Harry Shannon
Another unpublished letter sent to the Toronto Star.
Mostly self-explanatory, and not saying much that hasn’t been said already. But I was trying to put it all together and join some dots. In fact, over the last week since I sent the letter, there has been a fair amount of criticism of Doug Ford and his (Ontario) government. Ford is the Premier and had been very unpopular before the pandemic started. There’s also been a report from the Canadian Armed Forces, who went into five long-term care homes in Ontario where many residents (and I think a number of staff) had died. They were shocked at what they saw.
Some points of explanation: Mike Harris is the former Premier of Ontario (1995-2003). It was Harris who opened up long-term care to the private sector. It seems the privately-run homes have a much higher death rate than the non-private sector homes (though I don’t think a methodologically sound study has yet been done). Harris is now Chair of the Board of Chartwell Residences, who run multiple homes across the province. He’s paid over $200,000 a year for this part-time job, while many front-line employees are paid minimum wage and have had to make up full-time hours by working at more than one home.
The content of the phone call between Harris and Ford is what was reported by Ford when asked by the press. Ford said that it was a very short call, and they simply asked each other how they were and if their families were OK. You might have thought that they would have discussed the pandemic and long-term care homes. I certainly did, but then who am I to question Ford’s truthfulness. I do wonder, though, if a public inquiry might want to see phone records to confirm the length of the call.
The letter:
So Premier Doug Ford’s poll numbers have gone up because of his handling of the pandemic. Based on the evidence, I can’t see why.
It’s true that he has not dismissed the coronavirus as a hoax (a pretty low bar), he has shown empathy and understanding for what people are going through, and he’s been less partisan than before. But his actions have made things worse.
Before the pandemic, last August Ford insisted that cuts to public health funding would go ahead this year.
The Ford government’s changes to labour law removed paid sick days, so many workers with infections couldn’t afford to stay home.
During the pandemic: on March 12, the day after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, he told Ontarians to ‘go away’ and ‘have a good time’ during spring break.
He only banned caregivers from working in multiple nursing homes in mid-April. Yet B.C. had done this three weeks earlier.
His government has failed to get testing – a provincial responsibility – up to the needed level and Ford blamed public health departments for the failure. He hasn’t given us a clear explanation of why it’s still a problem.
His government has failed to ensure adequate PPE for front-line workers, putting their lives at risk.
Doug Ford had a phone call with former premier Mike Harris, Chair of the Board of Chartwell nursing homes. Yet even though the pandemic has been a disaster for such homes, Ford didn’t ask Harris for ideas about how to improve the situation.
He broke his own rules not once, but twice. He went to his cottage, and he had his daughters visit on Mother’s Day, sending the message to Ontarians that it’s OK to break those rules.
Now he’s relaxing the rules, even though the number of new cases has been going back up.
Ford says he’ll call an ‘independent’ commission into long-term care. But that would allow the government to control, e.g., the terms of reference and what’s released to the public. He’s refusing to call a public inquiry.
Sorry, Doug, but you just don’t cut it.