I have never been a member of any political party. Although I have a keen interest in current affairs and follow politics closely, I have never been motivated to join a political party. I read extensively to ensure I am aware of local, regional, national and international events. My daily routine includes reading my online subscription to the Toronto Star with additional check-ins to the CBC and CNN news sites. I don't use Facebook or Google as a news source (should they even be considered a news source?), but I do follow a select number of individuals on X which leads to further news updates. Teresa and I normally watch Power and Politics in the evening on the CBC News Network.
I do believe in the democratic process and think it is important that individuals stay informed and vote. I found it discouraging to hear only 43% of eligible voters cast ballots in the last provincial election. In my view, this leads to some very strange results. It was commonly quoted that Doug Ford won the last election by a "landslide". This turn of phrase was largely used because the conservatives won 83 of 124 seats, an increase from 76 in 2018. In reality, this "landslide" was only 18% of Ontarians who voted for Doug Ford (41% of 43%). Far from being a landslide, I think this is an unfortunate example of the decline in our democratic participation, a dangerous trend.
Part of the reason why I have never joined a political party is that I don't always vote for the same party. Federally, I want to vote Liberal as they best represent my progressive leanings. However, when the Liberals get corrupt (Jean Chretien) or lazy and corrupt (the current Trudeau government) I will look elsewhere to cast my vote. My natural tendency is to look to the Conservatives, as I prefer to vote for a party that realistically could form a government. The Conservatives, however, have made this increasingly difficult by choosing a series of leaders I could not support; Steven Harper, Andrew Scheer, Erin O'Toole and now Pierre Poilievre. I have voted NDP in the last two federal elections in the hope that it would result in a Liberal-led minority government. I got my wish, but I don't feel like it has turned out too well. Provincially, I also want to back the Liberals, but they always seem to screw things up -ie. David Peterson and Kathleen Wynne. As a result, I am again "forced" to vote NDP as I will not endorse Mike Harris, Ernie Eves or Doug Ford.
This brings me to why I joined a political party. I believe the next provincial election will be incredibly important. We cannot afford a third term with Doug Ford. If you think of the (very) long list of damage he has caused in Ontario, you quickly conclude that we must ensure he and his corrupt cronies do not win again. This list includes; discontinuing rebates and projects for alternative energy (wind and solar), eliminating rebates for electric cars, proposing police surveillance during COVID, the restart of the corrupt and patronage QC designation for lawyers, accepting money from developers who were invited to his daughter's stag and wedding, the chaos in the landlord/tenant tribunal that his patronage appointments have caused, his desire to have his unqualified "buddy" as the Chief of the OPP, the greenbelt corruption and fiasco, the lack of process and consultation for the redevelopment of Ontario Place, his threat to use the notwithstanding clause to end a labour dispute, his destruction of the Ontario health care system and the move to private health care, the defunding of post-secondary education ... the list goes on and on.
Two other factors caused me to sign up. It seems clear to me that Ontarians do not want an NDP provincial government. For those of you old enough to remember the Bob Rae NDP government (before he switched to being a federal Liberal), it was a disaster for the province. Ontarians had ample opportunity to give Andrea Horvath a mandate, even a minority one, but never got close, despite the disintegration of the Liberals. Although the last election showed that Ontarians don't want an NDP government, they also will not just hand the reigns over to the Liberals despite who the leader is and what the party has done. Steven Del Duca was one of the most uninspiring, dull career politicians ever voted to lead a party. What was the Liberal Party thinking when they elected him? The result - The Liberals got wiped off the face of the map, not even winning enough seats to be an official party in the Ontario legislature.
So, I took the plunge. I visited the Ontario Liberal Party website and signed up. It was easy and free (I am not sure free membership is the best way to attract people who are committed but it worked for me).
I should start by saying that I was impressed by the candidates who put their hats in the ring to be leaders:
Bonnie Crombie - the front runner from the very beginning and seemingly the focus of Doug Ford. A successful business person with a graduate degree, a three-term mayor of the city of Mississauga and a former Liberal MP, her experience seems perfectly suited for the leadership position. She raised the most money of any candidate and her name recognition meant she always seemed to be the person to beat. I find her to be too much of a "politician" for my liking, but maybe that is what is needed to raise money and lead the party out of the wilderness, and back to power.
Ted Hsu - has a PhD in physics from Princeton (impressive!) which led to a career in high finance tracking interest rates. A former MP who quit federal politics and has now switched to provincial politics.
Nate Erskine-Smith - a self-styled maverick and a federal backbencher whose claim to fame is dissenting from the Liberal party when he finds it wanting (I admire that). He is an Oxford-educated litigator (also impressive).
Yasir Naqvi - a former cabinet minister in Kathleen Wynne's government - can you say baggage? He was also the provincial party president, lost his seat and then went to the federal liberals as a backbencher. He is also a trade lawyer.
Adil Shamji - an MPP and emergency physician (maybe this experience would help improve the health care system?) He never really got any traction and dropped out of the race before the end.
Immediately (and I mean immediately) after signing up as a party member, I was bombarded with emails that came from everywhere. The party email address requesting donations, John Fraser the interim leader highlighting issues with Doug Ford and requesting donations, and emails from the Party president requesting donations. As the leadership race went on I started getting emails from the leadership candidates mostly asking for donations, sometimes highlighting Doug Ford's shortcomings, often trying to position themselves versus the other leadership candidates. About halfway through the leadership race, the constant barrage of emails was augmented with robocalls. These calls were often recorded by the leadership candidate but also would come from supporters and campaign workers. I got live calls as well asking for my support for a particular candidate. I continued to follow the leadership race closely, primarily through the Toronto Star with additional information from the CBC website and NewsChannel. I also tried to read as much of the material that was sent to me from the party and the various candidates.
How was my first experience as a member of a political party? Well .... not that great. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is great and 1 is terrible I would put it in the 2-3 range. Here's why:
I found the process very dull and unengaging. Maybe my expectations were way off but I was hoping that either the party or one of the candidates would do something that would encourage me (and others) to get involved, to participate. Maybe I was too passive. Sending out very repetitive and standard mass emails is not how to pique my interest. Same with the robocalls They were very superficial. Nothing helped me understand the candidate better or want to get more deeply involved in their campaign or the race overall. Now, it is all well and good to criticize but what would I suggest? Given this is my first time joining a party it is fair to say I am a novice in political races. However, maybe send me a survey of what I wanted to see in a leader or party policy, with an opportunity for follow-up discussion. This might have helped me understand one of the candidate's positions and encouraged me to participate directly with them or in the process overall.
I was turned off when Nate Erskin-Smith and Yasir Naqvi decided to gang up on Bonnie Crombie in a desperate effort to prevent her from winning the leadership of the party. I have followed many political conventions and I have never liked the "Anybody But Fill in the Blank". It always seems desperate and acknowledges that you can't win the race on your own. I feel that a leadership race is not a team sport. It is an individual race and alliances seem underhanded and shady. In addition, as the only female candidate, the ABC (anybody but Crombie) had the potential to look sexist and ageist. Erskin-Smith had mused that at 63 Crombie might not be around for the long haul if she doesn't win the next provincial election - let's hope she does!
The rules were complicated and kind of ridiculous. The Liberal Party followed the Conservatives' lead from their last leadership race and implemented a system that awarded 100 points to each of the 124 ridings in Ontario. While I understand the desire to ensure that the leader was not chosen just by the large number of people in the GTA that could wash over all the smaller/rural ridings in Ontario, I think the current system swung the pendulum too far the other way. As reported in the Toronto Star on December 6 by Martin Regg Cohn, the allocation of votes favours rural ridings. As an example the far-north riding of Kiiwetinoong had 27 eligible voters, only 11 voted. Yet this riding was still awarded 100 points, the same as a riding in Toronto. In 35 other ridings, fewer than 100 valid ballots were cast, yet each one still received the same 100 points. As someone voting in the leadership race, this system was difficult to understand, making it unclear the impact of your vote, particularly when voting in the GTA. As I said, I understand the need to "weight" non-urban communities so they don't feel ignored, but 11 votes getting 100 points? Really? This also led to Bonnie Crombie's eventual win being understated. On the third and final ballot, it was reported that she won 53% of the vote. But this was calculated with the convoluted point-allocated vote process where her opponents focused on these small ridings (I am not implying they cheated in any way). If measured by a "popular" vote, her win was likely larger.
My biggest issue was how members were allowed to vote. Members could only vote in person, in their riding, on one of two days, November 25 or 26. As it turned out, Teresa and I were away that weekend visiting one of our children. I contacted the party and asked about advance voting, mail-in voting or electronic voting. The reply was that none of these were available. Only in-person voting was allowed. This seems incredibly outdated to me, particularly in 2023. A party that is trying to position itself as ready to govern the largest province in the country cannot facilitate anything but in-person voting. Wow! This meant that not only did people like me who were travelling miss out on voting, but people with mobility issues, people without transportation, people in remote areas, and people who were ill all missed out. As I said, very dull and antiquated. You can see the result of this shortsighted approach. During the leadership race, the party made a big deal about the fact that over 100,000 people were eligible to vote in the race. How many voted? Less than 23,000. I was not the only one who was unimpressed by the process or required an alternative way to vote. Consequently, Bonnie Crombie, who very well may be the next Premier of Ontario, was chosen by less than 15,000 Ontarians (again according to the point vote allocation system). Not a ringing endorsement.
So that was my first and likely only experience joining a political party. One last thought. Political parties are like Hotel California, "you can check out any time you want but you can never leave". I have sent multiple notes to the Liberal Party of Ontario requesting that my membership be discontinued and my name be removed from all distribution lists. To date, no reply. Free and easy to join - quitting, not so much. I am now unsubscribing from every email I receive from the Liberal Party in a desperate attempt to unwind myself from them. Hopefully, this won't become a full-time job!
Let me know any comments or questions at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com
Editors note: Just before posting this article I did receive an email from the Liberal Party of Ontario apologizing for the delay and letting me know that I have been removed from the party membership and their email list. We will see how complete this removal is.
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