Here are a few things that caught my attention last month. Definitely a few repeats as some things just seem to drag on and on. Hopefully a few will be of interest to you.
Golf - well after how excited I was to play golf with Teresa and Sean in early April (it was great) Doug Ford then shut down golf as part of the province-wide lockdown that does not end until May 20 (and who knows what the restrictions will be then). As most of you who read my blog know, I love golf and was very excited this year as the season was starting earlier than normal. Teresa and I were looking forward to playing at Bay of Quinte GC which we joined this year. The combination of spending more time at the cottage and playing golf at BofQ will be fun. Although it is somewhat (ok maybe a little more than somewhat) frustrating that Ontario is the only jurisdiction in North American where you cannot play golf and clearly golf got caught up in the jumbled approach that Ford took to the lockdown, I am really not that bent out of shape. It seems to me that in the middle of the 3rd Wave when cases and deaths are rising, variants of concern are exploding, the health care system is on the brink of collapse and politicians and public health officials are clearly struggling to take the right action it would be beyond selfish to put undue pressure on anyone to open golf courses. I think at this point our politicians (whether you agree with them or not), doctors and public health officials should be focused on doing whatever they can to save lives, reduce cases and get people vaccinated. Yes, I would love to be playing golf. Yes, I think it can be done largely safely and yes I think it is good physically and mentally for most people but again, I can't bring myself to sign a petition or lobby an official about golf given the state the province is in. I will wait until May 20 and let's hope golf is allowed when the province announces whatever is next at that point.
Spoke too soon - last month in Quick Takes I pointed out the challenges Newfoundland had with their provincial election due to an outbreak of COVID which eventually caused the election to be completed by mail-in ballot. I pointed out what few issues this caused and stated (as a proud Canadian) how much better Newfoundland had handled this than say Georgia or Alabama. Oops, it turns out the provincial NDP leader has launched a court challenge to throw out the election results. While I would argue the process was still much better in Newfoundland than what it would likely be in many US states, clearly not completely without contention. The case has not yet be heard so stay tuned.
What a mess - I can't pass on the opportunity to make a few comments about Ford's total mishandling of the pandemic in Ontario. As a sure sign that Ford is not listening to public health officials (despite his insincere comments that he does) before the province-wide lockdown a number (Guelph, Peel and Toronto for starters) local health authorities decided to close schools despite the fact that the Ford government had said they should stay open. Clearly, these public health agencies did not feel the province was taking sufficient action. Ford scrambled around and then announced schools would close contradicting his Minister of Education. Next came the lockdown announcement, which was delayed and delayed as a clearly confused and mismanaged Ford government tried to come up with an action plan to bend the curve of the pandemic. In less than 24 hours Ford (although he was too gutless to face the media so he sent out his cabinet ministers) had reversed the declaration that police would stop people without cause to restrict mobility in the province. Facing the fact that 30 police chiefs said they would not enforce the provincial directive they retreated. If you watched Ford's press conference announcing the lockdown one of the comments he made was "I was driving by a playground and could not believe how many people were there". So guess what, it was announced that playgrounds were closed. This is the fact-based, science-based process Ford boasts about. Again, less than 24 hours later, playgrounds are open. Next, we get to read what a complete goat rodeo (a favourite expression of my late IBM colleague Brian Shannon) the cabinet meetings were when Ford was trying to decide what action to take. Apparently, Ford for all the bravado he shows during press conferences won't stand up to anyone in his cabinet which resulted in the mishmash of actions that were finally announced. It was reported the cabinet spent more time on closing playgrounds than the proposed police action or any other public health action. Just remember, there is a provincial election next year, please vote!
The little things you learn - as most of you probably know, Ford is isolating in his mother's home as a result of being exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19. No problem, that sounds like following the public health guidelines. But what did we learn about Ford as a result of this quarantine? He doesn't know how to use a computer. He doesn't know how to sign onto a video call. He has numerous outdated and discontinued blackberries to handle individual functions (presumably making calls and getting messages?). Now Ford is not over 100 years old, he is younger than I am (and I like to think of myself as reasonably technically literate for a 63-year-old). He is the owner of and has been the CEO of his family business (a promotions company). I am going to acknowledge that I am jumping to a conclusion but I think it is a fair and likely accurate conclusion about what this lack of technical savvy shows. Ford is afraid to try new things. Ford is afraid to learn new things. Ford's insecurity leads him to tell others to do this stuff for him. Ford lacks curiosity. I am guessing that these traits are at least partially to blame for the total mismanagement we are seeing in the province. Also, before I leave this topic. Apparently, there is no problem with Ford working from home, claiming his very generous sick days he gets as a provincial employee but he will not legislate a fair sick day policy in Ontario (a temporary 3-day program that expires in September does not cut it).
What is the purpose of all of this? - I am guessing that many of you may not know that since 1996 Quebec has had a balanced budget law. Depending on the size of the provincial deficit the budget must be balanced either the next year or up to a maximum of five years. Balanced budget laws have been popular in the US particularly with Republicans as they seem to believe that these laws will stop big government big-spending Democrats from amassing huge deficits. It is important to point out here that some of the biggest deficits in US history have been delivered by Republicans, George W. Bush and Trump being two examples. I have never been a supporter of these laws for a couple of reasons. First, it seems to imply that the most important goal (or at least one of the most important goals) of government is to balance the budget. While I understand that huge deficits can be a problem (can you say COVID-19?) I think it has been proven that reasonable and managed deficits can provide flexibility to governments to manage the economy. I have also felt that any government that wanted spending that would create a deficit would figure out a way to get it, law or no law. Back to Quebec. Sure enough, the Quebec government just announced it will pass legislation to suspend the balanced budget act to give them 7 (versus 5) years to balance the budget. Not sure they will make 7 but if it is that easy to circumvent the law, why bother?
Could this be more embarrassing but more importantly more dangerous? - This subject definitely deserves to be highlighted here two months in a row. The disclosures regarding sexual harassment in the military just get more and more disturbing. We heard from Kellie Brennan who has said that retired Chief of Staff Vance fathered two of her children while she was in the military. Their relationship would be a clear violation of military policy and rules and was also likely abuse of power and sexual harassment. In addition, Brennan stated that Vance has never acknowledged responsibility for the two children, never paid child support etc. She also stated that Vance believed that no military rules applied to him, that the Minister of Defense was "in his pocket" and that the minister was intimidated by Vance. Vance of course was the leader of the military who directed operation Honour (?) a program to stamp out sexual harassment in the military. Women and it has been primarily women although there have been some cases of men being sexually assaulted must live in fear while serving in the Canadian military. Recognizing they could be abused at any time and there is no system or process in place to allow for any form of recourse. In addition, clearly, the leaders of the military are not doing anything to stop or discourage the behaviour, in fact, in numerous cases, they are the abusers and harassers. This needs to stop and it is not clear to me that there is any action underway to change the culture in the military. Setting up another commission in my view just a delay tactic by the government as they try and shift focus and blame away from the Defense Minister, Prime Minister and the prime minister's chief of staff.
There are still people that don't think this exists? - There has been much discussion with regards to systemic racism over the last number of years. It is incredible to me that high-profile leaders continue to deny the existence of systemic racism. You may remember the current (unfortunately in my view) RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said she did not believe there was systemic racism within the RCMP and in fact, said she didn't really even know what it was. She quickly reversed herself after pressure from the government, but in my view has not taken anywhere near sufficient action to change the culture of the RCMP. The Quebec government refuses to acknowledge that there is any systemic racism in Quebec society (really?). Most recently Tim Scott a Republican who is black who delivered the response to President Biden's speech to Congress stated "Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country". Wow, where has he been living? Although I found many definitions of systemic racism I thought for the purposes of my comments here we would go with this one - Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded through laws within society or an organization. It can lead to such issues as discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power, and education, among other issues. Could there be any better (or worse depending on your emphasis) example of embedded systemic racism than the rollout of vaccines in Ontario? It has been widely reported that low-income neighbourhoods, populated with a higher percentage of people of colour and in many cases, immigrants have consistently experienced lower vaccination rates than higher-income primarily white neighbourhoods. I don't believe and certainly don't want to believe that despite what I view as the complete ineptitude of the Ford government that anyone in power in the provincial government actually dictated and directed that these neighbourhoods would get fewer vaccines. Rather I believe infrastructure, rules and guidelines in our society have lead to this. The vaccine rollout has not accommodated people for which English is not their primary language (or in some cases don't speak English). The rollout has not accommodated people with less access or understanding of technology which is often prevalent in these neighbourhoods. The rollout has not accommodated the fact these neighbourhoods have fewer pharmacies, fewer health centres, fewer doctors to facilitate the rollout. The rollout has not accommodated people in high-risk employment, people with health issues or people living in multifamily homes. This is systemic racism at work and it needs to change. It won't change until we acknowledge it, acknowledge its impacts and take clear and specific actions to overcome it. Unfortunately, Ford has not done this and people in Ontario continue to suffer as a result.
That's it for this month. If you think I missed anything or have any comments (agree or disagree) let me know at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com
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