After a flurry of election ads in October, Ontario is now in the quiet period before the 2022 election campaign, when spending on election advertising by political parties is limited and by third parties is prohibited. This provides an opportunity for individual citizens using social media to get out their messages about the coming election.

In that spirit, I am developing several one-minute messages attacking the Ford Government’s policies in a number of areas. The first is climate change. Here is a 131-word message:

I’m Sandford Borins, a retired professor of public management at the University of Toronto. I’m deeply concerned about the planet our children and grandchildren will inherit.

Doug Ford’s government has consistently ignored climate change and threats to our environment. As soon as he was elected, he withdrew Ontario from the cap-and-trade carbon emission agreement with Quebec and California. Then he went to court against the federal government’s carbon price and ultimately lost. He even plastered the gas pumps with propaganda stickers.

Now he wants to build Highway 413 at great financial and environmental cost to provide negligible time savings.

Doug Ford thinks ignoring climate change and building new highways are real vote-winners. On June 2, let’s prove Doug Ford is wrong. If you love this planet, vote strategically to defeat him.

I’m thinking about recording this message and posting it on Facebook and Twitter and setting up a YouTube channel and posting it there. (This is something I’ve never done before. I’ve often expressed my opinions in writing but never viva voce.) What do you think of the overall initiative and this particular message?