Wednesday December 4, 2024
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 4, 2024
The Ford Government’s Corruption Normalized
The Ontario Auditor General’s latest report on the Ford government’s handling of the Ontario Place redevelopment reads like a case study in how political power can corrode accountability. Over the past few years, this administration has been implicated in scandal after scandal, from the Greenbelt land swap to the runaway costs of Ontario Place. Yet, what stands out most is not the depth of the corruption itself, but the alarming normalization of it.
The numbers are staggering. Costs for Ontario Place have soared from initial estimates of $400 million to a jaw-dropping $2.237 billion. The bidding process for redevelopment was riddled with irregularities: undisclosed evaluation criteria, preferential treatment for some bidders, and the absence of basic accountability measures like record-keeping. Meanwhile, Minister’s Zoning Orders, once rare tools for exceptional circumstances, have been wielded liberally, bypassing local oversight and further enriching well-connected developers.
None of this is new. The Greenbelt scandal, currently under RCMP investigation, exposed similar patterns of favouritism and mismanagement. But these repeated offences seem to provoke less outrage each time. It’s as though Ontarians have resigned themselves to the belief that this is simply how power operates—that corruption is inevitable. This complacency poses a grave threat to democracy. When impropriety becomes expected, accountability dies.
The costs of this indifference are not just financial but moral. Take the closure of supervised drug consumption sites, another decision excoriated in the Auditor General’s report. Made without consultation or planning, the closures ignore the proven benefits of these facilities in saving lives and alleviating pressure on overcrowded emergency rooms. This is governance devoid of empathy and foresight, where taxpayer dollars are wasted on vanity projects while essential public health measures are neglected.
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This is not simply a failure of one government; it’s a failure of political culture. Corruption thrives on apathy, and when citizens accept mismanagement as inevitable, they enable it. Ontarians must demand better—not just through the ballot box but through sustained pressure on their leaders to act transparently and in the public interest.
The Ford government’s repeated scandals are a warning sign, not just of their failures but of what happens when accountability becomes a hollow concept. The people of Ontario deserve more than cynicism masquerading as governance. The question is whether they still believe it’s possible.