Re: Corona Virus: is it the beginning of the end?
Lest anyone wonder if I'm only interested in troubles abroad, I'm not.
The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, is someone whose policies I have generally disagreed with. He's center-right on the left-right axis, and used to be referred to as Mini Trump. He was never quite so self-deluded as the American president, but he definitely had some of the same rhetoric. I'll give him some credit, however: since the pandemic started, he has been deferring to health officials, being transparent and being straightforward. A lot of the stuff that's had people mad at him - and for extremely good reason, I might add - has been put aside for the moment because we've all got bigger fish to fry. We're going to be feeling the impact of this pandemic for years...though personally, I'd rather see that impact than the hundreds of thousands of extra deaths that would have resulted from a lack of shutdowns, physical distancing, and the mandatory wearing of masks in public places. The way I see it, we may never have done a shutdown on this level before, but the lower death tolls and better response curve is going to speak for itself. If we'd had the forethought to try this sort of thing in previous pandemics, we would have seen even smaller impact than what we ultimately ran into. Math and stats don't lie.
So okay, I wasn't sold on Ford, and will never vote for the man, because I haven't forgotten what he's been doing, but I was (and am) willing to give credit where it's due.
Well, imagine my surprise *read: lack of surprise) when he tries to walk back a bill that was passed in March protecting tenants from quick evictions due to nonpayment of rent. This bill essentially protects folks who can't pay rent due to Covid-related complications from being put on the street; Ford's latest action here wants to get rid of those protections, and after doing some research into the proposition, I've got to say it looks pretty grim for him. It's also doubly sneaky because now he appears to have won the public trust. I'm definitely going to make a point of making sure that folks in Ontario (since that's where this will come into effect) know about this. I'd hate to see it slip into law because nobody knew and nobody responded with enough force before it happens.
To me, this is just proof that Ford really does not care about citizens. He cares about people who have more money, and cares more about making sure people pay rent than making sure they, y'know, stay alive and safe. One of the toxicities of the right, IMO. I think it's affected me as much as it has because I saw some good signs from this man throughout the past few months; as I said, I was never going to align with him, but I can admit when even someone I don't like or agree with does something right, and he did. So this feels a bit like being shot in the back by someone trying to earn your trust. I'll say this for a majority of leftists, at least: they're not going to backshoot you. If anything, they're going to be obnoxiously loud and in your face about exactly what they plan to do, and how they plan to do it. I prefer honesty over deceit, pretty much every time.
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