One of the things I have found increasingly frustrating is that governments and their leaders seem to be held even less accountable during the pandemic than usual.
I completely understand both the media and the country's focus on the pandemic. It is (hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. It has had a devasting impact on health both physical and mental, financial consequences for many Canadian businesses and individuals, and death. Having said that, I do expect that both government and opposition leaders should be able to do multiple tasks at one time - like manage the pandemic while managing other important issues within their portfolios. In fact, I would suggest that governments, when they want to, have no problem focusing on multiple issues, particularly when they want to use the pandemic as cover for taking unpopular actions. The Ford government's removal of environmental and land protection is a prime example.
The list of deliberate mismanagement at both the federal and provincial level is too long to list here, but just a few examples are:
The federal government along with all ten provinces, have yet to even provide a documented response to the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls report that was issued June 3, 2019. That is to say, not only have they not actioned anything in the report, they have collectively not even bothered to document a response at this point.
Six years after Marie Deschamps issued her report, External Review into Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Harassment in the Canadian Armed Forces, and five-plus years after the military announced Operation Honour (really?), sexual harassment and cover-ups seem to be rampant in the Canadian Military. The recently retired Chief of Defense Staff and the newly appointed (after one month) Chief are both being investigated. Recently the senior leader responsible for Human Resources has been accused of harassment. While this is going on, the current Liberal government has not taken action on the key recommendations in Ms. Deschamps's report. This lack of response is putting Canadian women who want to serve their country at extreme risk. It is clear that both the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister are doing their best to dodge and bury this issue while taking no accountability.
I have consistently said that I did not feel the deaths in Ontario Long Term care homes in the first wave were solely the responsibility of the current Ford government. Clearly, previous Liberal and Conservative governments had ignored both regulating and investing in Long Term Care. However, allowing more residents to die in the second wave of the pandemic after stating they would put an "iron ring around Long Term Care" is clearly owned by Ford and his government.
I am skeptical that governments will be held to answer for any of the above or other similar issues. I could add more to the list but there is one situation that I found deeply disturbing. I wanted to highlight a particularly outrageous example of bad government policy and corruption. Worse, I don't see any indication that the government will be held culpable.
This tragedy revolves around the death of a 15-year-old boy at a foster home run by the for-profit company Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc. They hired a 24-year-old with no experience raising children and no relevant education beyond high school. A 14-year-old resident of the foster home has been charged with murder.
Every person I have mentioned this situation to reacts the same. In addition to the horror of the death of someone so young, they then say "the Ontario government contracts for-profit companies to manage foster homes?"
Let me summarize for you the gross negligence that led to this tragedy:
Yes, the Ontario government allowed the for-profit company Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc to manage a foster home with four teenage residents.
Yes, Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc hired a 24-year-old with no experience, training or education in taking care of children as the foster parent.
According to a suit filed by the foster parent, when he asked for support from Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc he was told to hire his own staff and use Google to find answers to his problems.
Private companies look after 2,291 foster children in Ontario. There are 60 licensed companies and they are eligible for payments between $125M to $167M according to CBC estimates. This is of course taxpayer money.
The Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services allows any adult to be a foster parent with no relevant experience, as long as they have not been accused of certain crimes.
Private companies apply for a provincial license by checking boxes on an application form which, it has been reported, receive limited or no scrutiny from the government. The private company then uses this license to market itself.
At least 16 children's aid societies have contracted with Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc to care for foster children.
It has also been disclosed that before taking their website down, the Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc website included extensive false information, including
its consulting psychiatrist who gave up their license in 2016 and is retired
a woman listed on the website as the executive director says she never played that role and asked the owners to remove her name from the website
the company's legal counsel surrendered his license to the Law Society of Ontario in 2018 after admitting he misappropriated nearly $500,000 of clients funds
and guess what? The president of Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc at the time of the fifteen-year-old's death was Carmine Perrelli, the deputy mayor of Richmond Hill. He just happens to be an ally of Premier Doug Ford and his late brother Doug.
There are many facts leading up to the youth's death that according to suits filed indicate mismanagement and gross negligence.
I am hoping that anyone reading this will agree it is horrendous. However, back to the title of my post, what will it take to hold the Ford administration accountable for this tragedy? Outside of the excellent piece that the CBC's Fifth Estate did - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/private-foster-care-ontario-david-roman-1.5916480 I found very little news coverage of this story. Most of the coverage was by smaller regional news outlets and seems to be one story in February with no follow-up. I searched through both Andrea Horwath and Steven Del Duca's websites and could find no reference to this situation in any of their media information.
If the media is not covering this story and neither of the opposition leaders is interested, who holds the government accountable? Given the lack of transparency and cronyism within the Ford government, it seems highly unlikely the powers that be will take any action on their own.
So what do we need?
We need better from the opposition parties - Again I totally understand the focus on the pandemic and the airtime that it gives the government. However, I think this should lead the opposition parties to focus on other issues like this. Given the high levels of satisfaction that Ontarians give the government on its handling of the pandemic (whether deserved or not) it seems to be a losing strategy for the opposition to focus solely on COVID-19. Issues like the one I am highlighting are important. They have serious consequences and I think are an indicator of the level of corruption and mismanagement in the current government. Surely more Ontarians would care about this if they knew.
We need the media to cover these stories - As I mentioned, I think the CBC coverage has been strong, although it does not appear there has been any follow-up (hopefully it is coming). I know that all forms of media, particularly investigative print media are under tremendous financial pressures, but the role of healthy news coverage needs to include stories like this.
We need to take action as individuals - You can write (or more easily email) the government (suggestions below). During the next election, you need to ask the candidates in your riding about the privatization of foster care and their position on the issue. You need to raise this specific issue with the conservative candidate and hold them accountable.
I think it is a crime that the Ford government is likely never going to answer for this tragedy. If governments are not held to account then they will continue to allow mismanagement and corruption to be their guides. I don't think that is what we want. I know it is not what I want.
As always let me know any comments on suggestions. You can reach me at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com
Here are some email addresses you can use to help raise this story:
How to contact Doug Ford - https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/EN/feedback/default.aspx
How to contact the minister of children, community and social services - http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/english/contact/minister.aspx
How to contact Andrea Horwath - ahorwath-co@ndp.on.ca
How to contact Steven Del Duca - https://www.stevendelduca.ca/contact
Comentários