POLITICS, COVID & DEBT

Recently two friends and I compared assessments of Doug Ford, Conservative Premier of Ontario. The one friend is a retired teacher. Ooh I didn't expect much praise from that quarter from a retired teacher and in fact he assessed Mr. Ford a two out of ten score. The other friend however is a retired accountant and a supporter of most things Conservative. He assessed Doug Ford with a six out of ten which surprised me as I expected higher. That left my assessment. I have never in my life even considered voting Conservative and in fact have voted Liberal (not recently), NDP and once or twice Green. Well there I was a known "left winger". I was seriously considering either a four or five out of ten assessment but whether sympathy for Ford or more likely sympathy for my Conservative friend who assessed a relatively lowly six score I announced my assessment to be a five. Now keep in mind that assessment was before yesterday's post here titled "An Eye Opening Article In Today's K-W Record". After reading that article regarding alleged intentional abandonment by our provincial government of low income earners in Brampton, Mississauga, Scarborough etc. I would now definitely give at most a four to the Premier while actually suspecting that a three might be more accurate. ................................................................................................................ Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Nursing homes badly prepared for Covid-19, auditor general says". I really don't think that there are too many people out there who would be surprised at those conclusions from the auditor general's report. The first two waves (i.e. prior to any vaccinations) absolutely hammered long term care and retirement homes with especially devastating results in the "for profit" homes. Keep clearly in mind that while the Progressive Conservatives had shown little interest in protecting and assisting residents either in opposition or as the government; the Liberal Party of Ontario were no better even when in government for multiple terms, minority or majority government. The following quotes are shocking and almost beyond comprehension in a wealthy province like Ontario. " the culmination of years of neglect and failure to address known problems", "...overcrowding, poor ministry oversight and a severe staffing shortage that existed before the pandemic struck." Also "...concerns raised repeatedly for years went unaddressed...". ............................................................................................................. Concerning the first two waves of Covid it continues with "Neither the Ministry of Long-Term Care nor the long-term-care sector was sufficiently positioned, prepared or equipped to respond." NDP leader Andrea Horvath was quoted as saying "The Ford government knew the system was a disaster waiting to happen-and they chose to let it happen,". The reality is that she is correct in that the Ford government knew it was a disaster waiting to happen however so did the Liberals when in power and so did the industry itself and particularly the "for profit" homes. .......................................................................................................... I've used the word "debt" in the above title. There is also an interesting opinion piece written by two economists titled "The truth about Canada's debt". It appears to strongly suggest that government debt owed to the Bank of Canada isn't really a significant problem especially for our next generation. Whether or not I agree with that rosy outlook I have to ask this question. How much money did Canadians (and Ontarians) actually save by shortchanging nursing homes for decades? Did the lower than needed expenditures save us that much on our taxes and if they did was it worth the thousands of unnecessary deaths? Or did both our Liberal and Conservative governments actually value all those lives at zero?