That is a tough one. The quote from Shakespeare is something about ‘Uneasy hangs the head that wears the Crown.’ It just seems even better when you are referring to the bums that sit around the cabinet tables of scary martinets.
And, of course, we are talking about their anatomical bums and not that they are bums. The first is something everybody has to sit on. The second is someone with nothing better to do.
In this sense I have been evaluating two prize examples of Ontario premier Doug Ford’s cabinet. They are Merrilee Fullerton MPP for Kanata-Carleton in the Ottawa area and my MPP Doug Downey from Severn, Ontario who was parachuted into my riding of Barrie-Springfield-Oro-Medonte. Both of these people lounge around premier Ford’s cabinet table.
Merrilee Fullerton is minister for long-term care. That seems to be the ministry that has the record for pandemic deaths in Ontario. It might seem appropriate for a retired doctor to take responsibility for all those deaths but there are many of us who question why. Our particular concern is that the highest rate of deaths from covid-19 in Ontario are at for-profit long-term care facilities.
So far, the province has shrugged off its responsibility for all those deaths in the for-profit homes but some inspection would have helped to pin-point the problems. You would think that even a doctor could have deduced the problem when there were twice the deaths in the privately-owned facilities.
Doctor Fullerton’s colleague, Mr. Downey, at the Ford table is the attorney-general of Ontario. Back when he was just a ward-healer for Severn Township, life must have been quieter for this Doug. Laying on his reputed legal expertise for the entire province is more of a challenge. So far, he has been making a name for himself in political fund-raising and in laying on the patronage.
Downey has set some records in raising funds in this riding and in getting his party an increased per vote allowance from the last lop-sided election in Ontario. At the same time, he is putting restraints on third party advertisers who might or might not support the conservatives. He has also given patronage for lawyers a new emphasis by asking for more qualified lawyers be in the potential judges lists—probably to assure there are conservatives to appoint.
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