We thought it might be overdoing in publish our Ford caricature criticizing the Ford government ineptness. So we removed it. We were wrong.
This provincial government is setting high(?), low marks for ineptness, incompetence and incapability. We cannot remove them until the next provincial election but there are numerous thoughts causing us mental turmoil.
Who have we got to replace Ford’s cabal of incompetents. Horwath….three strikes and you’re lady! But the provincial NDP have no one else to turn to for party leadership. Steven Del Duca? Who ? Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Where did they find this man? Perhaps we are becoming overly critical. Being a politician is a tough job at the best of times. During the pandemic it must be horrendous. But, do they not receive salaries that are appropriate for the responsibilities they choose to accept if they win an election. Criticizing government policy is not intended to be negative, or simply disparaging. Criticizing the government is intended to jar the government into rethinking policies which may be wrong, may be failing, may need re-jigging. Governments when they are doing us disservice must be called out, held accountable and criticized, loudly and incessantly. The alternative is revolution. We have not descended to the American state yet, the January 6th situation. But how far removed are we?
We have tried to cut the provincial government some slack. After all, the pandemic is wreaking havoc on every workplace. Why would government offices be any different. However, the launch the new ‘paid sick days’ by the provincial government is beyond just insulting. It is disgraceful, a mockery, shameful, absolutely despicable. They mishandled the Long Term Care crisis a year ago. Would you consider putting a loved one into a LTC facility today? Kick it up a notch. The pandemic sure has. We did a lock down before, and ended it prematurely. Now with the COVID variant, hospitals are near to shut down operations. Would you consider bringing a loved one to a hospital now given any possible alternative? Hospitals are near the point of the inevitability of extreme triage. You, an older person vs. the younger patient beside you? Who gets priority? Who gets life-saving treatment? Do we blame the Ford government for this? Absolutely.
But we are not the voice in the wilderness. Read respectable journalists who repeated and consistently underline how governments are failing us. Some newspaper editorials in hopes of sounding objective and even handed in their opinions, cut governments slack in criticizing them. But the editorial cartoonists keep the pedal to the metal, never letting up their critical jabs and serious punching, after all, they’re just cartoons.
Well there is a cartoon in office at Queen’s park. Maybe better to label him a buffoon. He ignores advice of experts too often. When he does abide by them, it is because he has been boxed into a corner with no alternative. Then, he takes the advice but kicks it up to an absurd level. Remember the playground lockdowns, demanding the police launch a police state to enforce COVID precautions, no golfing, no tennis…all too dangerous. Then, when the criticism overheat, they enter the blame game. It isn’t our fault. It’s the fault of other government, the fault of the populace not abiding by our policies.
We’re on a treadmill of incompetency and ineptness and we don’t know what to do about it. But what we do know is that our editorial caricature hits the mark. This government is doing us harm, incessantly.
Read Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star
