Letter to the Editor: Lack of democracy in Martin appointment

      Emperor Ford’s objective of replacing our MPP with one of his own choosing is already entering the smoke-and-mirrors stage.

In last week’s article in The Haldimand Press, Peter Turkington of the Ontario Conservative Party said the Haldimand-Norfolk PC Association announced its nomination process in September, vetted candidates, and it “became evident” Martin was the best candidate. A follow-up for additional details was typically unanswered.

Amy Martin was selected by the Premier’s office. This is not surprising, since his office has been orchestrating it. In January, Minister Graydon Smith appeared in Simcoe to announce funding for capping abandoned wells. Martin presented it as a “regional” problem – with 6,000 wells locally out of 27,000 in Ontario, this is hardly a “regional” problem. The MPP should have been invited, especially since her repeated requests for action probably had something to do with it. In May, Minister Kinga Surma toured a water facility in Port Dover, again excluding our MPP. Of course, exclusive photo-ops with the ministers would add weight to Turkington’s claim that Martin “got things done”.

Former Mayor Ken Hewitt chimed in, criticizing Brady’s “inability to work” with Council or Queen’s Park. If memory serves, it was the Premier that was censured by the Speaker for his comments, not Brady.

Hewitt said an association vote would only include about 300 people, implying that is hardly democratic. So his choice is to have a candidate nominated by ONE person, who is NOT a member of the local association or even a local resident. Has Ford even visited our riding?

Of course Hewitt would be in favour of the system, since that’s how he became the PC candidate in 2022.

Ford is not interested in getting the best representative for Haldimand-Norfolk. He’s looking for the candidate with enough voting support to fill a seat in Queen’s Park on his side of the aisle.

In the article, Martin waxed eloquent about the rigorous process by the H-N PC Association and their diligence in evaluating candidates. So if Martin is not even aware of how she became the PC candidate, how can she be expected to know what else is happening in Haldimand-Norfolk?

Bruce Burton,
Canfield