fatigue

Saturday May 31, 1997

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 31, 1997

Our hopes for the future

Our election ballot Monday must prepare our country for the challenges ahead. We must position our leaders, such as Jean Charest, where they will preserve Canada.The prospect of Preston Manning’s Reform Party forming the official Opposition after Monday’s federal election is deeply disturbing. Yes, Manning’s stance on separation better reflects the views of average Canadians, compared to the tired rhetoric of appeasement flowing from the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties. But beyond that single issue, Reform offers no viable vision for a strong, unified country.

Yet, largely due to an inept, cynical Liberal election call and campaign, Reform as the official Opposition is a very likely outcome of the vote. That Manning’s party of western discontent is a better alternative than the destructive Bloc Quebecois is cold comfort.

A Progressive Conservative Opposition would be infinitely better for Canada, and for Ontario.

It’s true that the Progressive Conservative and Reform policy platforms are very similar. Both call for tax cuts, which are unproven as a job creation device. Both do little to address environmental concerns. Both propose accelerating government spending cu ts, but the truth is Canadians are happy for the most part with the progress made by Finance Minister Paul Martin in reducing the deficit and getting federal spending under control. Given that Tory and Reform policies are similar in so many ways, why install Jean Charest as Opposition leader?
Leadership.

Jean Charest has demonstrated he has more to offer personally than any of the other party leaders. His youthful energy and intellectual sincerity appeal to Canadians, but he offers more than a good sound-bite and an engaging television presence. Charest is passionate about a united Canada, and that devotion is going to be called upon in the near future. Another divisive, manipulative campaign will be launched by the separatists, probably right after the Supreme Court spells out the rules around secession. Charest has already pledged he will set aside partisan concerns and fight for a united Canada, just as he did last time we went through this frightening, tiresome exercise. He can be most effective in the unity battle if the Conservatives wear the Opposition mantle.

Charest’s Conservatives have a national philosophy, a rich history and a vision of the future that starts with the country being united. Even where Reform and Conservative policies overlap, Reform would go further, faster, with little regard for maintaining a strong federal voice. In the end, Reform is about protest.

Indignant Reformers will insist theirs is a national party. Reformers are anti-separatist, not anti-Quebec, they proclaim. But if Manning’s party is serious about inclusion, why are only 11 Reform candidates running in Quebec’s 75 ridings?
And what of the Liberals? Jean Chretien called an election at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. His party will pay the price. Far from being the last national party, the Liberals could end up being Ontario’s party in a fractured Parliament. But it’s clear they will be returned to power for another term.

If that’s the case, one thing is abundantly clear.

The Liberals must begin to plan for Jean Chretien’s departure. He was the right politician for the time, when Canadians were dealing with the Mulroney government and its legacy of broken promises. Chretien has an uncanny ability to forge a connection and engender empathy if not trust.

But the Chretien era must end. He is not the man to lead us in celebrating the new millennium. He is certainly not the leader to guide this country through another ugly debate over Quebec’s future.

While there is no arguing Chretien’s contribution in the past, the sad fact is he is no longer appealing in Quebec, and so is among the best weapons the separatists have in their meagre arsenal. Chretien must gracefully step aside. Paul Martin, who has engineered the Liberals single biggest legitimate accomplishment by effectively managing the economy and reducing the deficit, is the logical replacement. Martin is respected for his fiscal conservatism, and may even be an asset in Quebec.

On Tuesday morning, the Liberals will govern. The question is, who will be second? If enough of us vote strategically and look seriously at credible Progressive Conservative candidates, perhaps Jean
Charest will be where he’ll do the most good for Canada. And Preston Manning will get the role he deserves, as a regional voice of discontent. (Hamilton Spectator, 5/31/1997, B4)

 

Wednesday April 7, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 7, 2021

So tired of the Pandemic

November 27, 2020

Folks, just because you’re legally allowed to go into malls doesn’t mean that you should go into malls — especially not for the purpose of “doing a little wander around” and leaving without shopping bags.

I mean, if you’re going to literally risk your life by entering the jam-packed Yorkdale Shopping Centre or Eaton Centre amid a pandemic, you should at the very least stimulate the economy while you’re at it.

This is just common sense, or so it appears to be in the eyes of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who on Tuesday went off on the many people who flocked to malls in and around Toronto this past weekend, as they were fully permitted to do under existing lockdown rules.

As many on Twitter are now pointing out in the wake of Ford’s comments, consumers weren’t necessarily being irresponsible on purpose by going to malls this weekend: Current shutdown rules still permit shopping centres to operate at 25 per cent capacity. (blogTO)  

April 1, 2021

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 people attended the Texas Rangers home opener Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays, in the first major, full-capacity sporting event in the U.S. in more than a year.

The Rangers announced a sellout crowd of 38,283 tickets sold for their 2021 home debut at Globe Life Field in Arlington, where Toronto scored a 6-2 victory.

Masks are mandated inside the new ballpark, though pictures from Monday’s game showed many spectators not wearing them.

One noted fan not in attendance Monday was Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who declined to throw the ceremonial first pitch because Major League Baseball moved its All-Star Game out of Atlanta in protest of Georgia’s move to restrict voter access.

The $1.2 billion Arlington stadium, which has a retractable roof and a listed capacity of 40,518, was the site of 30 Rangers homes games in 2020, a truncated campaign that did not allow fans inside. (NBC)  

July 18, 2020

Meanwhile, a Leamington restaurant is defying the provincial COVID-19 shutdown orders and remaining open for in-person dining.

Kristy Leathem, the owner of Family Kitchen at 73 Erie Street South, says her doors have been open for dine-in restaurant during regular business hours since February.

“If Walmart down the street can remain open at 50 per cent capacity why can’t I?” said Leathem.

Her establishment has a capacity for 100 people, but Tuesday morning she said she had about 50 customers.

She says she is not planning on exceeding capacity rules at 50 per cent, but wants a more even playing field when it comes to rules for the shutdown.

Ontario issued a province-wide emergency brake shutdown on Thursday. Under the new rules, restaurants are prohibited from in-person dining and are allowed to be open for takeout and delivery only. (CTV)  

March 11, 2021

Meanwhile, Ontario is reporting 3,065 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 367,602.

Tuesday’s case count is higher than Monday’s which saw 2,938 new infections. On Sunday, 3,041 new cases were recorded and 3,009 on Saturday.

According to Tuesday’s provincial report, 955 cases were recorded in Toronto, 561 in Peel Region, 320 in York Region, 165 in Ottawa, 132 in Niagara Region, 128 in Hamilton, 119 in Halton Region and 101 in Durham Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 100 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 7,458 as eight more deaths were recorded. (Global) 

 

Wednesday October 21, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 21, 2020

Lesson from the SpinCo outbreak: Province owns testing and tracing failure

When books are written telling the story of this pandemic — as they certainly will be — it may well be that Hamilton’s “superspreader” episode that began at the SpinCo cycling gym will get its own chapter.

May 16, 2020

The outbreak and its aftermath are a textbook example of why it is vital that testing and contact tracing be at optimal capacity during pandemics like this one. Every public health expert in Ontario has said that repeatedly. Even those of us who are not experts but read what experts say know it.

But knowing that and making it happen are different things apparently. At the time that the SpinCo outbreak was happening it was taking Hamiltonians up to eight days to get COVID test results. One gym client who spoke to Spectator journalist Katrina Clarke said she began to feel sick on Sept. 29 and got tested on Sept. 30. But she didn’t get her test results back until Oct. 5.

In that five-day period, 11 more classes were possibly exposed to the virus. The woman was self-isolating, but because she lives with her mother and sister, they got sick, too.

This is the cost of inadequate testing and contact-tracing capacity. Dr. Zain Chagla, infectious disease specialist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, confirms this case highlights the need for rapid testing and tracing. Without it, public health officials are flying blind, or close to it. Or as Chagla puts it: “You want to fly into a storm with all your instruments on so you know how to react.”

September 18, 2020

If all this sounds familiar, it should. Media commentary here and across Ontario made the same observations during the first wave of COVID-19.

All the forensics on this superspreader event are not final, but at least one thing is clear. The gym may have done everything right. Local health officials may have made the right moves based on the data they had. But they could not move on data they didn’t have, and they didn’t have it because testing capacity issues slowed the results for so long, rendering effective contact tracing impossible.

Colin Furness, infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto confirms this, saying: “Contact tracing only really works if it’s incredibly timely.”

June 9, 2020

It wasn’t timely. As of Tuesday afternoon the result of that failure was  80 cases that sprung from the SpinCo outbreak. Radius restaurant on James Street South now has a six-person outbreak linked to SpinCo. Dozens of secondary households may have been exposed along with eight schools and child-care centres, six health-care facilities and 22 other workplaces.

How could this happen? How, when the Ontario government was warned countless times that a second wave was almost certainly coming?

How, when the government’s own health command table acknowledged the critical importance of being prepared after the first wave?

How, when the government committed to adequate testing, lab capacity and contact tracing resources?

Now, with the barn door open and the horse nowhere in sight, the province says it is “taking immediate action to expand case and contact management to help track, trace and isolate new cases of COVID-19.” That reassurance was contained in a email responding to questions from The Spectator.

Better late than never, right? Except the government had mountains of advice and evidence that could have prevented this outbreak from growing as far and fast as it has. For reasons only the government and its health brain trust know for sure, it didn’t heed the warnings and advice. And here we are. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)