It’s now day one-hundred-and-forty-seven of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and while Russian forces pound cities like Kramatorsk in the east, and targeted Odesa in the south, they are planning to begin annexing Ukrainian territory with installing proxy officials, false referenda, replacing the local currency and forcing people to apply for Russian citizenship. We know this because they did it in 2014 when they annexed Crimea, and they have a familiar MO.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greet Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska at the White House today. pic.twitter.com/hrLJROK8z8
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) July 19, 2022
Closer to home, there was a report out from Ontario’s Financial Accountability Officer yesterday that showed how Doug Ford and his merry band of incompetent murderclowns have been under-spending in a number of significant areas like healthcare, education, social supports that include things like autism therapy. Now, put this underspending into the same context of Ford crying poor and insisting that the federal government pony up more cash for healthcare, but he’s not even spending his own current budget allocation, he hasn’t reversed his cuts to nurses’ salaries, and he didn’t do enough when it comes to testing or tracing when it comes to the pandemic. The same report shows he only spent 58 percent of the pandemic funds the federal government sent over, putting the rest directly onto his bottom line to reduce the province’s deficit. And you wonder why the federal government wants strings attached to future funding, to ensure that it actually gets spent on the things it’s supposed to be spent on, and not being used to pad bottom lines.
Here's a breakdown from the FAO on where the Ford government underspent in 2021-22. It includes health, education, social services and contingency funds. #onpoli pic.twitter.com/pM7g0aq9Cp
— Colin D'Mello | Global News (@ColinDMello) July 19, 2022
The FAO report also highlights where the province increased planned spending and decreased planned spending in the 4th quarter (as Omicron swept the province)
Ontario Works, ODSP and capital grants and infrastructure for elementary and secondary were cut.#onpoli pic.twitter.com/1ZsG7AbuRV
— Colin D'Mello | Global News (@ColinDMello) July 19, 2022
On a related note, reporters were asking Justin Trudeau yesterday about the strain that emergency rooms are under, and when Trudeau noted the money they’ve sent to the provinces and that those dollars need to come with results, those same reporters frame this as “punting it” back to the provinces.
No.
It’s not punting—it’s the provinces’ gods damned jobs. And while this was justified as Trudeau campaigning on hiring more doctors and nurses, no—the campaign promise was to send $3.2 billion to the provinces to hire doctors and nurses, and it’s not rocket science to understand that this is the kind of thing he’s trying to attach strings to before he sends those cheques to the provinces, so that he knows that they’re going to actually spend it to hire doctors and nurses (and one presumes actually pay them properly) and that it won’t wind up padding their bottom lines like we just watched Doug Ford do. And I’m not trying to insinuate that the reporters are playing gotcha or that they’re being partisan, because they’re not—they’re trying to do their jobs, but they’re doing it with a grave misunderstanding about how jurisdiction works, and this nonsense belief that nobody cares about it. The problem is that they have to care, because that’s how we hold people to account for the work they’re supposed to be doing, which the premiers aren’t. Because media keeps giving them this out and trying to pin things on Trudeau “because nobody cares about jurisdiction,” and the only lever he has is to try and attach strings to funding and nothing else—the federal government cannot hire doctors and nurses because they have no authority to do so—it gives the provinces an out so that they can shift blame when it’s their gods damned responsibility. We need the media to understand this and hold the right people to account for their failures, and right now, that’s the gods damned premiers.
Today @JustinTrudeau was asked about ER closures.
He didn’t offer any new or concrete solutions, pointing only to a previously-announced $2B to provinces.
Those dollars need to come with results, Trudeau said, punting the issue back to the provinces.https://t.co/DKXCPQjqDc
— Teresa Wright (@ReporterTeresa) July 19, 2022