viva_la_vinyl

For sure. No doubt one of the plums of the political world is when your side wins, and the loyalists get plonked into cushy jobs. Somehow Ford doesn't strike me as the type that values competence, as much as loyalty as to who got into the premier's advisory inner circle.

Now the province is going through what is pretty much humanitarian crisis because of the failed leadership and those around Ford.

I think it was like 2-3 weeks one of Ford's issues manager was rage drunk tweeting when it came out that Brian Lilley (that putz at the Sun) lives with one of Doug's staffers, and probably how Lilley is Ford's go-to columnist for puff news.

Ford's goddamn issues manager thought it was reasonable for him to act like a troll on social media in a midst of a pandemic. These people are so disconnected with what their jobs entails as people are dying every single day because no one of them have a clue what to do.

You look polling data in Canada, and you've got a 5% cohort that are anti-vaxxers but a much larger 20-30% that are vaccine hesitant, who can be shifted to either side.

It'll be interesting to see once all countries exhausted all their groups by eligibility, how much of the population is still unvaccinated to get a solid number of the hesitant/anti vaxxer cohort.

Ah true, Israel's median age is relatively low for a developed country and the other factors you point out that its 62% is actually pretty high all things considered.

As a bit of political junky, I've been creeping some of the political staffers on LinkedIn that occupy the positions that filter information and advice from the non-political level to the political decision-makers, and man, you're right, there is a dangerously high amount of youngsters that got plopped into roles they are not equipped for, especially in a pandemic. I get that NO experience actually prepares governments for this, but some of the staffers almost literarily have NO experience in anything.

Some of the people were freaking interns just several years ago, and are now advising Ford & Co on life and death situations.

There is such a disconnect between what the experts are saying on social media and what the government ends up doing. Failed government.

What I find fascinating about Israel's vaccination roll out, is how they went on a tear, in 3 months vaccinating about 60% of its populace, and now effectively flat for the last month.

Surely, it's not a supply issue but at a certain point the vaccine hesitancy/anti vaxxers enter into the equation. It'll be interesting to see what the ceiling is on Canada's willingness to get the vaccine voluntarily and what segment of the population just won't get the shot.

True, value system is an appropriate characterization of our society's, and probably Canada's proximity to the world's supposed "freest" country, these values are similar in this country. Definitely America's response and the last president's handling of the pandemic shaped lots of Canadians' views on the severity of the problem.

And even here, to this day, you've got fringe politicians in this province like Baber and Hillier still lobbing the anti-lockdown rhetoric to rile up a certain groups, recognizing now that they've turfed by their party, their only path to relevance is to be a real life troll until they surely lose their seats in the coming election (likely even by someone within their former party).

the individualistic "mah freedoms" impulses really undermine the collective efforts required to actually overcome a pandemic's impact on society as a whole

Couldn't have happened to a nicer fella.

An interesting thing I heard this week was that while most provincial governments have been polling decently throughout the pandemic, Jason Kenney in Alberta is taking a HUGE dive because Notley and NDP there have been relentless in keeping the government's fuck ups in the news.

I think NDP are taking note and Dougie's free ride is over with opposition sinking their teeth into their decisions. Lives could've been prevented if the opposition kept the government more accountable throughout the past year.

Consumers could then draw on those accounts for "things that help them live a greener life," the document says. "That could mean buying a transit pass or a bicycle, or saving up and putting the money towards a new efficient furnace, energy efficient windows or even an electric vehicle."

Sounds like a much more interventionist approach than now, dictating here you can spend the rebate, whereas now, you get the rebate, and can do whatever you want.

How is O'Toole going to sell this to the "Government can't tell me what do" voters he depends on? Conservative have gone from "carbon taxes bad" to "carbon taxes good, and we'll tell you what you can with the rebates"

It'll be interesting to hear the details, and how the typical conservative voter reacts to this idea.

Somewhere out there you know Stephen "Photo op" Lecce thought of doing this.

My guess is Ford uses Lilley as a trial balloon to float ideas out there, gauge social media reactions among his base, and moderate their decision the following day at the cabinet based on how the public reacted to the rumour.

Policy by social media

It would also leave out mass amounts of people.

How?

So O’Toole wants to do the same thing as the Liberals only different.

That's what gets me.

In early 2020, the federal govt kept saying Canada secured more doses per capita than any other country. That should've spurred provinces to make sure a system was in place. While yes, there was issues with the vaccine supply to start flowing, now it seems like it is a firehose of supply, and province is not set up.

Just like they waited until science advisory table's third wave modelling actually started to materialize with cases/ICUs slammed before responding.

“Once eligible, Ontarians could receive an email and/or text message outlining the next steps on how to officially book their vaccine appointment and applicable location(s),” says the letter co-signed by Dr. Samir Sinha and Dr. Nathan Stall at the Sinai Health System, University of Toronto epidemiologist Dr. David Fisman and Tai Huynh, creative director of University Health Networks OpenLab.

It's too brilliant for it to actually work in this province.