04.17.2021 09:10 AM

“Martial law.” Seriously? A thread.

24 Comments

  1. Campbell says:

    While I agree that this isn’t “martial law”, it does happen to be atrocious policy, and the public refusal of effectively every municipal police service in the province to use these new powers is pretty strong evidence of that to me.

    • Steve Teller says:

      Agreed. My sister-in-law lives in Ottawa, and there are apparently police combing the streets and stopping people randomly to see how far they are from home. Complete overkill, and a massive waste of police resources.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Campbell,

      When the cops consider it to be at the very least, overreach, then you know you’re in serious political trouble: a huge chunk of the electorate mad as hell because it took you too long to act credibly and when you did, you went too far. And another large chunk who feel even this is haphazard and more for show than credibly dealing with COVID-19 surges and spikes. So glad my name isn’t Ford.

  2. Pipes says:

    I guess for every political action there is an equal and opposite political reaction. We need strong leadership right now and someone to stick their political necks out regardless of the political outcome. For once, we need someone who will sincerely and honestly put the people first, and stop tactical and strategic political posturing and planning. Maybe we need a David Farragut’s “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’ person. Or a Churchill “we shall fight on the beaches” type of leader.
    Someone has to do something come ‘hell or high water’.
    Is Ford right, is Trudeau wrong-I dont know, but someone has to get a firm hold on the wheel and enter the storm ‘balls to the wall”. NOW!

    I’d do it. But no one listens to me.

  3. irreversible road map to freedom says:

    From what I’ve been seeing on TV / reading news reports, it seems the police are going to decline to enforce a lot of what was announced yesterday anyways.

    More broadly, the Ford Government has handled this terribly. Every announcement since Christmas has made zero to little impact. They need to STFU already and just do exactly what the doctors and nurses tell them to do.

    Call it a “Doctatorship” if you want but the province is a warzone right now and it is plainly obvious the elected officials do NOT know what they are doing. This is a battle and people need to take direction only from experts.

    A friend of mine showed me a text yesterday afternoon from her mom who works in a hospital. She said the staff was in tears watching the press conference yesterday because they know the elected officials simply refuse to do what is right to save lives.

    Shut everything down except groceries, police, fire, EMS.

    • Pipes says:

      As a Professor and not a particularly smart of good one, I always enjoyed giving my lecture on leadership to my students.
      A long time ago, there was a man walking amongst a crowd, who received a surprise swarming by the press. The press began asking him questions about a variety of things including politics. He responded in a respectful and dignified manner, but soon brought the interview to an abrupt end. The press asked him why and he responded, that he had to leave. They inquired as to why he had to leave and he said, ” I must leave now because my people are leaving”. Again the press asked, ” so why do you have to go?” The man said”because I am their leader and I have to follow them”. This statement by Mahatma Gandhi is the quintessential definition of true, pure , altruistic leadership, that inspired the likes of Dr. King and Mr. Mandela. Sadly, this kind of leadership always ends with untimely death. I weep for my grandchildren knowing what will unfold in their lifetime.
      The point here is, we lack true leadership, and may never have it again.

    • Arlene McGinn says:

      Except the thousands of nurses who disagree and are apt to lose their licenses and the Drs who cannot be immoral and take the extra pay to shut up about the whole false narrative going on.

  4. Renter says:

    While the closure of playgrounds (which was part of Australia’s Covid Zero strategy) and roadside stops is extreme unlikely to move any needle on their own, it’s exhausting watching every Central Canada pundit and Twitter aficionado rebelling against any measure that might slightly disrupt a proper, upper-middle class life after months spent screaming “you’re not doing enough! Lock it down!”

    It seems we can leave our airports wide open to every global hotspot for over a year, fail miserably on the vaccine front, and still expect a rapid covid turnaround – nay, an eradication of the virus! – by imposing one or two social policy hobby horses like paid sick leave. Useful to many, yes, but not a silver bullet. Not when populations are tired and SO many just don’t care. Not when the country is constantly being re-seeded with ever more virulent strains of virus. Sure, enact paid sick leave, if even as a temporary measure. But don’t stop there, because the virus won’t either.

    Countries that smashed covid were serious about screening from the get-go. There’s no other way around it. And any politician that hopes to reverse the spread will have to do so at the risk of their re-election chances. That means getting harsh on young people who don’t abide by the rules. Same for older “freedom” types. You can’t eradicate covid by trying to be the savior and a friend to everyone – you’ve got to play the heavy. Con or lib, half of the population will be against you anyway. The federal and provincial governments seem awfully reluctant to anger the Air Canada Lounge types, as well as diverse populations with family members in other countries. The optics don’t play well. So we’re stuck where we are – with skyrocketing covid cases in Ontario, BC, Alberta, and Quebec – the latter province of which has paid sick leave AND a harsh curfew.

    I’m done with the myopia of the media and the right-thinking Twitter types who think they can vote their way into a happy, covid-free future without vaccines or airport shutdowns, but also without any curtailing of liberties.

    • Andy Kaut says:

      Anyone who trades security for safety deserves neither. And this last 16 months has been an exercise in a few things.

      1. What rules will the regular populace comply with to appease the police?

      2. What rules will they/we comply with to satisfy social mores?

      3. What will we expect of our ruling class?

      4. How attractive is free money, anyway?

      5. How long can this go on?

      And, thus far, the answers to most all of these are unfavourable.

    • Doug says:

      A hard lock down may have worked if enacted in December, 2019 but once community spread became endemic, that option passed.

      The other problem is that politicians with their flip-flops and half measures, and the experts repeatedly crying wolf have lost credibility.

      Dramatically better screening would have been the silver bullet. Targeted measures aimed at isolating people who are truely contageous would have been both effective and earned enough trust that the public may have been more receptive to other measures.

      Paid sick time is a red herring. Most public sector front-line staff already have extremely generous sick day entitlements and would rather use them to supplement vacation days. The other problem is that covid, like colds and flus, has non-specific symptoms. If people took sick days everytime that had a headache, or runny nose or cough, they would be off half ot the time. The call for improved paid sick time also goes against the credibility arguement. Progressive types (in my mind “progressive” means biased towards increased government scope) are using covid as a trojan horse to push other agendas like government administered childcare, even more concessions to public sector unions, government takeover of long-term care, and most frightening of all, stimulus forever.

      • Sick days would apply to all private sector employers. Many workplaces are entirely shut to stop the stread, so yes people need to stay home until they have test results if they have a headache or runny nose.

        If implemented sick days would likely become permanent, but that would go a long way to help prevent the spread of flu and save lives in a regular year.

  5. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Pipes,

    That’s because you’re leaps and bounds ahead of them in strategic thinking, effective management and containment. They aren’t even close in having your insightful abilities. And it shows. Just listen to ’em…

    • Pipes says:

      Mr. O’Dowd your comment was probably the nicest thing ever said to me. Maybe I am mistaken and it was intended for Warren rather than this village idiot.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Pipes,

        Some of us were fortunately put on Earth with the gift of sound political strategy. Rest assured you are among that small group of people. Of course, our host could probably take us in a strategic match in a NYC minute. That’s why he gets to run War Rooms for real deal leaders.

        Lots of people think they are very good strategists when in fact most are nothing better than warmed up mediocre. Won’t name any names but politicos all know their names across parties. Their inconsistent track record speaks for itself.

  6. Phil in London says:

    I can wait out the stupidity for a couple of years. Anti-maskers? no problem I can stay home. Lockdowns? I’ve got credit and cash flow and can buy the crap I need. However the mental health disaster is going to destroy a lot of lives. I’m worried far more for others than me. Flattening the curve at the outset was so our healthcare could get the fuck ready. The political class has from the outset screwed up. They are far stupider than anyone. The lockdown 14 months ago would have been effective. Border shutdowns with strict quarantine would be good in April 2020. Now it’s like closing the barn door after the cows have run out. Contact tracing is still amateurish and rapid testing is wasted. There is NO EXPERTISE it’s all new. Only now Ford has abdicated his responsibilities to govern. Unelected physicians faced with an impossible task are now dictating policy because officials who failed and were afraid to enforce existing laws (why isn’t everyone charged who attends a Randy Hillier protest?) now have no other ideas but to listen to the loudest squeal. People don’t want to hear this but some of us are going to die no matter what is done now. It’s way too late to stop community spread. Fortunately Our sickest are not yet dying at the rate they were early. Maybe some benefit of this is some of the surviving infected people will contribute to herd immunity. Does that mean we rejoice? Hell no but retrying the same shit that hasn’t worked before is famously defined as insanity.
    I am frustrated yes but I’m disgusted there isn’t a single politician who can tie their own shoes let alone wipe their butt. It’s been a year, come up with some sort of plan that is t written on a cocktail napkin and discarded in short order.

    • Phil in London says:

      The about face proves he’s fishing to save votes not lives and confidence in leadership plummets.

      • Andy Kaut says:

        Sir, you claim that the political class has screwed up, and that politicians can’t wipe their own asses.

        Why the hell do you think the solution could come from any politicans? It never has.

        That definition of insanity could as easily apply to the last 200 years of growing statism; we require Someone Else to take care of the problems for us. Surely we can’t, as a herd, survive without the intercession of a benevolent ruling class?

        (SIC)

        • Phil in London says:

          Sir was my grandfather.

          I’d rather see a government chosen by the people who work for the people than believe every politician is somehow part of a benevolent class.

          This nonsense that we are all sheep gets a little tiring without even minute solutions.

          Free elections are not perfect but I’m sure a lot of people around the world would say it beats the hell out of the way their leaders are chosen.

  7. Peter says:

    We’ve been hammering JT and the Libs here almost non-stop about the vaccine rollout, but we can hardly blame them for the idiots who have convinced themselves that, in refusing to isolate, flouting social distancing rules at parties and refusing to wear masks, they are standing up for freedom, Western Civilization or even “Christian” values. I’d love to be a journalist and ask one of these yokels on camera for his views on Divine Grace and the Trinity. You can usually tell that you’ve found one of them when you see them trying to hide their beer can while pronouncing sonorously “My Grandfather fought in world War II and I can’t stand by and let his sacrifice….blah, blah”. Ditto for the idiot politicians who incite them. Kudos to the conservative Brigitte Pellerin for calling them out here.

    I’m also getting more and more alarmed by researchers and soi disant experts looking for their fifteen minutes minutes of fame by popping up in front of a camera to discuss their research on vaccines and blood clots, and to the media types who oblige them with alarmist headlines and leaders. Like that idiot with the goofy smile from McMaster. Do these people feel any responsibility for the effect of their words on the public and how they are undercutting the battle effort and may actually be causing deaths? We now have AstraZeneca vaccines we can’t get rid of because people have been convinced an almost infinitesimally tiny risk of a side effect is a big threat on a par with the risk of getting very sick or dying from co-vid. Our abysmal ranking on the vaccine rollout is starting to look in part like an own goal.

  8. Doug says:

    The feds could have performed vastly better on vaccine procurement. It is highly unlikely that any level of government could have contained the so-called “idiots” as trust in public institutions has eroded so much. Perhaps those institutions need to dial back some of their scope, focus on matters where they can truely make a difference and re-earn some trust. Part of the problem is the declining quality of people getting into all aspects of public service. Government has truely become an employer of last resort. Another part is that the world has become so complex that government lacks agility to respond. Yet another challenge is the victim culture enabled by social media, where every group feels slighted and desrving of special attention from government. I’m unsure of the solution, but it definately isn’t more government.

    BTW, I stand for freedom above all other things. I’ve worked very hard (ex. paid my own way through school, paid off my mortgage at age 29, worked more than one concurrent full-time job, maintain an emergency fund that could last years) to ensure that I never feel any sense of obligation to any government or institution. That does not mean I don’t feel a sense of obligation to help other individuals or that I absolutely believe that I can make better decisions around my behaviour than can any legislator.

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