PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — We’re asking: “Who will you vote for Feb. 27?”

And how did you like Monday’s night’s provincial election debate — if you watched it.

No. 3 — Feb. 21:

Across Muskoka Thursday night people weren’t at all hesitant and in raw terms told MuskokaTODAY.com the following and about their feelings …

“I’m going to write something in.”

…

“Would you vote for one of those two b… in the debate? They were both b…. They were rude, cat fighting. The only other decent person was the Green Party guy (Schreiner). That’s not who I’m going to vote for. But he was polite. I’m going to vote for Ford, of course. Is there any other choice? He’s gonna gain seats.”

…

“What’s the Green Party going to do for you? But he has no say. He’s not part of a large party. He has no representation. We could lose the hospital. I like Graydon. He was good mayor and done a lot for us. But I think he’s in trouble right now. I think so. I’m voting for him. Just so you know. Even if a lot of people don’t like Doug Ford.”

…

“Green. We’ve been Matt Richter fans for a long time and I think he’ll make a positive change. I do anything that’s environmental. I think it’s really important. Plus he’s an educator. So A+ on the educators. We do appreciate that Graydon brought the cultural funding back in to the Muskoka area (through the Northern Heritage Fund). That will be a great legacy piece. But I think that overall we have to look at the scope of who is going to the be the premier in these very difficult times. We need to vote a liberally as we can to not become a 51^st state. I feel like the insanity (of that) has gotten worse by the minute.”

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“Matt’s a good guy.  He stands for good things. He taught at my son’s school. I mean Graydon’s done well. He’s great, too. It will be a hard choice.”

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“I’m going to vote tomorrow, Green. I’m not too crazy about the others, so I’m going to have to vote for him.”

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“I’ve already voted for the Green Party. I like things Matt has said and like. I agree with him. I voted for the Greens last time, too.”

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“Yes I have. Matt. Because he’s the only one who makes sense the way things are going. The Liberal who has finally gotten here doesn’t face a snowball’s chance. Matt has a chance of beating Graydon. I don’t think Graydon did much as the MNR minister to save the Greenbelt. Trees is trees is trees. No matter whose bailiwick they’re in.”

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“I voted Green. Because I don’t like Doug Ford. Which is really a problem because I really like Graydon. And I voted Green last time. What I don’t like about Doug is he’s a dictator. And he hasn’t allocated enough money to nurses, to teachers and education. He’s so focussed on his rich business friends and I really can’t stand him. I can’t vote for Doug Ford.”

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“Green. We got a call the other day and they said: ‘Are you going to be supporting Graydon and premier Ford?’ And my wife said: ‘Not a chance.’ ‘Why?’ So she explained why. And they said: ‘Should I put you down as undecided?’ She said: ‘Do you not know what not a chance means? It does not mean undecided. I thought I made myself abundantly clear.”

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“I’m basically undecided. It won’t be the same vote as two years ago. I like to see what all the debates are about. So far it’s not Conservative because of Ford.  So it’s one or the other. I like Graydon, but unfortunately he works for Ford. It’s a political decision, not a reality decision. Matt’s quite solid, but no experience.”

…

“Good question. It’s a hot topic in our house. We don’t know yet. We’re still doing a bit of research. We’re from Huntsville. The clock’s ticking. We know that. We haven’t got any voting stuff in the mail. Does that matter? I don’t know, who cares our names are on the voting list somewhere. So we haven’t decided. I just feel like I don’t have all the information yet. It’s a time issue. That’s the honest truth. We’ve seen the posts by Graydon. We know Matt Richter quite well. Last election we weren’t as undecided. No at that point I think we were both pretty set at Green. This one I feel like there’s a lot more subtle nuances to some of the parties it seems and what’s going on. So I just like I need to do my due diligence.”

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“I have voted already for the Green person, Matt Richter. Well I’m a born Liberal and have worked very hard for Muskoka-Parry Sound Liberals and we almost, we did pretty well with our previous candidate. But I didn’t even know who the candidate for the Liberal Party was (David Innes) until now. But the information about him came so late. No signage or anything.”

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“I really don’t know.”

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“The debate was interesting last night. It was good. And I already voted. Yes. I voted for Matt Richter. I like the Greens policies. You need to give them a chance. And I didn’t like getting the $200 bribe to vote for Doug Ford.”

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“I’ve been not happy with Doug Ford simply because he called the election. There’s no reason for it. That is my main reason. Though there are few other beefs with him. It has swayed my thinking. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”

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“I have — but I’m not going to disclose it. I keep myself very private until I go into the booth. It’s between me and the paper.”

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“I voted today. I’ll tell you. I voted for Matt Richter. I met and his family. I just thought he came off so professional and so amazing. But it was my first time voting this year. So I did it at the advance polls. I was excited about it. We went up to the library. It was good.”

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“Oh, yes, I’m voting for Ford. No. 1, I am Conservative and I feel he’s a strong guy to deal with the States. Locally, I don’ know who the guy is — is it Smith? I don’t know him personally. I go with the party. I have been Conservative all my life.”

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“When is the election? I’m not leaning any way. I guess I’ll get down to deciding next week.”

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“Graydon. He’s brought so much money in to here. He’s a cabinet minister. We can’t afford not to bring him back in. We can’t stop now. The controversy about the Greenbelt, spa and science centre that’s not Graydon. The only reason Dougie deserves to get back in is he’s the only Captain Canada right now. The guy I feel sorry for now is Poli — Pierre Poilievre. Because Doug has defined the ballot question. Sometimes that’s what it comes down to. And so the ballot question is who is going to stand up to Trump? And good old Doug has just grabbed it. And if we’re gonna have an election in less than a month later federally, yeah. Because (Mark) Carney’s gonna win for the Liberals and he’s gonna have a federal election around the first week of April.”