On The Ledge

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is pushing back on criticism of his government's COVID-19 communications and public health guidance. Ford says "I don't think the guidelines can be any clearer." Really?? In this week's episode of On the Ledge, John Wright, Keith Leslie and Dave Trafford are joined by Melissa Lantsman. Melissa's not only the VP at Enterprise, she was the Tory war room director during the last provincial election campaign. She says the Ford government is running out of chances to get the story straight. "Confusing public health advice across every single jurisdiction is undermining public trust. We need to figure this out before an eventual COVID-19 vaccine becomes a reality. The consequences of getting the comms part wrong again will be devastating."

Do you get the sense that we are feeling our way in the dark as the second wave of the pandemic comes crashing ashore? It's certainly the feeling the a number of industries have after Queen's Park decided to impose modified stage 2 restrictions on restaurants, gyms, performance centres in the Toronto, Peel and Ottawa regions. A ban on indoor dining, the closure of gyms, the cancellation of already restricted performance centres has left small businesses and not-for-profit groups grasping for financial lifelines. In this week's episode of On the Ledge we ask who's calling the shots in the effort to fight COVID while keeping the economy moving?  And what numbers should we be focussed on? We have more cases than ever had but urgent and critical care beds aren't being overwhelmed.

The province's management of the COVID testing program has been just shy of a shit show. Reporting this week by the Toronto Star makes it pretty clear the Ontario government wasted its only opportunity to put a robust testing program in place during the summer months. It appears, for all the commitment to "do whatever it takes", the Ford government refused to spend the money to set up a complete testing system. That means establishing testing locations, establishing criteria for those who should be tested, providing adequate supplies and personnel to administer the tests. But the tests are completely useless if you can't turn the results around in less than three days. The RNA begins to degrade, meaning the results are immediately suspect. We learned this week the testing backlog is somewhere north of 90 thousand cases! There is no way any of these results can be trusted. And that's the issue for the Ford government now. Trust.  Combine the testing debacle with the inconsistent, if not conflicting messages from the province's public health authorities and the public officers of health in Toronto and Ottawa, and the Premier is on the verge of losing the trust of the same people who gave him such high praise in the Spring for his handling of the pandemic.

Bad News: The second wave of COVID 19 has arrived. Good News: Fewer hospitalizations. Bad News: Ontario is setting new records for daily cases. Good News: Queen's Park has finally stepped up to protect Long Term Care homes. Bad News: 46 LTC homes report outbreaks. Good News: (stand by) Bad News: Hmmm...Seems we've run out of Good News.

The Fall Plan is being presented one step at a time. It includes preparations for flu season, COVID testing at select pharmacies and Premier Ford's constant plea to Health Canada to approve saliva tests. But does the plan also include a snap election? John Wright's latest numbers from Maru/Blue suggest Ford's approval rating is starting to dip as his government struggles to get the kids back to class.  Oh ya! And whatever happened to the public inquiry into Long Term Care homes? Seems the commission has been holding its hearings behind closed doors!(??)

The Ontario legislature is back in business and so is our podcast, On The Ledge. Getting kids back to school this week was akin to building an aircraft in-flight. Class sizes are larger than expected. Teachers are still learning who, what and where they're teaching. And dozens of bus routes have been cancelled because of a driver shortage. John Wright is Executive Vice President of Maru/Blue Public Opinion. Keith Leslie is political commentator at CHCH News and the Hamilton Spectator. And Dave Trafford is the Executive Producer of iContact Productions and host of the Weekend Morning Show on Newstalk 1010 in Toronto.

The Ontario Liberal Party handed former Wynne minister Steven Del Duca a first ballot win and new business cards as the Leader of the provincial party. The governing Progressive Conservatives have already released online ads framing Del Duca as a continuation of Kathleen Wynne's politics and policies. Can Del Duca redefine himself? Can he redefine the provincial party? Can he raise the cash needed to take on the Tories in 2022? Can he recruit quality candidates to take on the Tories in 2022? And what does all this say about the leadership, (or lack thereof), from NDP leader Andrea Horwath?

Listen to the declarations coming out of Washington about COVID-19 and it's clear that the Canadian response to the outbreak has been weeks ahead of the curve. Nonetheless, all of our preparedness for this strain of the coronavirus is not enough to inoculate us against the Trump administration's viral confusion and its effects on world markets. President Trump has appointed Vice President as the lead on the COVID-19 file but it's still not clear who is in charge. One thing we do know is the next Ontario Liberal Leader will be named on March 7th. The leader of the pack is the leading "Wynne Loser", Stephen Del Duca. Can he rejuvenate the party? And the trains are running this week, the blockades are down and most Canadians say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has mishandled the file. John Wright at Dart has new polling. Enjoy!

At the time of this recording, the nationwide rail blockades continue with no end in sight. The prime minister admits there has been no progress in meaningful talks and told a Friday afternoon news conference it's time for the blockades to come down.  What does that mean? There is no plan. There is no deadline. And there is no consequence for demonstrators if the blockades remain in place. Has he effectively downloaded this national crisis onto the provinces? ALSO this week: We introduce THE FRIDAY DUMP. We nominate the news makers, news stories, maybe even the news media who are worthy of the FRIDAY DUMP honours!

The Christmas recess has wrapped up at Queen's Park, the legislature is back in session and there are more than a few pots at a rolling boil on the front burner. The labour standoff continues with all of the teachers' unions across the province. Rotating strikes continue and there appears to be no progress in this war of attrition. That strife will take up a good deal of oxygen as the session resumes but Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney will be front and centre presenting some major public transit legislation and having to stick handle the botched roll out of the province's new licence plates.