Roundup: The flailing incompetence of Ontario’s new sick days

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If there was any doubt that the murderclowns in Doug Ford’s government were flailing incoherently, they announced a new paid sick leave programme yesterday, and wouldn’t you know it, it defies all common sense or logic. The idea is that employees get up to three days of paid sick leave – temporarily, because heaven forbid they stand up to the small business lobby and make this permanent – and employers can claim up to $200 per day for those employees, but they have to do it through the Workers Compensation bureaucracy, for some unknown reason. And we still have no idea what kinds of protections are actually in place for the workers if they use those days, because that’s a very big part of this. Furthermore, this was the province doing the bare minimum – they chose three days apparently because a) it’s what is currently in the Canada Labour Code for federally-regulated workers, and b) after three days, a person could claim the federal sickness benefit (because it pays out for the week), so they’re still trying to fob people off on to a system that was designed for those who can’t access employer-paid sick leave because they don’t have a traditional employer. And possibly the most galling part was how much the provincial labour minister was patting himself on the back for these woefully inadequate half-measures (which people were having to say was a “great first start” through gritted teeth all evening).

It shouldn’t have been like this. The easy fix was to simply allow sufficient days (probably up to ten given the current circumstances) under the provincial labour code, and employers could then access rebates either through the federal wage subsidy, as it’s been designed for, or a provincial stop-gap if they’re not currently on said subsidy, and it would have been easier, it would have protected jobs and workers’ rights, it would have been seamless, and we wouldn’t have the same problems that we’re having right now with those trying to access the federal benefit (which was not designed for these circumstances). But that would have angered the business lobbies, and Doug Ford would never want to do that, because they’re whom he considers the “little guy” that he looks out for. So here we are instead, with another badly designed system that seeks to do the bare minimum, and because this was done in haste, and with this government’s usual flailing incompetence, I suspect we won’t be out of problems with it anytime soon – just like everything else that has gone to wrong in this province, because it’s being run by incompetent murderclowns.

In case you were wondering what all of this flailing was trying to cover, it would be the Auditor General’s report on long-term care, which was a not unexpected recounting that there was a woeful lack of preparation, where long-standing problems quickly got amplified, while the ministry of long-term care was not prepared or equipped to deal with those issues. Again, not a surprise, but damning nevertheless. And what did the minister responsible for long-term care do? Blame everyone else including the NDP – who haven’t been in power since 1995 – for “starting the fire,” and she insisted that she was the one who ran into the burning building to save people, which…is a novel interpretation, especially considering that her government reduced the number of inspections and made things worse. Of course, we are in a system of Responsible Government, and she is the minister in charge of the portfolio, and guess what – she is responsible. If she had any modicum of shame or decency, she would tender her resignation for allowing the deaths of thousands on her hands, but this band of murderclowns are absolutely incapable of decency or shame.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1387459497803796481

Good reads:

  • Trudeau will be speaking at a global celebrity virtual “concert” next month on the subject of vaccine equality, which has all of the COVAX disinformation hyped up.
  • Since the start of the mandatory hotel quarantines, more than 2000 travellers have tested positive for COVID, and a quarter of those had a variant of concern. Yikes!
  • The RCMP are looking to re-make their entrance exam to scrub some of the structural racism and barriers to more women and minorities.
  • It seems the military police ended their investigation into allegations surrounding General Vance the first time in 2015 hours after he was sworn-in as the new CDS.
  • Meanwhile, more instances of the Old Boys’ Club in the military doing nothing about a convicted sexual attacker, and writing him glowing character references.
  • The Government Operations Committee has decided to look into Shared Services Canada’s procurement practices, and questions of favouritism with certain vendors.
  • Now that former staffer Elder Marques has testified at defence committee, the Conservatives want him to testify in the never-ending WE Imbroglio hearings.
  • Conservatives are demanding that the government appeal the Ontario court decision that struck down the new prostitution laws as unconstitutional.
  • Here’s a longread about the state of the queer communities in relation to the Conservative Party, and Erin O’Toole’s quest to have them embrace his party.
  • Provinces still aren’t using the testing and tracing capabilities that the federal government has made available to them (while they still blame them).
  • Susan Delacourt is experiencing déjà vu as she listens to the same talking points in the childcare debate as happened pre-2005, including some galling allegations.
  • Robert Hiltz suggests that it’s time that the members of Ontario’s Science Advisory Table resign en masse so as to avoid giving Doug Ford any more political cover.
  • Hiltz also warns the federal government against sounding smug when their failures pale in comparison to those of the provinces, and in doing a “good-enough” job.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: The flailing incompetence of Ontario’s new sick days”

  1. She didn’t start the fire?

    Billy Joel could write an anthem with the looooong list of provincial murderclowns who’ve completely borked this pandemic response and then issued The Former Guy’s disclaimer that “I don’t take any responsibility at all.” I’m sure the song would go on longer than “Ninety-Nine Buck-a-Beers On the Wall.”

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