My name is _______ and I live in your potential riding of Ottawa-Orleans. I am completely undecided as to which candidate in my riding is best suited to represent Ottawa-Orleans at the Provincial level. Please help me decide who is qualified to work for the Province by taking just a few minutes of your time to answer a short questionnaire on issues that concern the people of Ontario. If the choices provided are insufficient please feel free to write in your own responses. The candidate who has the best vision for the future of Ontario wins my vote!
Any candidate who does not respond or who simply refers me to their party’s platform will not receive my vote as they have chosen not to represent themselves and therefore, will fail to represent the constituents of Ottawa-Orleans. This questionnaire in no way constitutes a quote or stated opinion but instead, is intended as a gauge of the candidate’s general vision for the future of Ontario and suitability for Provincial office.
Thank you for your time. Sincerely, _____________ (Blackburn Hamlet)
Ontario MPP Candidacy Quiz
1. The placement of large electricity-generating wind turbines within 500 metres of homes and schools is:
a) Unacceptable
b) Unavoidable- it is progress
c) Not a matter of provincial concern
David McGruer: None of the above. I believe in the protection of each individual’s right to peacefully pursue her goals in life so long as she does not violate the rights of others. In a free society, if it can be objectively determined that such a turbine has violated an individual’s right to life, liberty or property, then the court must provide redress.
2. Ontario Tobacco laws are:
a) Excellent
b) Insufficient
c) Something I am unfamiliar with
David McGruer: None of the above. I believe in the right of each person to choose her own way in life, so long as she does not violate the same rights of others. Notwithstanding that I was a physical education teacher and triathlete and truly despise smoking, considering it to be a self-destructive and dirty habit, I would defend the right of a person to smoke as much as she wants, so long as she does no harm to others. In a free society, if it can be objectively shown that the typical exposure a person may have to second-hand smoke in the normal course of living represents a health hazard, then I believe the courts may provide redress to the person so harmed.
3. Provincial Arts Funding is:
a) Sufficient
b) Insufficient
c) Should be the responsibility of municipalities and the private sector
David McGruer: None of the above. I believe each person is responsible for her own life and cannot be morally held responsible for the life of another. In a free society all economic transactions are mutually beneficial, voluntary and not done by coercion, especially government coercion. As such, funding of the arts is morally in the domain of each individual’s choices in life and it is immoral for government to interfere in the arts industry. If people wish to support the arts they must do so with their own funds and must not use the coercive apparatus of the state to cause other people’s money to be transferred to artists. If an artist is truly appreciated by patrons, they will be willing to pay to enjoy it. I attended a play at the Shaw Festival in August, and paid a very hefty price for the tickets. No one else should be required to subsidize my ticket buying choices in any way.
4. Do you support a public inquiry into the conduct of the OPP in regards to the Douglas Creek Estates land protest and settlement?
YES
David McGruer: This story is one of the clearest failures of the government to protect the right of citizens to life, liberty and property. The safety of their persons was both threatened and at actual risk, their freedom to move about was clearly restricted unlawfully and their property was seized in defiance of laws. The paralysis of the OPP and Ontario government is a clear indication of how a morality based on collectivism and altruism leaves individuals with no protection from the very entities (government, police) whose very purpose is to protect citizens.
5. When negotiations at the Provincial level over First Nations land claims settlements result in a stalemate should the Federal Government step in to resolve the issues?
c) The court system should decide an outcome and the OPP should enforce and uphold the decision of the courts.
David McGruer: In a free society, objective law of property must be used to resolve such conflicts and the initiation of force is punished by the state. Before the coming of European settlers and their legal systems, I do not believe first nations had any concept of property nor any legal system to recognize property. Contracts properly signed should of course be honored.
6. I would support development and funding for a rapid transit railway upgrade in the Windsor-Toronto-Ottawa corridor.
Yes and No
David McGruer: I would encourage any entrepreneur or group of them to consider such a project and proceed if they find it to be profitable. In a free society, government has absolutely no role in such a project except to protect property rights and contract law.
7. The best way to increase tourism in Ontario is:
a) Through international marketing campaigns
b) Through local advertising and coupons/incentives
c) Other (please specify)
David McGruer: None of the above. In a free society the government has no moral role to play in tourism. If the government would protect rights then the economy of the province would flourish beyond imagination and this would attract industries of all type and description, including tourism. There is nothing special about the tourism industry that distinguishes it from any other industry. None of them should receive any money taken by government from citizens. It is properly the role of businesses benefitting from tourism to individually, or acting together, to advertise and promote their businesses in whatever way they see fit, using and risking their own money and no one else’s.
8. The measures enacted by the Ministry of Natural Resources to protect endangered species are adequate and appropriate:
b) Disagree
David McGruer: Animals and plants are not reasoning beings and so do not have rights as do homo sapiens. In a free society, if any group of people believes a species is endangered and wishes to protect it, they are free to use their wealth to do so and to encourage others to do likewise. They are not free to use the force of government to compel others to agree with them or act as they wish.
9. The growing problem of childhood obesity should be dealt with:
a) By parents. It is not the Province’s responsibility.
David McGruer: Children are not the property of schools or of government. It is the responsibility of parents to raise their children. Children should only be removed from parental custody or the parent-child relationship disturbed by government if it can be objectively shown that harm is being done to the child. Providing excessive food or providing what some people believe to be an unhealthy diet is not sufficient grounds for interference. Given the importance of the parent-child relationship, interference is only justified in extreme cases and must be decided on an individual basis. Once a child is able to reason for herself, she may choose to each more nutritious food, exercise and reduce caloric intake. Almost no children are malnourished, so after the age of fourteen or so, any child who wishes to do so can attain a healthy weight within a few years or less.
10. The Province of Ontario’s employment strategy:
a) Should focus on immigrants.
b) Should focus on retirement and the rising health care costs of Baby Boomers.
c) Should focus on helping college and university graduates find full-time employment.
d) Attracting more manufacturing plants to Ontario.
e) Supporting small businesses.
David McGruer: None of the above. The province should not have any employment strategy at all except to remove the thousands of employment barriers they have put into place. As a simple example, consider that they have made it illegal to work for less than a particular wage (minimum wage laws), thus cutting off many people from entry level or temporary positions they could otherwise obtain. In a free society there is full employment for anyone who wishes to work, since there is always some work to be done at some price. The current collectivist philosophy of government in fact harms the very people it pretends to help, those whose work currently has the least value and who desperately need an entry-level opportunity to work so they can learn, improve and advance. In a free society immigrants and residents alike are not prevented from working by government, health care is not a government monopoly, education is free of government interference and small businesses are left free to pursue their own business strategies and hire anyone they want for any compensation to which an employee voluntarily agrees.
Concluding remarks: I note that most of your questions contain collectivist assumptions: that it is proper for the will of an individual who is peacefully pursuing her values in life to be subjugated to the will of such non-entities as "the public", "the majority" or any group able to influence the coercive powers of the government. I encourage you to challenge such assumptions and to discover the full meaning and principles of individual rights, limited government and objective law. It is upon these principles that only the Freedom Party of Ontario is based. The basics of these can be found at this web site. Our party web site has information on our platform, which shows 18 of the first steps we would take towards a free society and also our policies and constitution which are unlike any of the other parties.
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