Daily Archives: 2021-09-13

Avoidance

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I remember a quote from a teacher in Grade 11 History class. He really was into politics and that made that subject that year so much fun. He encouraged discussion, debates, and loved it when we challenged him.

The first goal of any politician, once elected, is to get re-elected

Or something akin to that. We thought he was so wise.

It’s kind of difficult to see that logic in action these days.

Provincially
During the COVID stuff early on, Premier Ford was everywhere. He was on television daily giving us updates and advice on how to stay safe. I thought that he really had stepped up and had done a great job as leader.

Lately though, this has stopped and he seems to have gone completely missing since the Federal Election call. There are rumblings that the Federal Conservatives have asked him to step back and keep parliament anyway until October. So much for those lazy teachers who get two months holidays in the summer, eh?

There are things that he could be doing, it seems to me:

  • finally, we have construction happening on Highway 3 from Essex to Leamington. That’s been a nightmare with two lanes and all the trucks carting fruits and vegetables away to market
  • schools are back open and his party is touting the safety and filters that are happening in classrooms. Now, my old high school had central air and filtering so I kind of understand how that works. How about going into a school heated and cooled by other means? I’m envisioning those filters in the classroom for those schools. Maybe tossing a handful of flour at a machine and seeing it gobble it up? Is it because schools aren’t necessarily safe?
  • staying with the agricultural angle, farmers are out in the field taking off hay, tomatoes, and soon other crops. Down here, there is all kinds of greenhouse construction that indicate that the industry is doing well. Why wouldn’t you want to be part of that?

Federally
This one really confuses me. Locally, all of the candidates met for a debate. Well, all of them except for one. The incumbent elected not to show up indicating that people have computers and could look up his position on the internet. Well, that’s not the point of the debate. It’s to roll up your sleeves and dig into the issues with a great deal of back and forth. To his defense, I’d be afraid to debate Tracey Ramsey too!

I haven’t heard anything from the Conservatives except a few lawn signs and that infamous text message that most of Canada got a couple of weeks ago. This debate would have been a great opportunity to talk about what a new Conservative government would do. As it is, we’re left to guessing.

From my perspective, it’s opportunity lost. Actually, it gives the advantage to others who can speculate and attack at will. There’s no defense or even an offense when you’re not there.

For both of them.

OTR Links 09/13/2021

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.