CDN/US Covid-related political discussion

[Remius]

Who cares? As long as he does the 14 day quarantine, go for it. Maybe he's leading by example that all these lockdown rules don't make sense with the actual statistics of the last 10 months of 2 weeks to flatten the curve.

Then the gvt which he is a part of shouldn’t be preaching and not practicing what they preach. The premier railed against travellers. The minister posted a Christmas message that made it look like he was home. The optics on this are not good. Nothing illegal but just poor leadership.

 

[CBH99]

PuckChaser & Crantor, personally I think you are both right.

 

[Weinie]

Then the gvt which he is a part of shouldn’t be preaching and not practicing what they preach. The premier railed against travellers. The minister posted a Christmas message that made it look like he was home. The optics on this are not good. Nothing illegal but just poor leadership.

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

 

[PuckChaser]

Then the gvt which he is a part of shouldn’t be preaching and not practicing what they preach. The premier railed against travellers. The minister posted a Christmas message that made it look like he was home. The optics on this are not good. Nothing illegal but just poor leadership.

Patty Hajdu spent close to $73K on Challenger flights early in the pandemic to fly home a bunch of times (https://torontosun.com/news/national/hajdus-repeated-flights-home-during-pandemic-cost-73gs). It got 30 seconds in the news. The only reason this will get more air time is that the political ideology of the reporters doesn't match with the government minister doing it.

Yeah, it's poor optics, but its also the worst of "gotcha" journalism. Where's the media covering the hundreds of flights coming into Canada a week during the travel ban? Where's the media covering the lack of rapid tests approved by Health Canada or the complete ball drop on vaccine numbers that are trickling into Canada while folks can go to a Walgreens in the US and get it?

 

[PMedMoe]

Politicians leading by example



Ontario finance minister on holiday trip outside Canada as health officials urge people to stay home
Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips travelled outside of the country for a personal vacation recently, his office said Tuesday.

Much like Randy Hillier constantly flouting the rules.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Who cares?

People who care about elected and handsomely paid politicians being hypocrites; his boss is calling for people to stay home as we move into another lock down.
People who are impacted by Covid19 either financially or personally, in part because of people traveling.
Also the premier apparently.

In the mantra of the LPC, it's not illegal. It's still bad leadership. And add to that this guy posted a misleading tweet on his account along with a previously taken photo giving the appearance he was in Canada.

 

[dapaterson]

Poor guy. I did a quick scan of Air Canada, and apparently they only fly in and out of Guadeloupe (nearest airport that can take jets) on Sunday, so he's stuck on the beach for a few more days.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Politicians leading by example

And his boss has spoken. Not pleased.

Ford 'extremely disappointed' after Phillips took 'personal trip' outside Canada - CityNews Toronto

Premier Doug Ford has a blunt message for his jet-setting finance minister: Get your butt home, ASAP. Ford released a statement on Tuesday evening, expressing his displeasure after Rod Phillips admitted to taking a vacation out of Canada with his wife earlier this month. He has yet to return...

toronto.citynews.ca

 

[dapaterson]

Of course, the question now is where Doug Ford spent the holidays, and whether he was mixing households...

Every one of his cabinet ministers is now going to be under scrutiny - and every MP who has been diligently trying to support government messaging is now going to need assuaging and support. (Having one of your senior comms people not realizing that their tweet was tagged as being from Saskatchewan just adds fuel to the fire ).

 

[The Bread Guy]

... Maybe he's leading by example that all these lockdown rules don't make sense with the actual statistics of the last 10 months of 2 weeks to flatten the curve.

That may be true, but under the Westminster system, he should also know about what happens when cabinet ministers don't agree with the boss. If some read his current actions as hypocritical (or, at the very least, bad optics), how should they read not resigning if he truly feels this way & out of line with the government's message/approach? #HeServesAtThePleasure

 

[Jarnhamar]

I don't think you get to a minister position by being stupid. You get there by balancing probabilities and understanding what you can get away with. Either the premier is lying and gave his blessing for the minister to go on vacation, or the minister did it behind his back knowing full well how it would be received and banked on what's becoming a standard canned apology, admit a mistake and promise to do better.

 

[dapaterson]

Navigator's busy today, what with getting Conrad, Jon and Rex to write their "SO What?" columns for the National Post (fortuitously, Mr Phillips used to be a bigwig there. Betting the the major Canadian newspapers under Postmedia will not take this one very far.)

 

[The Bread Guy]

... Either the premier is lying and gave his blessing for the minister to go on vacation, or the minister did it behind his back knowing full well how it would be received and banked on what's becoming a standard canned apology, admit a mistake and promise to do better.

On a pragmatic level, either are possible, for sure. Still, neither option leaves us with a ton of room for respecting politicians for doing the right thing, though. Yeah, I know ... #DareToDream

 

[Jarnhamar]

Another politician who "regrets" his actions.

Quebec Liberal vacationing down south despite repeated warnings to stay home​

Quebec Liberal vacationing down south despite repeated warnings to stay home

MONTREAL - Quebec Liberal member Pierre Arcand is vacationing with his wife in the Caribbean despite warnings from the federal and provincial governme...

www.thestar.com

 

[Remius]

Another politician who "regrets" his actions.

Quebec Liberal vacationing down south despite repeated warnings to stay home​

Quebec Liberal vacationing down south despite repeated warnings to stay home

MONTREAL - Quebec Liberal member Pierre Arcand is vacationing with his wife in the Caribbean despite warnings from the federal and provincial governme...

www.thestar.com

Lovely. I don’t care what party they are from. These guys deserve to be raked over the coals by their leaders. I hope they do.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Lovely. I don’t care what party they are from. These guys deserve to be raked over the coals by their leaders. I hope they do.

I guess some people really do feel that the rules don't apply to them after a certain point of climbing the greasy pole ...

 

[The Bread Guy]

... Either the premier is lying and gave his blessing for the minister to go on vacation ...

Good catch!
"Ford admits he knew of Ontario finance minister's vacation two weeks ago, regrets not asking him to return"
Oooopsie ...

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

He know OF the trip, after he took off. I think the headline is misleading, I'd be upset if he knew pre-trip he was leaving.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Good catch!
"Ford admits he knew of Ontario finance minister's vacation two weeks ago, regrets not asking him to return"
Oooopsie ...

Yesterday Ford "was not aware of the minister's trip".

I guess what he really meant was he didn't know about it until 2 weeks ago. Easy to over look one of your ministers traveling while you're telling Ontarioans not to travel outside the province and to limit non-essential work.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Next step for Ontario's Travelling Man ....
"Ontario's finance minister resigns after returning from Caribbean vacation"