Doug Ford was in our neck of the woods last week, celebrating "a buck a beer." He was also greeted by protesters with signs decrying his decision to shut down our local wind farm and the Basic Income Program. For Ford and his supporters, there used to be a Golden Age. It was when I graduated from university -- fifty years ago.
Back then, when we'd walk into a drinking establishment in Montreal or the Eastern Townships and order "Un Cinquante," the bottle would cost something like a buck. Frankly, I can't recall precisely what the price was. But that was fifty years ago.
And that's the point. Ford wants to turn back the clock fifty years. Nathalie Des Rosiers writes:
Populist politicians use sentimental yearnings for times past to strike a chord with people who are unsure about how to confront today’s intricate problems. Voters are discouraged by complexities and fearful about the future. The past seems like a safer place to be.
Ford’s summer has been about cancelling contracts he did not like (wind turbines), cancelling elections he did not like (Toronto’s municipal election and some regional election), cancelling a curriculum he did not like (sex-ed), cancelling programs he did not like (cap-and-trade and basic income). On the positive side, all he has produced is cheap beer on Labour Day.
Maybe after Labour Day we will learn how he plans to tackle important issues like economic development, poverty reduction and climate change. But don’t count on it.
We live in a time of massive change. The Digital Revolution -- like the Industrial Revolution -- has turned the world upside down. But, ultimately, we'll have to adjust to the New World -- whether we like it or not.
William Faulkner wrote a little short story with the title "A Rose For Emily." It's about a southern belle who is jilted by a man who promised to marry her. At the end of the story, the reader discovers that she killed her lover and has slept with his remains for decades. The ending both shocks and turns your stomach. Rob Ford generates the same reactions among many of us.
Living in Ford's world is like sleeping with the dead.
Image: Book That Grow
6 comments:
Your 'label' for this post says it all Owen, I suspect you will have much need to reuse it over the next 4 years (I cringe as I type FOUR years!)
Yup.
Yup, Danneau. We seem to be cursed by more than our fair share of politicians like Ford.
It's obvious that Ford wants to go back in time, Rural. But there's something creepy about the way the man proposes to do it.
There's one thing I guarantee Ford won't set back the clock on: taxes. Somehow, I don't see him wistfully pining for the personal and corporate tax rates of the 70s, which gave us much of the public infrastructure we still rely on. Pity.
Cap
Quite true, Cap. If there is one thing conservatives stand for it's lower taxes -- even as infrastructure crumbles.
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