This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jason Warick reports on Steven Lewis’ blunt conclusion that Scott Moe and his government have been “really stupid” in taking “half-assed” steps in response to the fall wave of COVID-19. And Adam Hunter contrasts Moe’s refusal to consider any meaningful steps to
Continue readingTag: Doug Ford
Babel-on-the-Bay: Back to the Bully Pulpit.
It might have been a term coined by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt but our prime minister Justin Trudeau did the bully pulpit one better. It was living in Rideau Cottage while the official residence at 21 Sussex was under repair. Trudeau did a cuckoo clock single out the front door
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Premier is Missing (not a novel) – will he be back today to launch a big COVID-19 lockdown, or is it something else?
Where’s Jason Kenney? Alberta’s in the midst of a pandemic emergency that grows more frightening by the day, but it’s been days since the public’s seen or heard from the premier. Heath Minister Tyler Shandro (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta). There were 1,584 new COVID-19 cases in Alberta announced
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Doug Ford buys Ontario.
Listening to premier Doug Ford blow on about his Buy Ontario pitch brings back memories. After all I go back to the days when the province used to promote doing home renovation jobs in winter “When men and materials are available.” But Doug’s objective is to compete with president-elect Joe
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Eric Dolan reports on new research showing the connection between a sense of entitlement and a refusal to take basic steps to protect public health in a pandemic. And Francine Kapun reports on the Peel region’s move to fine employers who don’t put
Continue readingAlberta Politics: COVID-19 is out of control and Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government looks like a deer in the headlights
Faced with a real crisis — a deadly pandemic that won’t quit when you yell at it to knock it off — Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government apparently has no idea what to do. COVID-19 is out of control. Alberta hospitals and care facilities are in near chaos. Alberta’s premier,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Ricky Leong writes that any meaningful effort to stop the coronavirus has to include enforcement to deal with the people who haven’t responded to moral suasion. – Lauren Mascarenhas reports on the CDC’s belated recognition that masks benefit both wearers and others in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ignoring worried doctors, Jason Kenney sticks with largely voluntary ‘pause’ to keep lid on COVID-19
The pandemic is bad and quickly getting worse in Alberta with 860 new daily cases reported yesterday, but Premier Jason Kenney remains deeply committed to the please-knock-it-off-guys approach to controlling the spread of COVID-19. Only, this time, he really means it. Really! Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On jurisdictional barriers
Scott Gilmore rightly points out the need for a far more clear national response to COVID-19. But I’d think we can expand on the point with reference to a couple of other familiar jurisdictional disputes – even as those also highlight which provincial governments need to be called out as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Economist examines how much of Europe has been put into a renewed lockdown due to the second wave of COVID-19. But PressProgress points out how Brian Pallister’s rush to reopen has resulted in Manitoba seeing soaring infection rates rather than a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – The Globe and Mail’s editorial board is rightly aghast at Doug Ford’s choice to facilitate the spread of the coronavirus as a devastating fall wave hits, while Bruce Arthur writes that there may be no choice but to impose a lockdown as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman offer another look (PDF) at the growth of income and wealth inequality in the U.S. Andrew Jackson and Toby Sanger examine (PDF) the case for an annual net wealth tax to reduce its severity in Canada. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Bruce Arthur writes that Doug Ford’s already-pitiful response to COVID-19 is getting worse as Ontario opens up businesses in the midst of a deadly wave. And Adam Hunter reports that Saskatchewan businesses are worried about Scott Moe’s refusal to require masks anywhere other
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Colour coding Doug Ford.
A month ago, Ontario premier Doug Ford turned thumbs down on colour coding the severity of the pandemic. Now he tells us the doctors have talked him into doing it. In among the much more interesting American election news the other evening there was an item about the new color
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Halloween Tale: Jason and The Mirror
For obvious reasons the usual batch of Halloween witches and vampires, pirates and princesses did not ring our doorbell this year. So to mark a different kind of Halloween Ms Soapbox would like to tell you a story. It’s about a magic mirror and a provincial premier named Jason
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The kid who couldn’t.
Sam Oosterhoff MPP, is the youngest person, at 19, to be elected to the Ontario legislature. He might also be the MPP with the most to learn. The member for Niagara West received a more dubious first when he was made parliamentary assistant to the minister of education. It must
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Randy Robinson writes that Doug Ford’s gratuitous austerity will have severe costs in both jobs and lives. And James Downie comments on the desperate need for a Biden administration to make major investments in an equitable and sustainable U.S. economy. – Justin
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dougie Dumps Ranked Ballots.
You have to hand it to Ontario premier Doug Ford. He rarely gets much right. He just knows what he hates about municipal politics—anything that the downtown Toronto councillors like. This includes changing the voting from first-past-the-post (FPTP) to ranked ballots. The change had been allowed under provincial legislation but
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Temptation to be Tory.
It appears that the leopard is still unable to change his spots. At least conservatives such as Ontario’s Doug Ford and Alberta’s Jason Kenney fail to stray long from their expected courses. Mean buggers, both of them. They are conservative to the core. Take Jason Kenney. Since college in San
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – John Michael McGrath warns that the second wave of the coronavirus is once again moving much faster than the governments charged with controlling it. – Vitor Gaspar, Paolo Mauro, Catherine Pattillo and Raphael Espinoza discuss the value and importance of public investment as
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