Dumb election

My father-in-law once told me, “You know nothing about politics. Zero.” This election, I think he was right. I feel really dumb.

I don’t understand how Doug Ford could have won another majority government.

Maybe I missed something. All I see is how much I am paying in my everyday life. At the gas pump, dollar sign digits go up fast and high, while the digits where it says litres stay low and go up slowly.  At the supermarket, I pay about $100 for two bags of groceries. And when I look at real estate listings, it’s become a millionaires-only market.  And have anyone’s wages gone up lately?

My aunt tried to help me understand. “Canada let in too many immigrants. That’s made prices go higher.” I looked at her kind of surprised: my aunt is an immigrant. I’m not sure how immigrants made any prices go higher, but immigrants are a very convenient argument these days. It lets the big boys of the economy off the hook, including Doug Ford.   

But what about some of Ford’s dumb priorities? Like allowing beer and wine to be sold at gas stations.  I was shocked to see an Esso gas station selling more beer and wine than the LCBO. It was loaded with so many Molson six packs stacked up high, that a TTC driver was resting his coffee and donut on top of a pile of beer cases. I asked him about it. He just shrugged. “Meh. People who want to drink will find a way to drink, here or anywhere else.”  If there’s any increase in drinking and driving, it’s not Ford’s fault. It’s people who drink.

I think I am understanding a little better. And I remember some of my high school teachers. They urged us to read the newspaper. “Please. Learn about the world. Learn about what’s happening around you. Read the newspaper.” In other words, “Don’t be dumb. Read the news!”

But if you followed the news, you’d have seen the media reporting on polls conducted by a few polling companies, most of whom are owned by former political apparatchiks. And they all said the same thing. “Doug Ford PCs headed to a supermajority. The Liberals in second. The NDP a distant third.”

If I only remembered what my teachers said earlier, I would have known that Doug Ford was going to be the clear winner, the Liberals would be strong, and the NDP would have been turfed, even before the election happened. The media and their polling companies got second and third place wrong, and Ford didn’t get too many extra seats, but that doesn’t matter.

I finally get why Doug Ford was elected with another majority. Now I can tell my father-in-law that I understand, but I like nothing about it. Zero.