Premier Doug FORD
Christine ELLIOT
Something’s going on between Premier Ford, Minister Elliot and Minister Fullerton, something handcuffing the premier from removing ministers who are grossly underperforming in their ministry while guaranteeing the ministers their posts no matter how badly they administer them.
Something smells in the state of Ontario, smells rotten, smells of incompetence, smells of collusion and smells of corruption. It might be even stronger than a smell but the facts are not public information. We do know that the Long-Term-Care Minister, Merrilee FULLERTON, is struggling with her ministry, to say the very least. Canada’s COVID related death rate has jumped 750%. You read that right, 750%. How long do you think you would keep your job if your failure rate in it jumped to that degree? Yet, here we are, two years into a new mandate, two years of Fullerton holding the office of Minister of Long-Term-Care Services. More than 200 LTC residences have widespread COVID cases; as of May, more than 1000 deaths and rising dramatically.
Given the mortality rates and their dramatic rising increase, Minister Fullerton must have been questioned about the efficacy of her office in stemming the COVID tide. Yet we hear nothing from the Premier. Fullerton has stated a number of band-aid fixes such as increased staff, more PPE equipment, more money for the LTC residences but still, the numbers rise and loved ones in residence cannot be visited even if they are dying.
Some politicians have begun criticizing the premier and his ministers of LTC and his Health Minister, Christine Elliot. CARP launched a petition to have Fullerton removed from office. The petition is being promoted by Moses Znaimer’s ZOOMER radio. The Toronto Star proprietors, Bitove and Rivett, have published an open letter urging changes relating to the Long-Term-Care situation. Premier FORD must be out of the country as either he has not heard the pleas for change, or he has gone deaf, or he is simply choosing to ignore them.
Premier FORD is wrong in his continuation of policies that are failing in relation to the pandemic and wrong in his retention of Ministers who have proven incapable of stemming the COVID related mortality rates. He himself is guilty of dragging his feet, which would be a good thing if he were catching a football pass near the field’s border, but in this case, Premier Ford has dropped the ball.
Write your MPP, your city councillor, your MP and clamour for change. You owe it to the Long-Term-Care residents who live in these homes at this time. These people must be “scared as hell,” and becoming even more frightened as so much foot-dragging is going on as we play with their lives.
