On The Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast

Barely three days into a province-wide "lockdown", Ontario Premier Doug Ford decides it's time to issue a province-wide Stay At Home order. It's another sign suggesting the provincial plan to control the pandemic is being driven by guesses. It's a sign that we continue to chase the virus rather than getting out in front of it. Brampton Mayor, Patrick Brown joins us on this edition of On The Ledge. In many ways, his city has been ground zero for the pandemic. He's happy the province has finally shifted it's vaccine rollout to focus on hotspot areas. Every postal code in Brampton is now considered a priority for people 18 years of age and older.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

Five months ago, the On The Ledge crew asked the question: "Who's in control of an out of control pandemic?" That was the thrust of our discussion on November 12, 2020. We knew then we were facing the Second Wave. We knew then we faced out of control case numbers. We knew then that urgent measures were required. We knew then vaccines were on the way. We knew then we needed a comprehensive rollout and distribution plan for those vaccines. We know now the Ford government learned little from that experience. Today, case numbers are out of control driven by the exponential spike in variants of concern. ICU resources are almost completely exhausted.  Premier Ford's answer is to order a province-wide "lockdown", which isn't anything close to a "lockdown". The Ford government's strategy lacks clarity. It lacks courage.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

Why is it that an octogenarian who doesn't have a cell phone or a computer can't get a vaccine when he shows up at a clinic without making an appointment?  We are overthinking the vaccine rollout. Now that the LTC residents and front line staffers have been taken care why are we so preoccupied by focussing on age cohorts and limiting access? The vaccine rollout continues to stumble along. The Ford government tables a "what else could we do budget". The Supreme Court of Canada rules in favour of Ottawa's carbon pricing. And John Wright says the majority of Canadians feel "politically homeless."  Lots to talk about in this episode of On The Ledge!You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

Doug Ford's approval ratings are dipping according to the latest numbers from Maru/Blue, but he's still 8 points better than he was when he won a majority at Queen's Park in 2018. Will the "COVID glow" last long enough to get Ford Nation re-elected next spring? Ontario announces plans to sunset 1500 fax machines. Yup. We're still using fax machines. And Keith Leslie is hearing that online re-sellers are booking provincial campsites! You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

There may be a glow of optimism on the horizon; there are more biceps being penetrated by needles; there are more vaccine doses "on the way". But we all have to be careful not to be doing a victory lap. As my dad would say, "Run through the tape". He was a sprinter in the day. You don't run to the finish line. You run through the finish line, through the tape. This week, we dive in on racism accusations in the ledge, a budget date, and TIm Hudak's task to breath life back into tourism.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

The latest numbers from MaruBlue suggest the Trudeau government is getting a failing grade for it's handling of the COVID vaccine rollout. A majority of Canadians (57%) believe the Trudeau government has done a bad job in delivering vaccines to their province. Similarly, more than half of Ontarians believe the Ford government has done a bad job managing the vaccine rollout. These numbers come on the heels of scathing criticism of Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, David Williams, Health Minister, Christine Elliott, and Minister of Long Term Care, Dr. Merrillee Fullerton after their testimony before the Long Term Care Commission was made public. You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

As we were recording this episode, details of Dr. David Williams' testimony before the Long Term Care Commission were released to the media. Among other things, the transcripts indicate Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health said he saw no evidence that some PSWs were working in several homes or whether that could have contributed to outbreaks in phase one. There's also research suggesting case numbers and fatalities in for-profit homes were higher in phase two than in phase one. Oh ya,,,and Ontario's vaccine rollout lags behind jurisdictions across the country.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

In this Back to the Ledge episode of On The Ledge, John Wright, Keith Leslie and Dave Trafford dive in on the latest COVID-19 developments at Queen's Park, the Ford government's Greenbelt expansion plan (that includes the construction of Highway 413??). We also note that Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath has the distinction of being the longest serving leader of a major political party in Canada. But a year from the next provincial campaign, it appears she and the NDP are on track to slide back to third party status.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

The accepted wisdom suggests long term care residents and healthcare workers should be at the front of the line when we finally get a COVID-19 vaccine approved. The logic is the elderly and frail are the most vulnerable and our healthcare workers punch the clock day in and day out in a petri dish that cultivates the virus. On the surface, this makes some sense. But, I only wonder whether we're looking down the wrong end of the telescope on this. The LTC residents aren't contracting COVID-19 simply because they're elderly and frail. They're contracting because an infected person is entering the home. So, shouldn't we be giving the vaccine to those who are most likely to spread COVID-19 rather than those most likely to get sick and die? Eliminate the spread and we eliminate illnesses, we reduce pressures on hospitals and public health resources. We discuss that and more in this week's edition of On The Ledge.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

One month before Christmas 2020 and Ontario's Auditor General dropped a lump of coal in Doug Ford's and David Williams' stockings. Bonnie Lysyk issued a scathing report on the provincial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lysyk says the province was not only ill prepared, it failed to learn important lessons from the SARS crisis in 2003. And the AG said, in no uncertain terms, criticized Dr. Williams as the Chief Medical Officer of Health for not leading Ontario's response to COVID-19.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.