Roundup: Ford opts for more private clinics

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As expected, Doug Ford announced a plan to move more outpatient surgeries to private clinics. While I have a column on this coming out later today that goes into my thinking on this in greater depth, I did want to share some of the more salient tweets on this through the day, because they’re asking the right questions.

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1615014400385077251

We should note the interview that provincial health minister Sylvia Jones did Power & Politics, where the question of these clinics upselling to patients was raised, and Jones dismissed any concerns as this being about “choice,” which is a red flag.

Jagmeet Singh was, of course, demanding that Justin Trudeau swoop in to save the day, in spite of not really having any particular federal levers to deploy.

Meanwhile, Chrystia Freeland was busy subtweeting the whole thing.

And of course, the Beaverton had one of the most salient responses to Ford’s announcement, as they are wont to.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 328:

The death toll from the Russian missile strike on the apartment building in Dnipro has risen to 40, as rescuers continue to sort through the rubble. There was also Russian shelling in Kherson, killing three people. Meanwhile, Russians may have finally taken Soledar, though it remains unconfirmed, though that came at a horrific cost of thousands of dead or wounded Russians—a tactic where the Ukrainians are trying to exhaust the Russians leaving them vulnerable in other areas.

https://twitter.com/tpyxanews/status/1615112061951909894

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau went to Saskatoon to visit a rare earth element processing plant, and Scott Moe got put out because Trudeau didn’t call him first.
  • Trudeau sidestepped questions about Ford’s announcement, but said he hoped to announce “positive steps” on health transfers in the very near future.
  • Trudeau also said that he is looking at the letter the premiers sent on bail reform (never mind that the bigger problem is provinces not enforcing bail conditions).
  • Steven Guilbeault has approved a lithium mine in James Bay—pending some 271 conditions to mitigate its environmental impact.
  • Federal and provincial agriculture ministers have reached an agreement on a grocery code of conduct to reign in abuses by the grocery oligopolies.
  • The plans to replace the military’s Twin Otter aircraft, used primarily in the Arctic, are on hold without any explanation.
  • Another class-action lawsuit is now underway for sexual misconduct in the military’s cadet programme.
  • The Canadian Standards Association has come up with national guidelines for long-term care, but the government won’t say when they plan to legislate them.
  • A group of MPs from all parties are demanding more action from the federal government to protect vulnerable Afghans.
  • Danielle Smith says she’s no longer pursing pardons for COVID rule-breakers because our system doesn’t work like that. (Really?! You don’t say!)
  • Kevin Carmichael explores the need for the Bank of Canada to learn their lessons from the inflation spike and aren’t being blinded by their prior beliefs.
  • Paul Wells recalls the late Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s warning about the state of the public service, and the fact that there has been five years of silence on it.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take questions whether the F-35 procurement was really the debacle that talking heads are calling it.

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One thought on “Roundup: Ford opts for more private clinics”

  1. Doug Ford is a scammer. Only one could devise a health system that paves the way to clinics who will scam individuals under the guise that OHIP will pay all costs. BS. The sheeple taxpayers are getting scammed again, but they voted for his regime! Health care in Canada which is under provincial jurisdiction is at this precarious stage because provincial governments did not build hospitals and infrastructure, educate more doctors and nurses and others but misappropriated the funds for other vote getting projects. It has taken the pandemic to highlight this shortcoming along with a rapidly aging populace. Strings, strings, strings, perhaps ropes and cables from the Federal government and even then Canadians cannot trust their Provincial governments to do the right things.

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