Category: Provincial Politics

Ford’s Innovation?

by Peter Lowry

If the business of the province is to deliver healthcare to its citizens, then why is the federal government butting in? What if Doug Ford’s version of Medicare is different from the version of Medicare preferred by François Legault’s CAQ in Quebec? And who knows what Danielle Smith’s people might prefer in Alberta?    

And yet, the prime minister is calling for a meeting that will discuss, among other subjects, the collection of data in an organized manner across the provinces. This is like a group of school children kept after school to get their letters done properly.

How does the prime minister determine just who is doing Medicare right? Did the pandemic tell us just who was doing Medicare right and who is wrong? Did they measure the incidence, the vaccinations, the hospitalizations, the ICU cases, the deaths? If the patient is dead, is that your final answer?

But here you have Doug Ford in Ontario pumping private surgical clinics to clear up the backlog of simple surgeries. Is cataract surgery a simple procedure? And is Doug going to shut down these emergency clinics when the province catches up?

And just how much privatization will the system tolerate? How does ‘for profit’ medicine compete with ‘free’? Is your Ontario health card the same as a charge card? Will it be honoured in Florida, if that is where you spend your winter? Doug Ford says it is the only card you need?

I have this picture in mind where a doctor is explaining to the grieving widow that the robot operator of the private clinic made the mistake of removing the patient’s heart instead of the gall bladder.

Just don’t bother asking Doug Ford where the medical staff for these private clinics is to come from. It seems Doug Ford has a serious hearing problem.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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A Toot to the Past.

by Peter Lowry

What the liberals take away, the Tories can replace and the cost be damned. The Ontario Northlander rail service from Toronto to Timmins and Cochrane is expected to be back in service within the next three years. While the service is certainly needed despite the subsidies required from the province, the government of the day is looking backwards instead of forward. They are spending for the benefit to be in time for the next provincial election instead of the long term needs of Northern Ontario.

When the clear direction of Ontario is to electrify commuter and regional train services, the conservatives want to add three more diesel trains to the mix at a cost of $139 million. At the same time, they are spending additional funds on track upgrades and stations. This would have been the ideal time to electrify the line.

With the planned 16 stations over the 700 kilometres, it is an ideal application for a higher speed electrical service. The time savings alone would draw people away from the up to nine-hour trip by automobile.

The Northlander has a noble history. It had been in service for 110 years when the Kathleen Wynne government axed it as a cost saving measure. I once spent some time in Timmins and visited one of the still operating gold mines. I realized then the wealth that the Northlander has contributed to Ontario over many years. Watching the liquid gold pouring into the moulds is quite impressive.

My only conclusion on this Northlander business is that the Ford conservatives must have their hard little hearts set on winning some Northern Ontario seats in the next Ontario election. It is unlikely they can offset the seats they are going to lose in the Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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In Ayn Rand’s Tutelage.

by Peter Lowry

A recent opinion piece in my daily paper invoked the image of “Ayn Rand’s Apostles.” It is hard to believe that forty years after her death, a Russian-born script writer from Hollywood is still influencing the right wing of America. And, even worse, influencing the hard-right libertarians in our country to challenge the legitimacy of Canada’s federal government.

It is important to remember the Ayn Rand philosophy of Objectivism was built on extremist levels of libertarian self-interest and self-gratification. It also should be noted that she felt she needed to emphasize her anti-communist leanings in an America after the Second World War.

When foolish Ford in Ontario announced his strong-mayor idea, I must admit I saw little wrong with giving the mayor something to do rather then follow the firetrucks and cut ribbons to get his picture in the paper. It makes little sense when the mayor has no more voting strength than his ward councillors despite sometimes having more citizen votes than all the city councillors combined. I was also under the impression that a strong mayor would be given powers of appointment. I never considered a situation where the mayor could pass legislation with less than 50 per cent support.

Mayor John Tory disappointed me when he made an appointment without council support before the bill had even been passed by the legislature. As much as he might smile at the prospect of an easy third term in office, passing motions with just minority voting is hardly democratic.

But one only has to look at Alberta to see just how bad the situation might be. Danielle Smith has backtracked from some of the extremes of her Sovereignty Act. What she does not seem to understand is how this country is put together. I think I took that level of civics in public school.

Somehow, I doubt that Scott Moe, premier of Saskatchewan, will follow with his province’s sovereignty act. He does like to follow Alberta’s lead.

But the guy who marches to the Ayn Rand tunes in Quebec is the bigot and tribalist, François Legault. He is giving Canada a reputation for bigotry and racism from his forbidding religious symbols, demands in immigration and preventing people from using any language other than French. Ayn Rand would have been proud of him.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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A Contest of One.

by Peter Lowry

That is what you call a political boo-boo. It was an opportunity for attention. It was a time to be heard. You forego it at your peril. A new leader for any party needs the litmus test of opposition. It is a time of party cleansing and clarification.

Talking to liberal leader Steven Del Duca at the beginning of the provincial campaign this year, I found he did not understand that the conservatives had duped him. He had been waiting for the election to make his case, so the conservatives gave him a 15-day election. He had 15 days and then the advance polls opened and the public interest would shift to voting. He had almost no time to make an impression. It was a waste of time.

Del Duca never looked like a leader. He was not one. He travelled the province in a van. He was never important enough for a bus. He never dressed as a premier. He is a casual kind of guy.

Both opposition leaders from the 2022 provincial election ran for mayor in their municipalities this fall and won. Andrea Horwath is now the mayor of Hamilton and Steven Del Duca is mayor of Vaughan. They are both likely to be happier there. And they can rail at premier Doug Ford all they like.

But how foolish are the provincial new democrats not to be sure they had a contest for the leadership of their party? They can ill-afford the lethargy of their party members. They needed to build enthusiasm for the need to rid the province of Doug Ford. They needed the party platforms to introduce their leadership candidates. They needed to define the party in this 21st Century.

There is no doubt that new democrat leader MPP Marit Stiles from Davenport riding in Toronto has a pretty smile. Is she worth $180,000 per year of taxpayers’ money as leader of the opposition in the legislature? Andrea Horwath was never worth it. She never earned it. She might as well have been sitting mute in the legislature for the past ten years.

The leader of the opposition in the legislature does not need to be a nag. The job requires sharp political instincts. You cannot be trailing the government. You have to get ahead of the conservatives. You have to be able to see the government’s weaknesses. And attack with concern and smarts.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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What Lane is That?

by Peter Lowry

Alberta premier Danielle Smith won this week’s prize. That would be the case if we had a prize for the dumbest statement of the week by a provincial premier. It seems we have a constant three-way contest between Doug Ford in Ontario, Danielle Smith in Alberta and François Legault in Quebec. These guys make prime minister Justin Trudeau look smart.

Danielle won hands down this week with her Alberta sovereignty act. This woman who has never been elected premier of anything, tells us that our federal government has to stay in its own lane. It is hard to trust polls this far ahead of an election but Smith, at this time, might have difficulty getting elected provincial dog catcher.

The only people who have voted for her—and in a squeaker—were a collection of rural libertarians and urban conservatives called the United(?) Conservative Party of Alberta. And the guy who put all that together, namely former premier Jason Kenney, has left the building.

At least in Ontario, the only enemy Doug Ford has is himself. He read a book once—I think it was Robin Hood—only he got it wrong and he thinks you are supposed to steal from the poor and give the proceeds of your crime to the rich. He is a conservative and doesn’t know any better.

We had a good laugh the other day when a superior court judge tossed out Ford’s signature law limiting, mostly female, government employees to a one-per cent wage hike per year. The judge said, very wisely, that there was no fiscal emergency on which to hang such a draconian law. I guess the fact it was also discriminatory was just frosting on the cake.

And what was Doug’s response? He will appeal—using the taxpayer’s money—to defend his stupidity. And most of us in Ontario know his stupidity is indefensible.

And that leaves the guy in Quebec City who must have been taking a breather this week. After all you can hardly defend the French language and encourage bigotry, week in and week out and not need some time off. He is probably in Florida, getting lessons in uncaring right-wing governance from Governor Ron DeSantis.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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Serfs Up!

by Peter Lowry

We are not talking about the ocean surf here. We are talking about the people Ontario premier Doug Ford seems to consider as his serfs. He doesn’t seem to understand that slavery has been illegal in Ontario for going on 200 years. He thinks he can threaten people with ridiculous fines for withdrawing their labour.

This might be the beginning of the second Upper Canada Rebellion. Bring your muskets and we will meet at Montgomery’s tavern. We can march down Yonge Street. We can start by offering solidarity with CUPE’s education workers. They were brave to tell the Ford government: “Hell, no.”

Mr. Ford needs to be advised that all education workers have rights. These are not just the right to strike for a fair wage. Like our Ontario nurses, they have the right to move to where they can be paid fairly.

While we certainly agree with the CUPE education workers that they are being undervalued and that Mr. Ford is nothing but a braggart and a bully, the real blame has to be laid on Ontario voters. Mr. Ford’s conservatives were re-elected by about 20 per cent of the eligible voters in the election. That was one voter in five who chose Mr. Ford. Mind you, what did you expect to happen when more than half of Ontario voters did not bother to vote?

I expect that more than half of the Ontario population are also deeply concerned about the children whose education has been cut short again. Children are resilient but remote learning is still not the solution for many. They need the expert guidance offered by trained teachers. They need to learn in an environment that is designed for that purpose. They need the encouragement of a professional to learn. The group interaction provides incentive. The interaction is also important to their socialization.

And there is one thing for sure, a college drop-out such as Doug Ford is not the person I would want directing my children’s education. Nor would I consider it a good idea to having a private-schooled minister of education such as Stephen Lecce.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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Letting Lecce Learn?

by Peter Lowry

I heard over the grapevine the other day that the word on Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce is that he is too old to be handsome and too young to have learned much. And all along, I thought he was just deaf. Why people waste time talking to the man is the wonder. Yet we let him pretend to run a $30 billion operation called the Ontario Ministry of Education.

That seems to indicate that the man who gave Lecce the job of minister was stupider than we thought. And what either Lecce or his boss know about bargaining with unions, is obviously not very much. The conservative government’s attitude towards unions is what created unions in the first place. The support workers who help keep teachers in their classrooms don’t deserve the treatment they have been getting.

In bargaining with a union, you don’t keep offering the same insulting amount and then lie to the legislature about what they asked for. In face of galloping inflation, it is unrealistic to stand firm on poverty wages. Decent offers often get a decent response. Standing firm on poverty level wages gets the response it deserves.

But what else would you expect from a premier and a minister who have absolutely no experience that might help them do their jobs? Lecce can hardly rely on his private school experience to help him understand public education. What he has ever done or learned to help him do the ministry job seems to be a secret.

He actually said this week that if the union would take strike action off the table, he would have another offer. And if the union took the strike off the table, they would be at the mercy of people who do not care. Strike is their only option.

Lecce’s boss, premier Doug Ford is more of an open book. Doug Ford failed municipal politics 101 under the tutelage of his late brother Rob Ford. And after failing to win the mayoralty, he moved up to provincial politics. Maybe his father was a one-time member of the legislature but the younger Ford learned nothing from him. When he entered the legislature to sit as premier of Ontario, his first six months was a series of gaffs and mistakes. He interfered in a municipal election in process in Toronto. Cronyism filled his appointments schedule. Pay-offs for developers and other donors was his game plan, He knows nothing of good government. The other day he had the sergeant at arms escorting the NDP members from the legislature. It seems you are not supposed to call a lie a lie in Mr. Ford’s Ontario. I am pleased that there are some people there who know a lie when they hear one.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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A Frugal Ford?

by Peter Lowry

Ontario premier Doug Ford has an unusual problem for a conservative. The provincial government’s Financial Accountability Office says that the government has a $2.1 billion budget surplus instead of a $13.5 billion deficit. This is an amazing turnaround of $15.6 billion. It raises all kinds of questions for me.

Many years ago, before the major use of credit or debit cards, I took a hands-on course in super-market management. The training was in one of the largest chain stores in the Toronto area. One of the things I found in cash management was that you needed to worry more about the cashier who frequently finished the day with more money in the till than the one who was a bit short.

One of the traits of the Harper federal government was this tendency to have more money left over each year than expected. What the Harper conservatives had learned was that money, promised to be spent, but not spent, was money in the bank.

There are cabinet retreads in the Ontario government who served in that last Harper government. They obviously brought some of those ideas with them.

And, you have to admit, $15 billion would have gone a long way in retaining nurses in Ontario’s health system. Part of it could have helped settle teachers into teaching instead of worrying about the cost of food at the grocery stores.

But the cheapskates in the Ford government would rather have ignorant voters think the Ford crowd knows how to manage their money. As it is, retaining our capabilities in healthcare, providing adequate teaching staff and in all aspects of managing government services in Ontario are in question. The Ford government cannot be trusted to spend the money it promises to spend.

The worst part of it is the failure to stay alert to cost of living concerns of those least able to handle them. The money for the Ontario Works program and The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) has been jerked away from these people and then only replaced when inflation is running rampant. Doug Ford makes Scrooge look like a saint

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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Mr. Ford Regrets.

by Peter Lowry

You never know why some people extend regrets to a friendly invitation. Everyone seems to be going on and on about the premier of Ontario going to his lawyers to get him off the list of witness for the Rouleau Inquiry in Ottawa. You would think that in as much as it is the judgement of the Trudeau government that is being questioned here, Mr. Ford would be delighted to help impeach them.

But no. Mr. Ford’s problem is not that he is unhappy maligning the federal liberals. He can do that over his morning cereal. Mr. Ford’s handlers have another problem. It is the problem that he cannot go into the witness box with a teleprompter. Anywhere that Mr. Ford goes these days, his teleprompter equipment goes with him. He has never been taught how to use it properly but it is there for him to keep his feet out of his mouth.

His need for a teleprompter is so serious that one was installed at the funeral for two South Simcoe police officers in Barrie recently. I think it was the first time I had ever seen teleprompter equipment at a funeral. Doug was the only person to use it. Under the circumstances, it was not as hilarious as his usual use of the equipment. He reads a line from one side, turns his head to the other side and reads a line from there.

The fact this is just an inquiry and not a trial, has not changed Doug’s attitude. He knows that his off-the-cuff remarks can cause him trouble. And that might be serious if it got out just how much he was chortling over the discomfort to Ottawa’s liberal politicians.

His other problem is that part of the order for the emergencies act was to solve the needs at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor. Doug had shot off his mouth about the impact that inconvenient blockade was having on Ontario. I doubt that he has gotten around to thanking the prime minister for including that problem. It was easy enough to resolve, once someone told the Ontario provincial police to clean up that mess.

Talking to Ontario conservatives about what a blowhard Doug Ford can be, I often get the response that he sure is, “But he is our blowhard.”

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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Danielle’s Daily Dose.

by Peter Lowry

Reading news from Alberta makes you wonder just where the current premier gets her daily dose of news. Being a news junky myself, I seriously worry about Danielle Smith’s sources of information. If she continues to spout opinions without reference to where those ideas are coming from, she is going to end up bankrupting the province to pay her legal fees.

A good example is her recent diatribes against the World Economic Forum. Not only is her opinion of the organization so obviously based on ignorance but she is lucky the organization obviously does not give a damn what she thinks. Keep it up though, and they might.

But I prefer to wait until she decides that Alberta can ignore the recent federal gun law changes. Good luck fighting that one lady.

She keeps talking the talk but fighting the feds at the Supreme Court of Canada would obviously cost Alberta more than the federal government. That is home turf to the fed’s lawyers.

I guess a large part of the premier’s problem is that the major newspapers in Alberta are owned by the Postmedia chain. It is, in turn, owned by Americans who had their roots in the infamous National Inquirer. The American publications are under the umbrella of the former American Media company that has had a variety of names over the years possibly caused by law suits and bankruptcies. Just how Paul Godfrey got that bunch of American republicans involved in funding a group of Canadian newspapers, I cannot fathom. All I know is that, in the U.S., they are proud supporters of Mr. Trump and his sorry republicans.

I would trust the opinions of fellow blogger David Climenhaga, who writes on Alberta’s lack of political sense, before trusting any opinions from Postmedia.

Though I must admit, I am a bit disappointed not to have premier Jason Kenney to kick around anymore.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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