As the numbers of this second wave of the pandemic continue to climb, Ontario premier Doug Ford continues to flail and grasp for any bit of cover that he can. Yesterday, while warning that the next set of modelling data are truly terrifying – but not actually doing anything about it – he tried to once again shift blame. And the not doing anything – making vague promises that he’ll consider more actions for Monday or Tuesday, rather than immediately, despite the fact that the current mockdown isn’t working and ICU capacity is at the red line in most of the hot spots, means that Mr. “I won’t hesitate” is once again hesitating, and there will be more lives lost on his watch.
If only he decided to do something instead of hesitating on a calling a mockdown so that people could get in their Xmas shopping and feel like they could permissibly see their families… https://t.co/dz0aRB8Qjx
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 8, 2021
Can we please avoid this phrasing? "We" didn't miss the chance. Ontario had pretty much the best COVID network in the northern hemisphere in July. Premier McCheescakeface and the rest of his maliciously incompetent government threw it away. Do not let these people off the hook. https://t.co/Smqvw4EeO7
— Alex Usher (@AlexUsherHESA) January 8, 2021
Simple really. Proactive planning is something Doug Ford will never be capable of. He’s shown this time and time again. https://t.co/Ru8KsMRpnW
— Justin Hine (@justinhine) January 8, 2021
As for the blame-shifting, Ford (along with a couple of other premiers) are howling that they’re running out of vaccines, after the slow roll-out – so slow that Ontario is already starting to give people their second doses. But, running out of vaccines is a good thing, because it means they’re going into arms. And more to the point, he knows that there are thousands of more Pfizer doses coming next week, the week after, and then again, the week after that, plus another bulk shipment of Moderna vaccines – and deliveries are expected to scale up further in February. They know this. This has been communicated for a while now, but he’s trying to deflect the attention to Trudeau once again to divert away from his own incompetence. (And apparently there were some hurt feelings among the premiers during Thursday’s first ministers meeting because Trudeau dared to criticize the provinces for their role in the slow roll-out. The poor dears).
https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1347570045178818560
Well, if the premiers' feelings are hurt then we should just let people die from a preventable disease. https://t.co/uOkcq2fW0N
— Andrew Young (@SpartanVTyranny) January 7, 2021
Meanwhile, here’s a roundup of vaccine plans and timelines being put out by the provinces and territories (assuming that they will actually meet them).
Good reads:
- Justin Trudeau made his strongest statement against Trump to date, naming him as one of the instigators of the Capitol Hill invasion, and pleaded for unity and facts.
- Surprising nobody who’s paid attention, the plans to have everyone vaccinated by the end of September depends on other vaccines approvals.
- It turns out that Senator Don Plett co-signed the order to halt interparliamentary travel at the start of the pandemic, for what it’s worth.
- Chantal Hébert tries to discern just why François Legault’s polling numbers are so high in spite of the fact that the COVID situation in Quebec is a tire fire.
- Colby Cosh is not terribly keen on Dick Pound’s suggestion that Canadians would be happy to let Olympians jump the vaccine queue so that the Games can go ahead.
- My weekend column calls out the everyday rhetoric that conservatives in this country use as a precursor to the same angry Trumpism that exploded in the US.
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The provinces were informed by the Federal government months ago now how the vaccine supply would enter Canada. It would be slow at first, remember the companies need to ramp up production after they receive government approvals, then as per the contracts made between them and the government, Canada would get an ever increasing supply. This always meant that most Canadians would get needles in their arms by September of 2021. It is specious for any provincial leader or health authority to say otherwise, however the trend is that the Premiers will inexorably attempt to blame Trudeau for not giving them sufficient supply. The problem we have here in Canada and elsewhere in the world it a press that feeds off fears and immediacies which gives rise to an unrealistic reportage of the facts. We have been patient for eleven months. At the beginning of the pandemic we were cautioned that it may be years before a vaccine was developed. Fortunately the drug companies have achieved a modern miracle. We need to reserve our haste and understand that in a world of seven billion people it will take some time to vaccinate all. Here in Canada we too are fortunate that our government did contract with many vaccine makers doses far exceeding what would be necessary for thirty seven million of us. Ford et al must take a step back and start preaching patience. I have doubts that these “leaders” have the intelligence to do so. Meanwhile, the situation is what it is. Vaccines will come, we will get our turn and hot air from the authorities will not change the reality.
“Roundup: Ford fails, flails, and falsifies”
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