scrap it.
Drop the legal minimum price of beer to a buck? What do brewers think? Health officials? Police? Who cares? Buck a beer makes a great slogan, even if no beer was actually being sold at the previous minimum price of $1.25.
Legal cannabis sales should be handled through the private sector? Hey, who would know better than Doug Ford? No need to hash that one out.
Cut the number of Toronto City councillors in the middle of an election? Apparently the fact that no citizens expressed a desire for “more politicians” directly to the premier during the recent election campaign passes for consultation here. In fact, in this case, the government has ignored a four-year, $800,000 consultation process known as the Toronto Ward Boundary Review, which recommended an increase of three councillors, not a 50 per cent decrease. Did we elect Doug Ford or Thanos? (Yeah, pretty geeky reference, but when will I ever get another chance?)
While defending the government’s decision to not even hold committee hearings or hear from the public on the latter issue, government house leader Todd Smith echoed the premier’s earlier position on similar matters, indicating the party had recently won a majority government.
“What’s democratic is on June 7 the people of Ontario spoke loud and clear, and they made a clear choice,” Smith said. “They picked Premier Doug Ford and a PC government.”
Much like the previous government had a majority when they signed a contract for the cap and trade deal with two other jurisdictions.
The Liberals also had a majority government when they made changes to the now 20-year-old health curriculum, which Ford and company are bringing back this fall without, by the way, any consultation beyond election results.
Under the previous government, the Ministry of Education undertook a direct survey of approximately 4,000 parents, interviews with 2,400 educators and other stakeholders, an online survey and 26 face-to-face regional consultation sessions with a total of 700 students and gathered input from police, academics, Children’s Aid Societies, various health agencies and the Institute for Catholic Education.
But Ford and company will eventually implement a new curriculum after a better consultation process.
Why would you doubt it?
