Dear Lloyd,

I apologize for the length but you hit a real sore point with me. I work every day to fight against Doug Ford's constant attacks on the people of Ontario, and I help fund this fight too. I was born in Ontario and this is the first time I've felt it necessary to act to protect our province from ruin. I don't want to spend my time doing this. It's a drain on my time and pocketbook but worse, it takes a toll on my mental and physical health. Wasn't the pandemic enough cruelty for anyone's lifetime? We haven't suffered nearly enough for dictator Ford it seems! Even though we've had many wins, he seems unstoppable in the long-run and this deeply upsets me.

The problem is that Ford eliminates or alters good long-standing provincial laws every time he loses. So, it's become a very unfair battle for the average taxpayer even when the law is initially on our side. When Conservation Authorities got in the way of his urban sprawl plans, he dissolved their offices and removed their power to stop him, as a dictator would. When 'species at risk' got in the way, Ford declared himself the only authority on the worthiness of protecting any species, just like a dictator would do. I naively thought the laws of our (supposedly) democratic province, or country, would stop this attack on the protection of our province's life-protecting public resources. But but horrifyingly, this anti-democratic behavior has been allowed to continue in Ontario today. Why? How? Where is the law of democracy? Are we just Ford's puppets now? I have a much higher degree than Ford but am quite powerless to stop this empathy-lacking leader who clearly doesn't care about me or my family in ANY way.

And equally undemocratic, Ford has been allowed to create his own bullying agencies to halt any good progress we might make at the municipal planning level too. For example, few people may realize how he continues to threaten Ontario's Greenbelt with development proposals. Don't be fooled by Doug Ford's constant lies about 'not touching the Greenbelt.' His Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) overrides good municipal government planning decisions, and our city is under a disagreement with the OLT right now over a parcel of Greenbelt land in Ancaster Ontario. Ontario's Greenbelt is definitely still under attack by Doug Ford!

But how can this be possible when it's illegal for the OLT to overturn a municipal planning decision concerning lands inside the Greenbelt? I think it will be impossible to save our Greenbelt in its entirety with dictator Ford in power because he'll just work to change the law for his own benefit every time he's blocked. Our laws no longer keep the government from doing whatever they want in Ontario. It's a completely undemocratic and dangerous time for already strapped taxpayers here. Good laws are constantly being eliminated to make way for schemes desired by a poorly-educated, climate-change denying dictator. It's incredibly scary!

I sincerely hope that Doug Ford doesn't destroy everything good about our beautiful province before he is gone from office. Every letter I send him contains this sentence: "STOP HURTING US!" He clearly doesn't care about taxpayers. He hoards our hard-earned money for his bad planning schemes while running healthcare, education, air & water quality, food security, etc. into the ground. For the first time in my life, I don't feel safe living in Ontario because of Doug Ford's uncaring government. I consider him unfit for political office because either he doesn't understand what a good decision for taxpayers is, or he really doesn't care about us one bit. A politician's job is 'to protect the public,' so I think Doug Ford is in the wrong job.

I feel that our democracy and freedom are under a real threat in Ontario today because of Doug Ford's incredibly poor leadership. I feel like a peasant who has no say in how the province spends my taxes. Even when a good decision is made, like funding "green steel in Hamilton", Doug Ford finds a way to reverse it and deny us any hope for a healthy future. As my federal MP brags about green steel for Hamilton in his latest newsletter, our premier has already taken that funding back. Doug Ford is definitely the worst premier Ontario has ever had and I have no doubt that he may kill us just by overloading us with debilitating stress. If Ford doesn't kill us with tiny particulate matter or stress, he'll certainly kill us through illnesses caused by his refusal to fund our public healthcare system properly (or at all?). What a great way to make it look like we need privatization. eh?

He may also choose to kill us by divebombing us with more undemocratic, illegal and/or harmful omnibus bills. Underfunding public healthcare and attacking the public with unmanageable omnibus bills should be illegal. It's impossible for the public to address our concerns in every bill -- in large part because our input has been so restricted by Doug Ford -- but also because it's much harder to provide input when it takes months to find a doctor for a serious health concern, as just one example.

And now, as Doug Ford continues with his next cut to the public heart, he puts our beloved conservation areas under threat - the one place we can go to forget the constant stress he causes. It would be less stressful for me today, if Doug Ford just dropped a bomb on my head and put me out of my misery. Then I'd be at peace and he can continue to waste Ontarians' taxes on his next childish dream scheme. No doubt about it - Doug Ford will never help Ontario taxpayers.

Ford's urban sprawl plans for unaffordable housing and unnecessary warehouses alone may bankrupt us in the future, never mind the spa, science centre and tunnel that taxpayers don't need or want to spend billions on. Doug Ford's repeated technique is to exclude and/or ignore almost all public and municipal input during the provincial planning process. He has gone so far as to create provincial bullying agencies (like the dictatorial OLT and his newly announced conservation agency) to ensure that his wasteful schemes become reality. And if they fail or go way over-budget? All costs go to Ontario's taxpayers instead the man who made the terrible decisions.

He's lost every battle in a decade-long case involving a youth group who sued him for his complete lack of action on climate change which is necessary to secure a safe Ontario for future generations. That case has gone right to the Supreme Court of Canada where Doug Ford's government lost again. But Ford is appealing, keeping this in court until it may be too late for those young people to have a safe future at all. Doug Ford is not a kind man and does not have the public's best interest in mind, so please, whoever is voting for him: PLEASE VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY WANTS TO PROTECT TAXPAYERS AND PUBLIC WELL-BEING!

I do hope that Ford's poor performance ensures that he loses the next election he enters. He's the worst leader Ontario has ever had. I don't understand why the courts or the feds can't stop him from hurting us? After all, the Supreme Court of Canada agrees that he's not leading Ontario to benefit future generations. Lloyd's absolutely right, I think Doug Ford is killing us too -- but in multiple ways.

Before Doug Ford destroys them completely, we need to save:

- public funded good healthcare;

- public education for all;

- public conservation areas that restore our sanity;

- our existing public Science Centre with a roof that is just fine with minor inexpensive repairs (provincial liars!);

- Toronto's public lakeshore access - from parking lots, jets and an ultra-expensive spa built by a shady-sounding company;

- our natural water-filtering wetlands - to protect our water quality and supply;

- our farmland so we can grow enough food during the next pandemic;

- our endangered species and unthreatened species from uncontrolled OLT-directed urban sprawl;

- our streams and rivers from over-generous provincial water-bottling permits;

- the many other life-giving resources that Doug Ford takes for granted!

Taxpayers in Ontario depend on all of these things to maintain our quality of life. We can't let Doug Ford take all of this from us! We need a new premier, a smarter premier, a caring premier. Vet your candidate choices very carefully...we need a strong democratic law-abiding leader in Ontario. Our mini-Trump, Doug Ford, already makes me feel sick to my stomach.