From Tuesday's Toronto Star

A government that supports the systems we rely on

Tues., Sept. 24, 2019

After a traumatic year of Progressive Conservative rule in Ontario, Justin Trudeau can basically murder baby seals on live feed and I would still vote for him.

I didn’t vote for Trudeau in the last federal election. I have never voted Liberal in my life. I don’t always agree with everything he does, for example, dropping the ball on the whole first-past-the-post voting thing. The whole blackface scandal is not admirable either. But here’s the thing, Trudeau could run naked through an international summit, eat endangered animals for breakfast, then spend government money on a solid gold life-size statue of himself and I would still vote for him for the rest of my life.

That sounds crazy right? Well, the rest of Ontario and I have endured the hardship of a tyrannical Conservative provincial government for a year. Ontario has gone from family friendly, progressive, thriving, land of opportunity and my home, to an absolute backwater nightmare.

The Progressive Conservative party has systematically worked at dismantling every feature of the public sector that people rely on; health care, education, environmental restrictions, social supports, libraries. If you need it? Well, the Conservatives are working hard to get rid of it.

Before this year, I had the luxury of voting for whoever I liked best. I had the luxury and privilege of thinking of my political philosophy. The thing is, I have a family to support now and for the first time in my life, the decisions the government at every level makes seriously affects my life.

With Trudeau in office, I was able to take an 18-month maternity leave, there was more money in the CCB cheque. I don’t know whether or not he is really as altruistic as he pretends to be on social media, but I do know that he has done nothing except give me time off to be with my kids and money to help support them.

With Doug Ford in office, his decisions have affected my career, he is clawing away at my ability to support my family, he is negatively affecting the kind of services we can receive and their quality. He has directly made our lives much, much worse in a tangible way, this goes beyond political philosophy.

I can’t afford to ever take the chance that this will ever happen again. I need a government that supports the systems we rely on, that won’t threaten my ability to work. Whether or not I like Justin Trudeau, he’s got my vote, forever.

A. Rampen, Thornhill