2 Friday, May 25, 2018 brooklintowncrier.com Non-conformist, I am, as Yoda might say. Possessing neither his sagacity nor age, when it comes to voting, I rest mostly on instincts borne of careful reading of the plethora of yawning pronouncements from candidates. I admit I once voted for Bob Rae, but just once. Similarly, I liked aspects of Ed Broadbent's federal platform way back and gave him my support though I knew full well his candidate in my riding didn't have a snowball's chance of winning. As for Pierre Trudeau, my Montreal MP who once kissed my mom as he left a constituency speech? Yes, had to vote for him because mom would have disowned me. His son, le Dauphin, yawn. Stephen Harper got my vote once, too. I don't recall why though it wasn't because he's a rabid hockey fan whose son played against my nephew. Excuse me, Mr. Prime Minister, could you kindly tell your kid to let Noah keep the puck? Further testaments to my lack of party alignment: Mike Harris's approach left me cold though there were bits I cottoned to. Dalton McGuinty gave us a brief respite till, well, you know the rest. A teacher and union rep, I wanted so much to like his change of direction. Other approaches to issues puzzled me. Which brings me to the present and my first election while in Brooklin. I am not excited. I should be and this ticks me off. It's because I hate being faced with decisions that will leave me in a muddied quandary. Ford's bluster So it goes these days. There is little I've read about Doug Ford nor seen in the debates or interviews that gives me much confidence he knows what he's doing. Bluster doesn't count. (And zany comparisons with the U.S. presidential embarrassment are absurd and best left ignored.) Ms. Wynne has placed herself in the unenviable position of, like every NHL coach, hanging around too long to avoid people looking for ways to dump her. Andrea Horwath, who seems like she'd do a decent job, hasn't the deep support needed to be regarded as a winner. However - and here's the rub, as The Bard once wrote - in a provincial election, your local candidate can very much have an impact on your life, especially if they appear to make sense in spite of the party leadership. It's why I'm supporting Lorne Coe. He'd be just as effective a candidate if anyone else led the PCs so I'm counting on his good sense to be able to navigate the expected turbulent waters around the Ford vessel (which is not a lock). This, too, will be his first real election as he won the seat in 2016 in a bye-election. His background is local politics and that's where the gap between him and other candidates becomes a chasm. He knows whereof he speaks. To the point, read our May 11 issue where the three candidates answered two questions I put to them. I'd asked for a maximum of 400 words per answer. While all complied, Coe's responses got right to the crux of matters, especially on the exasperating highway 412/407 issue. The others provided fluff. While it was his party under Premier Harris that sold off the original highway, it's been the Liberal party which has left us with the east of Brock Rd. debacle. Indeed, while I don't much care for the chap he'd answer to, Coe is far more likely to make headway with local problems than anyone else. Confident, am I. "Proud to be a Brooklinite" Founded in 2000 • Published 24 times annually Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 • editorofbtc@gmail.com Locally owned and operated. A publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: 905-655-7642 Email: mulcahy42@rogers.com Next Issue: Friday, June 8, 2018 Deadline: Friday, June 1, 2018 Lorne Coe Just More than Half the Picture By Richard Bercuson OOPS on us! In our May 11 issue, we published the responses to questions posed to three provincial candidates vying for this riding's seat: Lorne Coe, Leisa Washington and Niki Lundquist. Though their responses were printed verbatim, the last half sentence of Ms. Washington's answer about highways 407/412 was inadvertently chopped. Here is Ms. Washington's last sentence in its entirety: "However, if there is clear evidence that the highway is not being well used as a result of the tolls, if elected MPP, I would be happy to bring this to the attention of the Minister of Transportation and request that a thorough review is undertaken to maximize the use of the highway." We apologize for the error.