Dempsey deserves voters’ support

This fine May day, I start out with two convictions. No. 1: we need the brightest and best people to be elected to our legislatures. They hold immense power over our fates and the fate of the Earth.

No. 2 is that this present provincial regime has shown us again and again that it is not worthy to remain in office, so damaging have been their behaviours and decisions over the past four years. So inadequate the provincial cabinet.

We stumbled through COVID-19 because their judgment was lacking, along with the humility needed to turn decisions over to science and medicine, this being a disease. Our leaders in Ontario are so deeply partisan they make everything into a war with the federal government, which is Liberal, and value points to be scored rather than people to be served. Ontario suffered many more deaths than necessary, especially in long-term-care homes and racialized communities.

So who else is out there who is better than the incumbents? To my mind, this time round, Peterborough-Kawartha has a first-class candidate who shines in every one of my categories: ethics, education, sociability, responsiveness, local links and achievements. His high ratings render him best for us and our province.

Greg Dempsey has a fundamental desire to improve the lives of our citizens. He grew up here, going to Edmison Heights Elementary School and then Adam Scott Collegiate. He sought further education on both ends of the country, while becoming bilingual.

A new young candidate has a hard time getting known here, especially in a long lockdown. But I have followed his diligent labours for almost two years, he having taken leave from his job with Global Affairs Canada. He has met personally with thousands of voters.

I saw a sign asking, “Are you ready to dump Doug Ford yet?” That would be good for Ontario, but even more, PeterboroughKawartha has a superior candidate stepping up. I wrote recently that we have here the best candidate in a generation.

Politics has become rough. It is ruder, angrier, and more threatening than ever before. Making sound decisions takes bravery, calmness and immense reservoirs of good will.

On the issues, Ontarians rate climate chaos first or second on their list of concerns. But the budget outline just announced mentions highways 150 times and autism not once. Plans for the environment go only 19 per cent toward reaching our climate goals. Rebates were cancelled for electric cars. Half a million children live in poverty.

A single person on ODSP gets $1,000 a month to live on. We have the fewest hospital beds and fewest registered nurses per capita of any province in Canada. Ford himself has said, “The worst place you can give your money to is a government.” That attitude squeezes life out of the public sector. This province spends $2,000 less on programs per person than the average of the other provincial governments.

Dempsey decided to leave the world of diplomacy for politics the day the Ford government cancelled the basic income pilot, before the data had been collected and analyzed.

He is a combination of zeal, intelligence and affability that will serve our area well. A practised negotiator, he once brought Iceland, fiercely liberal, and Kyrgyzstan, not so liberal, to sign a treaty at the UN banning child marriage.

He also brought the boards from the desert hockey arena in Kandahar home to the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame.

We are now 15 million people in Ontario. Progressive people here want meaningful input into crucial policies: a fairer, greener, more humane society.

We can bring to an end what I consider a dark period in politics here by taking a good look at this candidate and choosing to put him where he can do the most good.