The Washington Post published an op-ed piece by David Mossop on April 18 calling on Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford to resign. While it may seem odd that the call comes first from a foreign source, we should remember that they’re right next door, and suddenly, given the relatively competent leadership the US is experiencing at the moment, they’re worried that just when they are finally taking steps to get the virus under control there is a growing threat from Ontario, the Brazil of the North TM.
To be fair Doug Ford isn’t Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is like having Godzilla as mayor of Tokyo, while Doug Ford is more like … maybe … Homer Simpson … except not as bright. As The Washington Post piece points out in detail, Ford wasn’t competent to do the job of premier prior to Covid, and since the onset of the pandemic, his government has been little short of a disaster.
Ford likes to posture as a plain talking, “just folks” kind of guy, but working people need to understand that Ford’s “folks” are not us.WE are employees of Doug Ford and the fellow millionaires who are his “folks.” This is why “folks” need to stay at home, while we need to go to work in unsafe conditions to “keep the economy running.”
On April 16 Ford issued orders shutting down pretty much all outdoors activity in Ontario while ordering police to stop and check anyone outdoors to make sure they were doing something “essential.” These measures were widely condemned as idiotic and unenforceable, but y’know, we’ve got to look like we’re doing something even if we don’t have a clue.
As a matter of fact, even the dumbass measures that were rolled out on the 16th were late by a week. According to QP Briefing, the Ford government took “an extra week to implement a stay-at-home order to see if the modeling that predicted overflowing hospitals was coming true.” Oddly enough, scientific modelling was more accurate than Ford’s delusional wishful thinking. His actions on the 16th were a desperate attempt to look like he was doing something to contain a pandemic that was spiralling totally out of control largely due to his inaction.
Much of the criticism of the Ford government came from its adamant refusal to implement any kind of paid sick leave program for workers in Ontario. We should understand that for businessmen like Ford and friends, sick leave, even if somebody else is paying for it, means that workers are not on the job making money for THEM.
Which sort of lets the cat out of the bag concerning what the Capitalist system is all about doesn’t it? Profit trumps Life … a lot of lives … our lives, just like the modelling said it would. Even capitalism can do better than Doug Ford as noted in the Post article, but better still would be a government where us folks who produce the wealth count for more than the so-called “folks” in the 1%.
Breaking News!!!: Addenda to the never-ending saga of the Fab Ford Family, or is it the Dork Dynasty? Doug Ford has just issued an “apology,” for his orders on the 16th. He was stressed, it was a crisis, vaccines, airports, federal government. Sorry, sorry, sorry, not. Oh, and despite the fact he’s apologizing for hasty action on the 16th, he’ll be rolling out a paid sick leave program which he’s been opposing for months, any second now, not hasty at all … it’ll be “best in the world.” D’oh.
