He didn't blame Justin Trudeau for anything, he praised him. He called for an end to partisan squabbling.
It was such a shocking sight I couldn't decide whether he had finally seen the light, or was finally losing his marbles.
But then Ford does have so much to be humble about.
For his management of the Covid pandemic has been absolutely disastrous.
Ontario has declared its third state of emergency since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and will be implementing a provincewide stay-at-home order as of Thursday.
He never took the threat seriously, he put money before human lives, his on and off lockdowns or shutdowns or mockdowns failed miserably. So now the Covid variants are out of control, and everybody should be scared.
At the end of 2020, as the world bid good riddance to a dreadful year, there was a great sense of hope that the impending rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines would see us turn a corner.
But experts have today issued a dire warning that several new “variants of concern” spreading around the globe are acting in new and terrifying ways, and threaten to wash away the precious ground that’s been gained.
And ultimately, it could mean that the war against COVID-19 is lost – even with effective vaccines.
And it's not just Canadians who live in Ontario who should be scared, for the newest and most dangerous variant, the P1 strain that was first identified in Brazil, is surging in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
And is getting ready to kill or cripple the lives of thousands of Canadians, including younger ones.
Caroline Colijn, a Canada 150 Research Chair in mathematics for evolution, infection and public health with Simon Fraser University, said modelling projections show if the status quo continues with no additional restrictions introduced, B.C. could be seeing more than 3,000 daily cases by the end of April. The variants of concern are growing “exponentially,” doubling every eight days, she said.
But despite that, it seems that a lot of people aren't taking that threat seriously, judging by the way these health inspectors were greeted when they tried to inspect a Vancouver restaurant:
This is what it’s going to take in many areas - mass civil disobedience. What a beautiful sight! pic.twitter.com/HxgRQeb3Yh
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) April 7, 2021
And as Gary Mason writes, Ford and many other premiers must take the brunt of the blame for not cracking down hard enough.
If premiers and their top public-health officials believed the electorate was looking for (or would tolerate) strict lockdowns as ordered in Australia or New Zealand – and not the faux versions that we have seen in this country – then they would have been introduced by now. Instead, we get half-measure interventions and full blasts of the virus.
Preferring instead to attack Justin Trudeau, even as the new variants threaten to kill thousands of Canadians.
It’s so disingenuous it’s not even funny – but assailing Ottawa makes Mr. Kenney and Mr. Ford’s core political supporters happy. When you’re trying to deflect attention away from your own pitiful performance as premier, and you’re a conservative, attacking the Liberal prime minister is the whole playbook.
And the good news?
After trying to blame Trudeau for not providing them with enough vaccines, now that millions of Canadians are getting vaccinated, Kenney and Ford have been left looking like idiots.
The Cons are now attacking themselves.
A revolt in the conservative movement is underway after Alberta Premier Jason Kenney put the province its third COVID19 lockdown.
Even Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner – the federal Conservative health critic – blasted Kenney for the move.
Which has left Justin Trudeau looking like the only leader standing. The only winner.
The only leader who took the pandemic seriously...
The one who never played grubby politics, or smeared his opponents as they smeared him.
The one who is leading Team Canada to victory.
And will deserve, when the time finally comes, to be rewarded with a crushing majority...
Life is like a box of chocolates, just dont open any box from a con supplier because it will over time do you some kind of harm that can not be repaired.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. outlets covering "Canada's vaccine mess" like the Atlantic, NYT and WSJ aren't painting the whole picture. They're writing for U.S. audiences, for whom Trudeau is the only recognizable figure and whose picture sells copies. Most Americans if you asked, could not identify Kenney in a lineup and only know of Rob Ford the crackhead mayor. I would wager most don't even know he's dead. But in their incomplete coverage aimed at making Americans feel better (and disparage Canadian healthcare) despite 500,000 deaths and an alliance of denialist red-state governors leading a "movement" that might as well be called the Covidiot Confederacy, those papers are aiding and abetting the Canadian right-wing, who are pretty well indistinguishable from the GOP itself. So trust me when I say the NY Times is not to be taken seriously. The Old Grey Lady ain't what she used to be.
ReplyDeleteThe fault is not in your Federal Liberals. but in your provincial Cons (and their flaccid federal cousins). Some 317,000 COVAX AZ shots just arrived today. That's not even counting the truckloads of Pfizer and Moderna yet to come, plus J&J and Novavax later on. I anticipate a photo op where Doug finally does go #CheckTheFreezer and emerges from it like Boris back in the day.
Trudeau has done "as good as possible considering the circumstances" (i.e. what the constitution avails of him), and from the looks of things it would appear that people are finally getting it and even the useless media is somewhat learning. So look for Pigeon to throw more soiled WE papers at the wall, while the National Paste-Eater and Toronto/Calgary Stun run hit jobs against doctors, teachers, public servants, you name it, anything to avoid actually coming up with credible policies or an alternative approach to a century and a half of Canadian federalism. The NDP and Greens jumping on the bandwagon of jurisdictional gaslighting is just as shameful, but thankfully the fauxgressive copycats are mostly irrelevant. The blame *lies* with "the Resistance" and you can include the enabler media that made them cover models along with that. Paul Wells has some 'splaining to do.
If Trudeau had actually taken the reins with the Emergencies Act, they'd be crying dictator. So he didn't, and now the cons wear the blood of their cruelty and ineptitude. O'Foole wants an inquiry? Fine, let's have a full Festivus airing of grievances covering all levels of government. Starting with the failures of his provincial brethren and the sabotage of Okie Annie at the health committee. Let's call Mike Harris in to testify about the blood money from LTC homes, and FOIP his investment portfolio. Let's open up the black box of the Alberta "War Room". Let's put Lilley on the spot with his girlfriend and grill him over "conflicts of interest." Let's haul in Walmsley and Godfrey and Thomson and Bitove to answer why their garbage media outlets wasted months on WeGhazi coverage instead of pandemic attention, and get Jesse Brown to admit to his perverse vendetta. Let's ask Fife why he was spreading rumors about Sophie like a sickness. Let's grill the Cons for contributing absolutely nothing during this pandemic and in fact making things worse.
I agree I can't wait for 1974 to come along to shut these Covidiots up once and for all.
You can't make this shit up. Dougy calling for an end to partisan bickering. Yes, that would be him telling himself to stop playing vaccine politics with the feds along with his other incompetent Con premier colleagues. Equally as bizarre, him condemning people for filling up malls that he left open. Duh! All this time he's been criticizing and begging for more doses when they were never even close to running out. And now that the shit has hit the fan he's suddenly all in on team Canada. I doubt his intentions are for the good of the public. I'd bet that with this "team Canada" tactic, he sees it as a way to try to spread the failures around that are clearly of his own making.
ReplyDeleteHistory wont be kind to Dougy once the dust settles and the actions of his murderclown government are revealed. I foresee many public inquiries, lawsuits, protests and maybe as the subject on an episode of "Hoarders". Speaking of which, Brivana better start hoarding the lipstick for this troubled pig. He's gonna need it.
JD
The only Canadian politicians who'll come out of this pandemic with heads held high are the Atlantic premiers. They reacted quickly, worked together and prioritized people's health. They ignored the gong shows going on beyond the QC and US borders, followed strategies that worked in Asia, and to date have Covid death numbers comparable to Australia.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the premiers failed miserably. They killed their own people in an effort to keep the economy going. Ironically, their half-measures and delays ended up prolonging the lockdowns and economic pain they tried to avoid.
As for JT, 5 years after Harper left, our national public health agency still wasn't prepared for a pandemic and our PPE cupboard was bare. He owns that. Blaming JT for the private sector's failure to deliver vaccines sooner is just bad faith politics. But I do blame JT for allowing non-essential air travel. The soonest I can go to New Zealand is July, because that's the earliest date I can get to begin my 14-day stay in a government-run quarantine hotel. Why don't we care enough to do the same? Instead, we allow politicians, business hot shots and snowbirds to vacation in Covid hotspots like FL and return whenever they like. After an unmonitored "self-isolation" or sooner, these self-centered idiots roam freely among us. And now a 3-day unmonitored hotel stay is supposed to make us safer? What a joke! Raise the cost of travel so people limit it to what's truly essential. JT could safeguard Canadians by doing what NZ has proven works, but he won't. No guts or glory there.
Hi Steve....You're right, the Cons are now toxic to this country and its values. The Trump years completed the process that began with the election of Stephen Harper. Harper had nothing but contempt for our values, and when he was finished with the Cons they were no longer a party decent Canadians could support...
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie...Great comment. The Cons and other losers like Kinsella are always comparing us to the U.S., but always fail to point out that more than 500,000 people have died there, and that vaccine hesitancy is a far bigger problem than it is here. There has always been a Canada hating strain in this country, and since most of the print media is owned by an American hedge fund the problem is now out of control. But as for Erin O'Toole, he is becoming a parody of himself. And you're right, if he wants an inquiry he'll get more than he bargained for, if he's still around...
ReplyDeleteHi JD....Ford like all the other Cons is now such a mess, I don't think he knows what he's saying or doing. He's running scared, according to an Angus Reid poll today his polls are finally start to erode, and what's happening to Kenney must keep him up at night. I don't know how he managed to fool so many suckers into voting for him, but they are going to pay for that, and Ford will as well. I notice that he changed his tune not long after Justin Trudeau spoke to him, and I have a feeling that Trudeau read him the riot act. Dougie was always a bully, and like most bullies is probably a coward. I look forward to seeing him go down like the Hindenburg...
ReplyDeleteHi anon@1:36AM....No leaders anywhere in the world have a perfect record. The Atlantic premiers did perform well, but when there are more people in the GTA than in all their provinces combined that’s not too hard. The Con premiers are the ones who have blood all over their hands. As for Justin Trudeau he may have made some mistakes too, but overall his record as a leader is a good one. He has avoided grubby politics and his Team Canada is simply superb. As for the flight situation I sympathize with you, I have two tickets to Scotland, and I don’t even know whether I will ever get my money back. When Covid first erupted the borders had to be kept open to allow Canadians to return from abroad. But I agree, the borders like so many other places should have been locked down more firmly. We have all been too lax and we’re all going to pay for it...
ReplyDeleteI still don't get why the US and Israel are more faster then us with vaccinating the population. It's really because the conservatives of Stephen Harper axed our own vaccine factory? As if we have to patiently wait for the imported seringes from Europe which sometimes cannot come as anticipated?
ReplyDeleteAll good points. There is a saying that victory has many parents, but defeat is an orphan. In this case there are a bunch of parents of this disaster who need to be tarred with this mess as well...
ReplyDeleteThe chief medical officer Williams should be lumped in with Doug Ford too. Spineless and ineffective.
The other thing is that when your cabinet is made up of less than competent or intelligent folks who won't or can't understand science and are right wing ideologues thru and thru that they can't grasp helping others... well here we are.
Keeping churches open is pretty fucking stupid too. I lay that at the feet of the prosperity gospel churches who have way too much influence in the Ford Gov. Most other churches were reasonable and realized the necessity of this. Why does god need cash flow? Unless it's not god, but keeping the church leaders earthly good times rolling.
And finally the CFIB and Chamber of Commerce should completely shut the fuck up. Yes, businesses are being hurt. Yes, a lot of folks are going to be financially damaged by another lockdown. But we know where your allegiance lies strictly to the all might dollar.*
*I'm not against people making money, but money takes a back seat to dealing with a once in a century pandemic and trying to keep as many people alive as we can.
Hi Simon. I just had to share this with everyone before the weekend.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/gtlem/status/1380291773537341440
The tool is now tied with unsure. Canadians are sure about this though. You suck Erin.
JD
Voice of Franky twitter new poll
ReplyDeleteLiberal Party of Ontario 33.6%
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario 33.3% :)
I read the new today and I was not okay after that. It seems BMPM along with making Canada the country that traded away the New Energy Plan which Norway adopted without changing a comma for a Big Oil Agenda. We go Jason Kenney
ReplyDeleteand Norway got a trillion dollars.
BMPM also sold of CN for pennies on the dollar when now we realize rail is the best, and the property alone is worth 100 times what he sold it for. We make me always ask was he SEE EYE AYE. Next he signed free trade which economist say is a wash, but the fine print shows it makes us totally intertwined with the a cancer.