I haven’t been as on top of the Doug Ford stuff lately as I usually am (no reason, really), but this seems like a good time to make a comeback.
Can we all agree that this criticism of yesterday’s Liberal budget is pretty fucking rich coming from these clowns, who have done everything in their power to do absolutely shit all about offering the paid sick days that everyone clearly knows we need? Yes, technically the feds could probably improve their version of the program, but if you think it’s so bad and if, as you’re oh so fond of insisting, “everything is on the table,” what’s stopping you from showing those dummies in Ottawa how to do it the right way? If it’s a policy you suddenly believe so much in, create a program yourselves that will fill in the gaps you see in the federal one. Or if you’re as fundamentally opposed to it as you’ve been showing yourselves to be this whole time, why not speak against it and maybe even take a crack at opting the province out like you foolishly tried with the carbon tax? But if you are going to take what Ottawa is offering, shut the hell up about how they need to improve it if you have no plans to help.
Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy insisted he “valued the level of partnership” with federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and noted how well the two governments have co-operated since COVID-19 struck 13 months ago.
While Freeland wanted to talk about child care, Bethlenfalvy had more pressing concerns about her first budget.
“We are disappointed to see there was no action announced in (the) budget in several key areas — including stricter border measures to limit the introduction and spread of new, more contagious COVID variants that are causing the third wave, vaccine supply, and improvements to the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit,” he said.
That’s a reference to the federal paid sick leave program that gives ill workers $500 a week — $450 after taxes — so they can stay home.
Even though Bethlenfalvy has faced criticism for not introducing a provincial sick-pay plan to complement Ottawa’s much-maligned scheme, he insisted employees deserve better.“We also need to protect essential workers who need to keep working during this crisis,” he said.
“To protect their health and that of their co-workers when they’re ill or worried they may have COVID-19, workers need to know that they have immediate access to this program.”
