REASONS or EXCUSES
Friday, September 17, 2021
What do you get when good people are on opposite sides of a fence – philosophical divide or political chasms?
You get government and management to currying favour with those who will keep them in power and keep his UCP party together with Velcro strips. As Mr. Kenny now knows, and as we’ve all known for some time, the management of a health crisis with a political steering wheel is doomed to fail, and it has.
The premier’s admission of mistakes and apology will probably lose him as much public support as it will cost him. His barely-united caucus, sadly, reflects divisions in our communities that go beyond young v. old or urban v. rural, and it’s not as simple as intelligent advice-taking v. denial – it’s the conspiracy theory folks and the ‘freedom at all costs’ group.
We aren’t locked down, and once again, we are, sadly, not well-led by a government that takes a hard look and a dim view at everything and everyone but itself. I’m a long-term died-in-the-wool conservative whose blue-loyalty has long ago faded.
The pandemic is wreaking havoc on politicians everywhere, but not nearly as much as it is wreaking havoc on vulnerable people – and for that, he’s not apologized adequately nor taken adequate measures to put things right.
At the end, when this pandemic eventually ends, historians will note that it was rising oil prices that got us out of this pandemic – not Mr. Kenny’s leadership. The fact that he never fired Health Minister Tyler Shandro is but one of many tactical errors. He could correct that one, and he should, but that would be an act of contrition and an authentic admission of responsibility for things getting worse …
Don’t hold your breath.