Same Old, Same Old

Although an inveterate cynic, for about one minute yesterday I felt something odd and rare: a moment of hope. The basis for that was an interview with Bonnie Crombie, the 'leader' of the Ontario Liberals. But the moment was short-lived.

In a one-on-one interview with Global News, ahead of a planned provincial tour serving as a dry-run for an election campaign, Crombie criticized the Ford government’s runaway spending and questioned the premier’s priorities.

“They’ve decreased the fiscal capacity in this government,” Crombie told Global News. “The highest spending budget at $214 billion, increased debt, increased deficit. We don’t know where the money is going. It’s certainly not going where it’s needed.”

 “They’re these little gimmicks, such as canceling the licence plate stickers,” Crombie said. “If you knew that also cost $1 billion a year, would you not rather pay the $200, knowing that that money would have gone to the health-care system or schools for your children, or build affordable housing?”

The annual $120 licence plate renewal fee, which brought $1.1 billion into the provincial coffers each year, was scrapped by Premier Doug Ford ahead of the 2022 general election as a measure to ease affordability concerns among voters.

(Parenthetically, yesterday the government announced that now Ontarian's will be relieved of the 'burden' of having to renew our free licence plates. Children that we are, many cheered this new freedom.)

Asked if the Liberals would bring the sticker fees back if they formed government, Crombie said: “We would look at it, certainly.”

“That’s a billion dollars of revenue,” Crombie said. “I know that they would prefer that billion dollars going into their health care, going into building affordable housing, or going into our education system.”

My immediate thought was, "That's real leadership."  However, then this happened:

Roughly a week after the interview took place, as Global News was preparing to publish a story, a spokesperson for the provincial party sent a statement from Crombie looking to clarify her earlier comments on reinstating the license plate sticker fee.

“Let me be clear — when I say I will “look into” the licence plate sticker issue, I mean that as Premier I will look into all of Ford’s gimmicks and backroom deals to make sure they are providing a value for money for consumers,” Crombie said.

“Would I bring back an unnecessary fee on families who are struggling to make ends meet right now? No,” Crombie said.

I guess we should thank Ms. Crombie for clarifying that she is cut from the same cloth as all of her poltical ilk.

Solutions Abound

 I'm away right now, but thought I would share a Twitter post by Mike Hudema, who devotes himself to matters of the environment. His posts show what is possible and indirectly cast light on the fact that our governments, which, although renewable energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels when all things are considered, do little to wean us off of those fuels and continue to heavily subsidize them. This, of course, conveniently ignores the increasingly dire climatic disaster engulfing our planet.

Choices

When the next federal election comes, there are those who will vote with a certitude we all should be wary of. Because they are sick of Justin Trudeau, many will eagerly cast their vote for Pierre Poilievre, the putative prime minister-in-waiting. On the other hand, those of us possessed of at least a modicum of thinking skills will vote, not with eagerness, but with deliberation, braced by the knowledge that our choice could very well have a long-lasting impact on Canada's trajectory. 

Two letter-writers in today's Star offer a reality check for those who vote, not out of careful consideration, but rather spite and weariness:

How long it will take to become really sick of Pierre Poilievre?

This isn’t just another byelection in Toronto, June 15

Those in the riding of St. Paul’s who are “sick, really sick of Justin Trudeau,” ask yourselves how long it will take you to become really sick of Pierre Poilievre. The federal Conservatives will weaken, not advance the urgent battle to limit climate change, they will pull back on Truth and Reconciliation initiatives, which will eventually lead to renewed blockades and hostility, and they will weaken gun control, even though the scourge of antisemitism has recently included shots fired at a synagogue and Jewish community centre. Poilievre will, of course, not talk about any of this. Nor may voters recall just how well the Trudeau government shepherded Canada through the pandemic, giving us one of the most minimized death tolls in the developed world. Many may be in the mood to break up with their feminist boyfriend, but waiting in the wings is a wolf in sheep’s clothing who squints when he looks you in the eyes. And did no one tell the dental hygienist who can’t bear to look at Trudeau about the new dental care program?

Ron Charach, Toronto

No real alternative to Trudeau

Most people agree Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is past his best-buy date. But what are the alternatives? Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has never had a real job outside politics. He proffers no policies just personal attacks and vacuous statements such as “common sense revolutions” a la Mike Harris, who destroyed education and other social supports. We look south and despair of common sense. The hard-working class listens to populist statements from politicians because they despair … but these politicians do them no favours.

John Bullick, Mississauga

We have always been taught that voting is a civic responsibility. Let us hope that our fellow Canadians cast measured ballots in the next election rather than following the lemming-like directives of those for whom thinking is but an optional, occasional and, apparently, a painful activity.

Feeding At The Trough

 

Those who read this blog with any regularity likely know that I am not an ideologue. While I consider myself progressive, it does not mean that I am blind to the faults of either the Liberals or the NDP. And it is about a member of the latter that I post today.

The implications of a CBC story is that NDP Mp Nikki Ashton has been feeding at the trough.

An NDP MP who frequently joins parliamentary proceedings remotely from her riding billed the House of Commons for a trip she took to reportedly meet with "stakeholders" over the Christmas holidays in Quebec — travel that included bringing her husband and kids along at taxpayers' expense.

... on Dec. 21 of that year, Ashton flew from Thompson, Man. to Ottawa — five days after the House of Commons had already risen for its Christmas break.

Ashton's partner Bruce Moncur, a former NDP nomination candidate, and their two children also made the trip with the MP to the nation's capital.

Then, on Christmas Day, 2022, the family of four travelled to Quebec City. Ashton billed the Commons for some of the expenses they incurred along the way.

The trip cost taxpayers $17,641.12, including $13,619.90 for airfare and other transportation, $2,508.39 for accommodations and $1,512.83 for meals and other incidentals, according to Commons records.

The optics are not good. While I encourage you to watch the entire three-minute plus clip of her cringeworthy news conference here, I was able to find an abbreviated version to post. Her refusal to name who she met with in pursuit of her 'official duties' hardly passes the smell test.

Ashton would only say that it was "various people" who are "connected to the issue of French language, French culture preservation." She said she wanted to get feedback on an overhaul of the Official Languages Act from unnamed groups.

While it does not appear that Ashton broke any Parliamentary rules in claiming the expenses, her insensitivity to the taxpayer rankles. Franco Terrazzano, director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, had this to say:

"If Ashton doesn't want Canadians to think that she billed taxpayers so she could take a vacation to Quebec over the holidays, then she better have a very good explanation, a very concrete explanation as to what value, if any, taxpayers actually got from this trip," Terrazzano told CBC News.

Terrazzano said MPs should think "about what their constituents would say" before taking big-ticket trips. He also said the Commons should consider tightening the rules on when MPs can be accompanied by their families on subsidized trips.

It can be legitimately argued that Ashton, by attending Parliament via Zoom, has saved taxpayers a substantial amount of money. However, it hardly seems ethical that a family trip with dubious benefits to the public should be considered a quid pro quo for that practice.

 

 

A Disturbing Report

A disturbing report in The Star suggests there has been a serious campaign of disinformation to promote Islamophobia in Canada. The source of this campaign? The state of Israel.

I have added emphasis in parts of the following:

On June 5, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz — citing sources and information it was able to obtain — reported that Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry hired a private political campaign firm called STOIC to conduct a “large-scale” influence campaign after the war in Gaza started last fall. The New York Times also reported on the alleged campaign on June 5, citing Israeli officials and documents about the covert operation to influence U.S. lawmakers and the public with “pro-Israel messaging.” 

 According to Haaretz, the alleged campaign created fake news sites and “hundreds” of social media accounts to spread pro-Israeli stories about sexual assaults committed by Hamas and alleged ties between the group and a United Nations relief agency that operates in the Gaza Strip. The campaign targeted American lawmakers, and included a “well-co-ordinated effort to attack and smear” pro-Palestinian groups that are mainly in the United States and Canada, with “deeply Islamophobic and anti-immigrant” content, the newspaper reported. 

The newspaper reported this included a website called United Citizens for Canada, which allegedly spread Islamophobic claims that Muslim immigrants are a threat to Canada and demanding a sharia state.   

Although the United Citizens for Canada website has been taken down, I was able to find an archived copy of its homepage. That page, which starts with a charming picture of the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, appears on first glance to be devoted to liberty and tolerance. However, a closer examination reveals something much darker:

United Citizens for Canada (UCC) is a vigilant non-profit organization, founded by committed to safeguarding Canada’s cherished values of freedom, democracy, and liberalism. Founded on the principle of awareness and education.

 UCC founded by worried citizens who are concerned about the possible future Canada is heading and decided to actively change reality. 

Our mission is to illuminate the concerns surrounding the growth of anti-liberal dangerous ideologies within our borders. We stand at the forefront of identifying and addressing the increasing presence and support for anti-liberal, aggressive and violent Islamic movements and organizations in Canada – a challenge intensified by our nation’s flexible and overly liberal immigration policies.

Our dedication is rooted in the belief that every Canadian deserves to live in a society that upholds democratic values and rejects anti-democratic messages. Through vigilant monitoring and exposure of events, demonstrations, and statements that threaten the fabric of our Canadian ethos, UCC aims to serve as a mirror to society, reflecting the urgent need for awareness and action against forces that seek to undermine our collective future by enforcing new values and a new order.

The Star article reveals that STOIC, referred to above, has been using Open AI to promote disinformation, and is linked with United Citizens for Canada:

OpenAI — the company behind the artificial intelligence chat bot ChatGPT — published its own report on misinformation campaigns that use its software. The report said the company banned users it determined were involved in an “influence operation” directed by STOIC that used OpenAI tools to create stories, fake social personas, and written comments primarily related to the conflict in Gaza, and posted on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). OpenAI also linked the United Citizens for Canada website to the operation. 

The group [United Citizens for Canada] was also named in a March report by the Digital Forensic Research Lab project, which is run by an American think tank in Washington. The project reported that there was a “suspicious network operating across multiple social media platforms” that boosted “anti-Muslim and Islamophobic narratives” from United Citizens for Canada. The report alleges the network used AI to generate fake content that included altering images to make it look like a man in a beard and skullcap was advocating for “Sharia in Canada.” 

The federal government is well-aware of the seriousness of this threat to the peace and order of our country. The question now is whether they will have the intestinal fortitude to hold Israel to account for this egregious incursion into our affairs.

I am not holding my breath.

 

 

Willy Loman Lives

One of the plays I most enjoyed teaching during my career was Death of a Salesman. It told the tale of a salesman, Willy Loman, who lived a delusional life, never acknowledging his shortcomings and limitations, preferring to believe that the key to success was personality. The play has a tragic conclusion as Willy finally confronts the truth.

There is likely no imminent epiphany for Ontario's Willy Loman, Premier Doug Ford, who wants desperately to be liked, pursuing at almost all costs the approval of the electorate. But as in the play, there are many who see through the self-delusion that envelops Mr. Ford; nonetheless, he continues apace, plunging our province into increasingly desperate fiscal measures that cannot have a happy ending. 

Perceptive Star readers take the full measure of the man:

Some observations made as to who Doug Ford is have been blatant. His Achilles heel is, indeed, that he likes to be liked. He is not stupid, but he is uneducated and has shown little interest in science or climate change. He has had to learn, but still seems to enjoy his apparent goal of being the hero among friends. I do not find his folksy demeanor endearing; it hides a good deal of insensitivity and ignorance. His bravado and bluster also come from the privilege of his family of origin. 

Anna-Lise Kear, Huntsville

Premier Doug Ford, like his late brother Rob, is a man of seemingly average intelligence, who too often goes with gut hunches. While it’s true that brilliance in a leader doesn’t guarantee success — Jimmy Carter too often micro-managed, Bill Clinton used his cleverness to evade the rules, while the highly intelligent Bob Rae wasn’t the most effective premier — running a province as complex as Ontario requires a certain level of intellect. When I see federal leaders weaving from French to English in debates, and taking on questions in both official languages, I marvel at the agility of their minds. One solution would be to mandate that candidates for premier be obliged to conduct one debate in French, or to take a few questions posed to them in French. Similarly, if the U.S. declared itself bilingual and mandated at least one debate in Spanish, I doubt that a pedestrian mind like Donald Trump’s would be up to the task.

Ron Charach, Toronto

As Premier Doug Ford throws taxpayer loot to the wind with free-for-all goodies, like an under-the-lake parking lot for the wealthy at the Ontario Place spa, no-cost automobile licences and beer in corner stores for those who can’t wait for the new convenience, my guess is that he’d win the possible snap election by a landslide. Opposition parties seem to feel they’ll be ready for Ford, but how so? The Liberals, the NDP and the Greens all need to recognize they’ll be splitting the left-of-centre vote with one another. A more apt term for such an election would be “Doug versus the Dividers.”

Jack Drury, Toronto

If Ontario taxpayers want to know where $225 million-$1 billion of their hard-earned tax dollars went, stop into the nearest convenience store, buy a bottle of booze/six pack, put it in a Premier Doug Ford-approved paper bag and head to the nearest park bench to cry into your beer.

Kat Duffy, Mississauga

I fully expect that Doug will soon need reaffirmation of his popularity. Expect an early election call in 2025.

An Early Vacay

Perhaps the aging infrastructure at Queen's Park cannot handle the heat that builds up in the legislature. Perhaps that is why Doug Ford has decided that all MPPs deserve an early summer break and an extended (by four extra weeks) hiatus that will end in late October. Hot weather makes people sweat.

Of course, there could be another kind of heat that the Doug Ford cabal is eager to escape from - the heat that comes from extensive questioning by opposition parties concerning things like the government's Billion-dollar Booze Boondoggle,  money that could be used to fund so many endeavours far worthier than putting alcohol into corner stores. 

Not having to answer pesky questions that pointedly call into question the competence of one's government can have a revivifying effect on politicians. There is nothing better than a long break to maximize the possibility of stabilizing the ship of state currently being buffeted by naysayers who question the Conservative mythology of being good fiscal managers. And one can always hope that the summer doldrums will lull everyone into passivity and forgetfulness about one's policy deficiencies.

Dougie has offered other baubles to distract us as well, like his essentially meaningless cabinet shuffle.

Stephen Lecce moves from education, where he has served as minister since 2019, to energy, swapping portfolios with Todd Smith, who has been the minister of energy for the past three years.

Lecce, who butted heads with teachers unions many times over the years, said he was honoured to serve in that role but is excited to lead the re-titled Ministry of Energy and Electrification.

There is really nothing for anyone in that shuffle, except for those who have a nostalgic pining for the good old Common Sense days:

One of the new faces in cabinet is Mike Harris, son of the former premier, and he takes over the red-tape reduction portfolio, which has been vacant since Parm Gill resigned in January to run for the federal Conservatives.

As well, for those who like to see the redemption of corrupt politicians, there is this:

Steve Clark, who resigned last fall as municipal affairs and housing minister amid the Greenbelt controversy, has been appointed government house leader. It's not a cabinet position, but is a key role within the government, as that person frequently fields the questions in question period.

Ford initially stood by Clark last summer as the Greenbelt land swap unravelled with two devastating probes.

The integrity commissioner found Clark violated ethics rules during a process that was marked by "unnecessary hastiness and deception."

The NDP has offered its assessment of this political legerdemain:

New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said the moves mean little after a year of scandal and policy reversals.

"Playing musical chairs at the cabinet table isn't going to fix this mess," Stiles said. "We now have the most bloated cabinet in the history of Ontario, with the biggest premier's office, the biggest deficit and people are struggling more than they ever have before."

Stiles also took aim at Clark's return to prominence.

"It's deeply concerning," she said. "Let's not forget that this was a minister who resigned in disgrace because of his central role in the government and Doug Ford's Greenbelt corruption scandal and now he's going to be put in charge of it with pretty enormous responsibility."

People have already been quite vocal in their public expressions of disdain for this government, even in the cottage country Mr. Ford is so fond of. Dougie often says that he speaks to all kind of people on a regular basis. Let's hope that when he out and about this summer, people will share with him their impressions of his government's direction.