To MPP John Jordan

I was dismayed and disappointed to see your government’s full-page advertisement, paid for by me and other taxpayers, and published in last week’s Frontenac News. The enormous, coloured ad showed an image of a young agent with two-way radio surrounded by trees with giant yellow letters proclaiming, “A safer Ontario means parks without encampments.” The Ontario Auditor General reported that in 2024-25, taxpayer-funded advertising totaled $111.9 million, including $42.5 million for vanity ads, or as the auditor indicated, designed to leave the public with a “favorable impression” of the governing party! Shame on your government!

Shame on you too, especially since you are a member of the standing committee on Social Policy as well as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health. You would be aware that a slick advertising campaign directed at those with newspaper delivery is an unconscionable waste of tax money when surely it could be more meaningfully used to partially address the causes of being unhoused, including mental health challenges and the rising cost of living.