"Our fragile, tiny hospital system remains a real vulnerability that we will really need to start addressing at some point." C'mon guys. If this government survives the pandemic, it will be business as usual. Maybe a promise to examine the system but don't hold your breath on a major systemic change.
The CBC FU post I find particularly depressing. I get the defeating feeling, it will only entrench the haters and supporters of the current state of the CBC. By chance, I happened to listen to the Peter Mansbridge interview on The Agenda this AM and was hoping against the odds, Paiken would raise the question in a more direct way about "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE CBC!?!?!"... Mansbridge was way too diplomatic and Paiken too soft. Clearly he had some misgivings about the state there. Something has to drastically change for the CBC and a bunch of one offs fleeing to substack isnt gonna be a sustainable move going forward. I like The Line so far and its direction for opinion journalism, but its gonna be a while before you two can hire someone to do indepth reporting that only orgs the size of the G&M can do not to mention cover actual local issues.
Good for Henley for giving the CBC the flying finger. I do it every day as part of my exercise routine. The article says she's seen how quickly the CBC has gone political etc. As a westerner I've seen that going on for decades. It reminds me of a book by Farley Mowatt called Sibir. In it, Farley recalls visiting an author friend at his dacha in Siberia. Farley is saying how democratic and wonderful our western system is. His friend says: 'You know there is one big difference between you and us Russians. Your believe your own propaganda; we do not believe ours'. The CBC is the Liberal Party propaganda arm, and is rewarded regularly with huge budgets. The CBC is funded by all tax payers, but its programming really only caters to a minority of the public.
The CBC is incessantly woke/politically correct. And I mean incessant. Back in 2014 I lived in Haida Gwaii; the only radio station I got was CBC. I left for three months in the winter. The day I left, on the radio was an achy-breaky cry-me-a-river piece on one of their favorite adopted victim groups. I turned it off and out the door. Three months later, I came back, turned on the radio, and on it was the same though slightly changed cry-me-a-river story. What are the odds of that if a normal range of programming was the norm? Virtually nil. With the CBC, it's every day, every day, every day. And there are millions of voters drunk on their propaganda. So pathetically sad.
On the pandemic "mopping up" issue, it would be nice to see a greater public profile for the idea of dismantling the edifice of restrictions once it is clear that covid is endemic. Sure, we should have better pandemic planning capacity in place. But that is not the same as maintaining the bureaucratic apparatus built in response to covid. It will need to be dismantled with some zeal given the bureaucratic instinct for self-preservation.
I guess I don’t agree with your vaccine worship, I think they are at the lowest level of confidence right now as the panacea out of this. You said what’s known, that the kids are the least affected by the disease of the virus, but then say that the most vaccinated schools are the safest. Schools haven’t been a vector and now everyone is going to get it no matter where, so?
Anyway, let’s break down why the provincial governments are doing what they’re doing, again. It’s hard to see why they’re doing this when I’d assume they have the same access to data that we do- with that data we’d only jab the fatties, we’d never close another school again and we would probably never put a mask on another kid as those two things greatly affect their development and are much longer-term consequences (social development retardation and the bill from 2021’s gov’t largesse that will eventually come due? They are so screwed!)
So it’s not the data that drives these governments, it’s the pressures that surround them and it seems like these pressures haven’t done much responding to developments; instead looking out for their own self-interest. I’d wager these are polling data, the desire to be elected again, but mainly that of the professional managerial elite that exist within the unions and bureaucracy. I honestly think that many committees were struck to figure out how best to model inclusivity for their organizational response, while in pajamas, and not doing the right thing- responding to the damn pandemic that changed the game daily!
Every government had created a pandemic response plan, and we see that at least Sweden executed theirs. We instead got caught unawares and so lockdowns in spring 2020 meant we were making it up as we go. Pourquoi? Were these managers actually doing their jobs all this time? In a way they're allowed to waste time and money on frivolity as a career, so I guess yes is the answer.
I’ll say that I only brought it up but didn’t discuss, the crazy desire for power and re-electability is another situation we can’t have continue on this trajectory. But there are a lot of things we can investigate and assign blame to; just so it doesn’t happen again there needs to be some consequences and we should discuss who is a target. The government can say we are too simple to be able to come to the right conclusion with the data we can see- a supercilious and technocratic refrain. But if these self-interested parties are the pressure for the status-quo and the same damn lack of improved response (lockdowns) well to hell with ‘em.
“In the best-case scenario, Omicron would spread through the population like wildfire on a be-droughted plain, but be so mild that it wouldn't overwhelm health-care systems.”
A problem with this analogy is that while grass often grows back better after a fire, the misery, disability, and dire economic consequences of Long COVID on our health care systems is likely to produce a generation of stunted growth. Odd that you did not mention it at all in your article.
I know it’s now racist and misogynist to say this according to the latest science, but the lockdown and vaccine two-headed beast alone won’t end this pandemic. It never even had a chance. Until we move past this failed strategy, and start questioning outright incompetence masquerading as expertise, we will live under a revolving door of completely arbitrary draconian public policy decisions. All these people that are grrrrrr mad at Ontario for closing schools (or X Province for doing Y) while blindly reinforcing the official narratives from their sanctimonious tribe are part of the problem. You’re literally giving them exactly what they want. Round and round we go, when it stops, nobody knows.
How can anyone who has survived the public school system write this line: 'We believe that every day a child is in a classroom is valuable.' with a straight face? Seriously? Maybe valuable to the parents as day care...
I think there's tons of space for Tara Henley on the Canadian Quit o' sphere. I subscribe to you both now. I heard the interview with Batya Ungar Sargon on her new podcast this morning and it was fascinating. The dynamic described in 'Bad News' is central to why I'm a supporter of *both* of you. Bring more to indie Media. And- I'm not red pilled, btw, I'm curious.
Just read the whole Tara Henley piece in the Regina L-P & appreciated her comments so much. I've been listening to the CBC Radio for decades but more recently find myself constantly questioning many of the items on air. I thought maybe it was just me getting old and cranky ( I am both actually) but if a person criticizes certain things, she dismissed as racist, homophobic or, worst of all, "elitist". There are still many valuable items on the CBC (radio, we don't watch TV much) but there are more and more shows that have become unbearable. I surely hope Tara Henley can find a way to make a reasonable income.
We need a full Royal Inquiry into our health care system. It quite frankly isn't good enough for an OECD country let alone a G7 country. There are many models to choose from, from countries that have better performing systems than Canada.
One thing is certain though, the public system doesn't deserve the monopoly it has in Canada anymore.
As for the CBC, my God just take it out behind the woodshed already. To avoid the crazy pension liabilities, just remove the funding and let them have pledge drives to their audience like PBS does. At least that way they will be accountable to someone.
"Our fragile, tiny hospital system remains a real vulnerability that we will really need to start addressing at some point." C'mon guys. If this government survives the pandemic, it will be business as usual. Maybe a promise to examine the system but don't hold your breath on a major systemic change.
The CBC FU post I find particularly depressing. I get the defeating feeling, it will only entrench the haters and supporters of the current state of the CBC. By chance, I happened to listen to the Peter Mansbridge interview on The Agenda this AM and was hoping against the odds, Paiken would raise the question in a more direct way about "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE CBC!?!?!"... Mansbridge was way too diplomatic and Paiken too soft. Clearly he had some misgivings about the state there. Something has to drastically change for the CBC and a bunch of one offs fleeing to substack isnt gonna be a sustainable move going forward. I like The Line so far and its direction for opinion journalism, but its gonna be a while before you two can hire someone to do indepth reporting that only orgs the size of the G&M can do not to mention cover actual local issues.
Good for Henley for giving the CBC the flying finger. I do it every day as part of my exercise routine. The article says she's seen how quickly the CBC has gone political etc. As a westerner I've seen that going on for decades. It reminds me of a book by Farley Mowatt called Sibir. In it, Farley recalls visiting an author friend at his dacha in Siberia. Farley is saying how democratic and wonderful our western system is. His friend says: 'You know there is one big difference between you and us Russians. Your believe your own propaganda; we do not believe ours'. The CBC is the Liberal Party propaganda arm, and is rewarded regularly with huge budgets. The CBC is funded by all tax payers, but its programming really only caters to a minority of the public.
The CBC is incessantly woke/politically correct. And I mean incessant. Back in 2014 I lived in Haida Gwaii; the only radio station I got was CBC. I left for three months in the winter. The day I left, on the radio was an achy-breaky cry-me-a-river piece on one of their favorite adopted victim groups. I turned it off and out the door. Three months later, I came back, turned on the radio, and on it was the same though slightly changed cry-me-a-river story. What are the odds of that if a normal range of programming was the norm? Virtually nil. With the CBC, it's every day, every day, every day. And there are millions of voters drunk on their propaganda. So pathetically sad.
On the pandemic "mopping up" issue, it would be nice to see a greater public profile for the idea of dismantling the edifice of restrictions once it is clear that covid is endemic. Sure, we should have better pandemic planning capacity in place. But that is not the same as maintaining the bureaucratic apparatus built in response to covid. It will need to be dismantled with some zeal given the bureaucratic instinct for self-preservation.
I guess I don’t agree with your vaccine worship, I think they are at the lowest level of confidence right now as the panacea out of this. You said what’s known, that the kids are the least affected by the disease of the virus, but then say that the most vaccinated schools are the safest. Schools haven’t been a vector and now everyone is going to get it no matter where, so?
Anyway, let’s break down why the provincial governments are doing what they’re doing, again. It’s hard to see why they’re doing this when I’d assume they have the same access to data that we do- with that data we’d only jab the fatties, we’d never close another school again and we would probably never put a mask on another kid as those two things greatly affect their development and are much longer-term consequences (social development retardation and the bill from 2021’s gov’t largesse that will eventually come due? They are so screwed!)
So it’s not the data that drives these governments, it’s the pressures that surround them and it seems like these pressures haven’t done much responding to developments; instead looking out for their own self-interest. I’d wager these are polling data, the desire to be elected again, but mainly that of the professional managerial elite that exist within the unions and bureaucracy. I honestly think that many committees were struck to figure out how best to model inclusivity for their organizational response, while in pajamas, and not doing the right thing- responding to the damn pandemic that changed the game daily!
Every government had created a pandemic response plan, and we see that at least Sweden executed theirs. We instead got caught unawares and so lockdowns in spring 2020 meant we were making it up as we go. Pourquoi? Were these managers actually doing their jobs all this time? In a way they're allowed to waste time and money on frivolity as a career, so I guess yes is the answer.
I’ll say that I only brought it up but didn’t discuss, the crazy desire for power and re-electability is another situation we can’t have continue on this trajectory. But there are a lot of things we can investigate and assign blame to; just so it doesn’t happen again there needs to be some consequences and we should discuss who is a target. The government can say we are too simple to be able to come to the right conclusion with the data we can see- a supercilious and technocratic refrain. But if these self-interested parties are the pressure for the status-quo and the same damn lack of improved response (lockdowns) well to hell with ‘em.
“In the best-case scenario, Omicron would spread through the population like wildfire on a be-droughted plain, but be so mild that it wouldn't overwhelm health-care systems.”
A problem with this analogy is that while grass often grows back better after a fire, the misery, disability, and dire economic consequences of Long COVID on our health care systems is likely to produce a generation of stunted growth. Odd that you did not mention it at all in your article.
I know it’s now racist and misogynist to say this according to the latest science, but the lockdown and vaccine two-headed beast alone won’t end this pandemic. It never even had a chance. Until we move past this failed strategy, and start questioning outright incompetence masquerading as expertise, we will live under a revolving door of completely arbitrary draconian public policy decisions. All these people that are grrrrrr mad at Ontario for closing schools (or X Province for doing Y) while blindly reinforcing the official narratives from their sanctimonious tribe are part of the problem. You’re literally giving them exactly what they want. Round and round we go, when it stops, nobody knows.
How can anyone who has survived the public school system write this line: 'We believe that every day a child is in a classroom is valuable.' with a straight face? Seriously? Maybe valuable to the parents as day care...
I think there's tons of space for Tara Henley on the Canadian Quit o' sphere. I subscribe to you both now. I heard the interview with Batya Ungar Sargon on her new podcast this morning and it was fascinating. The dynamic described in 'Bad News' is central to why I'm a supporter of *both* of you. Bring more to indie Media. And- I'm not red pilled, btw, I'm curious.
Just read the whole Tara Henley piece in the Regina L-P & appreciated her comments so much. I've been listening to the CBC Radio for decades but more recently find myself constantly questioning many of the items on air. I thought maybe it was just me getting old and cranky ( I am both actually) but if a person criticizes certain things, she dismissed as racist, homophobic or, worst of all, "elitist". There are still many valuable items on the CBC (radio, we don't watch TV much) but there are more and more shows that have become unbearable. I surely hope Tara Henley can find a way to make a reasonable income.
We need a full Royal Inquiry into our health care system. It quite frankly isn't good enough for an OECD country let alone a G7 country. There are many models to choose from, from countries that have better performing systems than Canada.
One thing is certain though, the public system doesn't deserve the monopoly it has in Canada anymore.
As for the CBC, my God just take it out behind the woodshed already. To avoid the crazy pension liabilities, just remove the funding and let them have pledge drives to their audience like PBS does. At least that way they will be accountable to someone.
Please fix the mike problem!! As you know our whole medical system needs a giant overhaul!