Putting The Fox In Charge Of The Henhouse

 .... is the metaphor NDP environment critic Sandy Shaw uses to describe Doug Ford's appointment of Norm Sterling to head the Greenbelt Council in Ontario. 

Sterling, whose reputation as environment under Mike Harris was anything but, would seem to be an odd choice to head the Council only if one were unaware of the contempt Ford has shown for any obstacles impeding the enrichment of his many developer friends.

Sterling replaces David Crombie, who resigned in November over the province’s controversial limiting of local conservation authorities’ ability to deny development permits for sensitive lands. Crombie called the moves by Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government “high-level bombing” that “needs to be resisted.”

Sterling’s appointment set off a new wave of criticism for the Ford government, which has frequently used ministerial zoning orders to force particular development approvals and is pushing to build Highway 413 through parts of the Greenbelt, a band of protected farmland, forests, rivers and lakes.

The Opposition NDP noted Sterling voted in 2005 against the creation of the Greenbelt.

Sterling's pathetic record speaks for itself:

In 1995, Sterling faced criticism for slashing the Environment Ministry’s budget by 40 per cent while arguing that “implementing stronger environmental policies” would counter the funding loss.

Later, the Walkerton tainted water inquiry concluded that Harris-era cuts led to the end of lab testing for municipalities in 1996 and helped set the stage for the 2000 disaster that killed seven people and sickened thousands of others. 

As public attention remains fixed on the Covid crisis, it is likely the Ford braintrust believes now is the ideal time to slip one past us; however, people are paying attention. Says Toronto Councilor Gord Perks:

“I have no hesitation saying that I’ve been watching environment ministers going way back and will say without hesitation that Norm was the most anti-environmental of them all”.

“The step down from (former Toronto mayor) David Crombie to Norm Sterling is to step down from somebody who cares to somebody who will actively wreck things.”

But Sterling rejects such criticism with a "nothing-to-see-here" dismissal:

“My motives are to give future generations the freedom to make decisions about where our province is going with regard to resources,” Sterling said.

And with obvious contempt for the public's intelligence, he asserts that we can have our cake and eat it too:

In terms of his plans for protecting the Greenbelt, given the pressure from housing developers, Sterling said it’s a difficult problem, but he believes he’ll find solutions.

“We can do it … we can retain the best parts of our natural resources, but we also have to be concerned about how we’re going to provide people with places to live. We’re going to have to listen to a lot of people to advise us on how we might do this,” Sterling said. 

Given both Sterling's past record and the ideological bent of the current government, there is little doubt as to who he will be listening to most.

Ontario, as has become the norm under Doug Ford and the gang, continues to be in deep, deep trouble. 

But How Do They Feel About Eating Crow?

 I love it when there is even an iota of accountability at Fox.

If you would like to read further about this political madness, check out Edward Keenan, who also sets the record straight:

Joe Biden is not cancelling burgers. Or any other kind of meat. Despite what you may have heard, there’s no U.S. government plan to limit red meat consumption. There’s no reason to think Americans will be asked to carry a beef ration card in their wallet on future trips to the supermarket.

Perhaps to the surprise of no one, the American right, led by that red-meat party, the Republicans, has gone into a frenzy over a fabricated 'crisis.'

Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, Tweeted Saturday, “Joe Biden’s climate plan includes cutting 90 per cent of red meat from our diets by 2030. They want to limit us to about four pounds a year. Why doesn’t Joe stay out of my kitchen?” Fellow congressional Trump acolytes Madison Cawthorn and Marjorie Taylor Greene piled on. Fox News, the most-watched cable news network, did several segments over the weekend warning of the plan.

Facts don't seem to matter in this feeding frenzy, but here they are:

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale did a good job of retracing how this fear campaign emerged: The British Daily Mail, reacting to Biden’s proposal to cut carbon emissions in half from 2005 levels by 2030, found an old, pre-Biden administration academic paper that suggested if people cut their red meat consumption by 90 per cent it would cut emissions from dietary sources by 50 per cent. As Dale points out, that paper didn’t suggest mandating this dietary change, and it didn’t mention Biden, and Biden’s plan doesn’t refer to — or have anything to do with — the paper. But the Daily Mail story was picked up by Fox News, which led to repetition by influential Republicans, and soon barbecues across the land were being fired up in protest.

As usual, the unhinged right has given its base something to chew on, while the  rest of us just sigh over the insanity to the south. 

 

We All Have Our Crosses To Bear

 And for the reasonably sane in Wisconsin, that cross would be Father James Altman.

The fiery, unhinged priest, as you will see, is clearly giving my usual target, crazed evangelicals, a run for their money:

A local priest whose public condemnation of Democrats as “Godless hypocrites” sparked both outcry and defense last fall has now drawn new attention for his anti-vaccine rhetoric and largely maskless services.

Altman

A community member last week shared with the Tribune a photo from Easter Services at St. James the Less Catholic Church where Father James Altman presides, showing a crowded church, and a page from a church bulletin calling vaccines “an experimental use of a genetic altering substance that modifies your body — your temple of the Holy Spirit.”

The flyer, which was posted to the church’s website as of press time and reviewed by the Tribune, states it is “diabolical for anyone to virtue-signal/shame/compel you to take such an experimental drug, making you nothing other than a guinea pig,” and also says those recommending inoculation are “lying to your face.”

“God is still the best doctor and prayer is still the best medicine,” the missive closes.

During his Palm Sunday mass, which was apparently attended by a large number of parishioners in contravention of Covid regulations, Father Altman railed against the public health measures designed to protect the public:

“You’ve all heard the horror stories, all because godless vermin fed us fear and instituted godless, Nazi-esque controls on all of us and on those we love,” Altman said.

“Let us be clear, God damns every single one of those godless moves, whether it be in civil government or worse, in the complicity of many in the church. In fact, if hell itself has many levels,” Altman said. “The lowest, hottest levels are the final burning place for those shepherds who were complicit in the godless restrictions.”

Later in the sermon, Altman said, “The godlessness of what has happened over the past year, the godlessness of what Fauci is now promoting in double masking, is damnable in the hottest fires of hell, and I’m not joking.”

Altman condemns those in the church adhering to COVID-19 precautions, including leaders, calling it “damning,” and encourages the audience to “do all that we must” to make sure the government never “restricts our life of faith again.”

“Their authority ends at our door,” Altman said.

You can see the good father in full rhetorical high dudgeon in the following video. I suggest you only watch about four or five minutes of it. More than that may see you feeling the fires of hell licking at your soles and souls:

 

Ineptitude Writ Large

 H/t Patrick Corrigan

Sometimes I feel embarrassed to be living in a province as benighted as Ontario. But then I realize that it is neither me nor my fellow citizens (for the most part) who are the clueless and the incompetent. That distinction is one the Doug Ford-led provincial government has the dubious honour of bearing.

I have chosen but three of a wealth of letters in today's Star attesting to that fact:

I cannot tell you how safe I felt waking up to know that all those essential workers would not be able to take the day off and go to a golf course. How brilliant to close the courses!

Great job, Doug! You sure know how to hold your ground in the face of the hordes of doctors and scientists and experts who implored you to do the one thing you could to save this province: institute paid sick days. You sure know how to take a position and stick to it (beyond any reasonable amount of time).

And how to sort out the meaningless measures and make them look as though you are doing something. I mean, moving, initially, to close down those swamps of infection, children’s playgrounds.

A brilliant move! Imagine, we thought you weren’t up to the job!

Yes, I certainly feel safe.

Elizabeth Young, Georgetown

If warehouses and factories are the primary sources of COVID-19 transmissions, why were they not targeted initially to be closed for the next few weeks?

Why are all vaccines not being immediately redeployed to their essential workers?

Why has the provincial government not yet introduced paid sick leave benefits?

If playgrounds have been proven to not be a source of COVID-19 transmission, then why were children facing increased restrictions that would further jeopardize their mental health and well-being?

If Doug Ford is continually unwilling to follow the advice of health-care experts, then why will he not resign and let someone take over who is willing to make the choices that will best protect the health and safety of Ontarians?

David Tepper, Thornhill 

Once again, Premier Doug Ford and his cabinet have failed us. They, together with Ontario’s chief medical officer, have proven themselves to be incompetent and morally bankrupt in their handling of the pandemic.

Once again, despite receiving consistent and persuasive advice from clinicians, epidemiologists and their own medical-scientific advisory panels, and, in the face of an unprecedented, unsustainable and extremely dangerous health care crisis, they have once again failed to take the actions required.

Ford resorts to bluff and bluster while playing fast and loose with the facts and tries to deflect the blame to others. He and the cabinet have caused and continue to cause so much avoidable sickness, suffering and death.

Our health-care system and the people who work in it have been perilously damaged, while at the same time the business community also has been seriously damaged.

The government has consistently failed to grasp that, in this pandemic, trying to balance the economy and public health ends up damaging both, whereas a strong focus on public health minimizes damage to the economy.

I am angry, outraged and deeply saddened.

Terry Donaghue, Toronto 

There are times when ineptitude causes irritation or minor annoyance. Clearly, this is not one of those times. 

On Magical Thinking And Misdirection

I don't feel particularly inspired to write these days, but I am always on the lookout for aptly expressed sentiments by others. In the print edition of today's Toronto Star, there are two letters of note pertaining to the Doug Ford government's mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Ontario, or as I like to call it, Contagion Central, has never been in worse hands:

Beating the virus while staying open was magical thinking

• Toronto Star
• 20 Apr 2021

It is easier to reject the unfathomable and proceed with our lives as we know it. Politicians have been exploiting this human response. They have nurtured our belief in magical thinking. It is about to bring us to our knees.

We can pay low taxes and still get all the services. We can keep drilling for oil and drive cars and somehow climate change can still be averted.

We can enjoy endless growth in the face of finite resources on this planet.

During the acceleration of a pandemic, we can reopen everything to give business and customers what they want, and still somehow beat COVID-19 and maintain access to hospital care if we come down with appendicitis.

Experts warned us in February that April was going to be a pandemic disaster in Ontario without stringent new measures. Instead, we opened things up.

True leadership grasps the situation and takes ownership of the task of convincing people that choosing the responsible approach to overcome the crisis is key.

Ford is a master when it comes to deflecting blame

• Toronto Star
• 20 Apr 2021

Premier Doug Ford heard two months ago of a third wave disaster approaching, rolled the dice and lost.

We’re in a dire situation with hospital ICU beds filling up and potentially under-staffed.

With the introduction of a tougher set of rules, there was no acknowledgment that there were errors in judgment by the provincial government.

Instead, Ford is deflecting all blame from his own government by pointing the finger at the federal government for a lack of vaccines and implementing steps that give the appearance that he’s acting tough, but not taking the measures he should have to be effective.

Ford claims if more vaccines were available this third wave could have been avoided when the science always indicated that the virus would win the race against vaccines.

Ontario has only demonstrated the capacity to inject just over 100,000 vaccines per day while hundreds of thousands of vaccines are somewhere in Ontario not getting into the arms of Ontarians.

Ford gives us the appearance of taking control of the situation by implementing border controls; eliminating outdoor activities like golfing and other meaningless measures, instead of providing paid sick leave; improving the vaccine rollout plan to get more needles quicker into the arms of Ontarians in the hot spots, imposing a curfew that other jurisdictions and countries have used successfully and increasing the use of rapid testing in essential workplaces.

I can only hope that by some miracle we don’t see the frightful triage scenes we’ve seen in other countries in Ontario.

Donald Wong, Toronto

Unmasked, Undaunted, And Unhinged

Such is the state of things in Ontario. Huf Gym, in Mississauga, refuses to close despite the law. Indeed, as the following video report makes clear, the law seems to be abetting this illegal operation:

The Peel police sergeant in the report has now been suspended.

Peel police have confirmed the officer’s badge number as 1889 but didn’t identify his name or what he was doing at the scene.

“Upon learning of the incident, I immediately directed that the Sergeant be suspended and commenced an Internal Affairs investigation,” Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said in his statement.

“Our officers will enforce municipal and provincial regulations as required,” he added.

Good to know the authorities are on the job, eh? 

A Stinging Indictment

The Covid numbers in Ontario today are grim: 4,812 new cases and 25 more deaths.

The following report by the CBC's Ellen Mauro places the blame precisely where it belongs: the massive incompetence/ideological intransigence of the Ford government in dealing with our ongoing Covid disaster.