Great Britain is vaccinating 200 people every minute. One person dies in a Canadian long-term care home every hour.
Canada? Brilliantly, we shut all vaccine production labs here, forcing us to rely on the charity of other countries. How's that working out? Exactly. My question is, where's Waldo?! Exactly.
In a truly bizarre column in yesterday's Globe, two journalists complained about hiring practices in the communications and publishing industry. One was the head of the 'Canadian Association of Black Journalists', the other from "Canadian Journalists of Colour'. Both were female.
(Aside: Why you need two such associations representing basically the same demographic I have no idea?! But I digress.)
Anyway, their premise was that newsrooms need to hire more blacks and browns. As a journalist who plied my trade for a number of years in Toronto's cutthroat and competitive publishing world back in the seventies, I have to ask, why? Just because they are black or brown? That's just dumb. No one hired me because I was a woman. I was hired because of my competence and even had to take a writing test as part of the process. The fiasco of the women's movement comes to mind when hiring began to be based on gender 40 years ago. How did that work out? Just look at Payette, Hadju or Tam. We could also throw in Clarkson and Jean and hundreds of others who didn't work out. They're your answer.
In their column, they bizarrely, but predictably, tossed in the George Floyd killing, for no reason apparent to me? (It's similar to how Indigenous spokespeople and columnists link everything to colonialism and residential schools. Whatever the issue, it's the fault of residential schools and colonialism. Regardless.) In the Floyd case, was this unfortunate not hired by some newsroom? What has his killing to do with hiring black journalists?! Beats me!?
These women have apparently been badgering media companies demanding answers to what they have labelled a "Call to Action". They seem not to understand that journalists are hired because of competence, not colour. That's not to say there aren't qualified black and brown candidates, but obviously not as many because of demographics. It's all in the numbers, not colour.
They claim that one national broadcaster created an internal tool that measures inclusion to weave diversity data into every facet of news operations. Huh? How is that relevant to the actual business of journalism?
Forty-five years ago, I applied, and was interviewed, for a job at Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation. I got the job and was thrilled, but when they discovered I was pregnant, they immediately cancelled the competition. But lo and behold, a few months later, they quietly hired the guy who had come second. I took it to the Department of Labour, who wrote a weak letter of enquiry to the president of CMHC (at the time, Bill Teron). Naturally, Teron wrote back saying that was not the reason.........blah blah blah. Nothing happened and I left CMHC for another job.
Not getting a job because of a pregnancy was unadmitted standard practice back then, which is why I tried to hide my condition. Afterall, who wants to hire someone who will shortly be taking six months' maternity leave. It was wrong, but I get it from the employer's perspective. However, this is not the same as insisting someone be hired because of colour, which these women want. A journalist of colour would not be leaving his/her post because of colour as a pregnant woman would be doing. I believe hiring is -- and should be -- based on competence, never on colour.
Seems to me, the more people like these women insist on qualifications extraneous to the actual work they will be doing, the weaker their position becomes.
Now we learn that a Calgary biotechnological company could have started work on producing a COVID vaccine right here last March, but thanks to the incompetent feds, was turned down when they asked for funding. You can bet they were turned down because the Liberals hold no seats in Alberta. You can also bet that Tam's grimy hands were all over this disastrous decision.
The CEO of Providence Theraputics said that waaaaaay back when the pandemic first reared its ugly head, his firm went to Ottawa asking for $35 million. A full five months later -- five months! -- they got a measly $4.7 because Canada's vaccine "deal" with China had fallen apart. Had they been able to start earlier, Brad Sorenson says they'd have finished trials at the same time as Moderna. "Now, we're one year behind them in getting our vaccine to market."
This is criminal. The Providence vaccine is also more effective than both the Moderna and Pfizer varieties and only requires -20 C refrigeration. The really criminal part is that three days after Trudeau announced, with great fanfare on May 16, that the feds had signed a deal with CanSino Biologies, the deal actually fell apart. However, this little tidbit of news was not announced until the end of August, when the feds started desperately casting about for alternatives to their failed deal. Incredibly, even up until July 16, the lying Trudeau was still claiming the cancelled partnership with China was a go.
So folks, there you have it. Again.
So, the federal government -- meaning you and I -- blew $391,000 after-the-fact to find out Julie Payette was a disastrous choice. That's what they paid a "consulting" firm to learn of the bad job she had done in the Montreal Science Centre and COC when it came to running a harmonious workplace.
For Trudeau to say she was properly vetted is simply a bold-faced lie. How could they have missed her dreadful performance and all the formal complaints about harassment in those workplaces?! Instead of forking over $391,000 to crony consultants, why did no one pick up the phone and call the people who knew all about her incompetence, arrogance and temper in dealing with employees and colleagues?! Just another example of Trudeau's arrogance and inability to listen to any opinion other than the one he and his school-chum buddies hold.
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Could someone also tell me why no other province or the feds have adopted the Nova Scotian model of rapid COVID testing? There, downtown bars and restaurants have recruited volunteers to rapid-test patrons upon entry so they can remain open. Apparently, since these pop-up clinics were launched in December, just a handful of the nearly 14,000 people tested were confirmed to have the virus and most were asymptomatic. This no-brainer meant such people did not inadvertently shed and spread the virus into the community.
Duh?!
Millions of rapid-test kits have been purchased by the feds and are available right now, so why aren't they being used in other provinces?! Apparently, because other provinces insist that all tests must be given by someone with medical training -- not by trained volunteers, as Nova Scotia is doing.
I smell the nurses' union here. Once again, the useless Tam needs to step in and order other provinces follow suit. But she won't.
That was the name of the lively and charming nurse who administered our drive-thru COVID tests this morning. (B has had a nagging and persistent cough for weeks and I got sick of it, so booked a test for both of us; he has to have a negative result before a respirologist will see him.)
When I booked it on-line, the process was sooooooo complicated and convoluted I despaired of what we would face when we drove up. But, lo and behold, it was flawless! We were in and out within 10 minutes. The odd time, a bureaucracy will actually come through. Now we just have to wait.
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On another topic, a friend's daughter has decided to allow her 10-year-old daughter to dye her hair pink. She has also allowed this kid to wear Doc Martins. Really?! This is what happens when you force-fit a toddler into Mary-Janes, bows and gingham. They rebel, but not in a nice way.
When my daughter was young, I didn't interfere in her choice of clothes because something told me that would lead to bizarre choices later on. Sometimes, this kid went to school wearing one of B's T-shirts as a dress, with one of his ties as a belt. I remember one parent-teacher meeting, during which I explained my philosophy saying, "I let her choose her clothes and dress herself because I don't want her to decide an orange Mohawk, visible tatoos and pins in her eyebrows and lips would be great ideas later on."
So, no surprise this 10-year-old is striking back. Let's just hope it's a phase. Otherwise, she'll be unemployable.
Despite Alberta's throwing another $13 million into the rabbit hole of a "unique learning strategy" for Indigenous youth, graduation rates for these students continue to fall. Throwing money at Indians is never the answer, as I have said many times. Now we learn that only 38.8% of such students are graduating within three years -- a significant gap from Alberta's average of 55.8%.
And only 46.9% of Indigenous students complete high school within four years, while 64 % of other "regular" students graduate. Rates are declining steadily.
Alberta's Indigenous rates are declining badly behind other provincial averages -- about 17 percentage points between the board's overall graduation rate. Apparently, the problems include:
Now, according to Lori Pritchard of the Calgary Board of Education, the answer is to assign each Indigenous student a trusted teacher or adult to check in to ensure each has personal needs met and is working towards success. Why bother when these students know that money will flow regardless of their education?!
OMG come on!
I've predicted this many times: Julie Payette would be a disaster. And she was. On five occasions, I've written blogs about this mess:
There are many indicators about someone that tell me all about them. Their hair is the first thing, as I have also blogged many times. After that come their clothes, shoes -- actually shoes come before clothes -- nails and makeup. Doesn't matter if they're attractive or not. I just have a knack for sizing someone up using the signals they themselves have chosen to project. They tell me all about their values; I don't have to apply any of my own.
I knew Payette would be a disaster from the get-go. Anyone who wears their hair like that at her age -- or at any age -- is completely inappropriate and out-of-touch. The PM (I hate even calling him that) did not do any vetting when he jumped on her for the job of viceregal. Afterall, she was a star, an astronaut and a brilliant scientist! But the job of GG is one of diplomacy, tact and respect for the office and who it represents.
Payette had none of any of these.
Remember, this was a woman charged with assaulting her then-husband in 2011. Then she was booted from the Montreal Science Centre for bullying and harassing staff -- the same reasons she was subsequently kicked off the Canadian Olympic Committee. How could he have chosen her?! Because he's shallow and vacuous, that's why. Oh, and by the way, I forgot she actually killed a pedestrian in a traffic "mishap"! And no one noticed!?!?
In her bullsh-it statement, she actually mimicked the words of Trudeau when she said, "People don't all experience something in the same way." I'm sure the guy she killed experienced it in a completely different way: He died. That was Trudeau's excuse when he groped a female reporter in BC. He also lost it when he actually crossed the floor of the House of Commons to manhandle and shove another female MP out of the chamber.
By insisting she hire her bestie as her secretary, she abandoned government protocol which had always relied on seasoned staff, like the late Esmund Butler, to run the ship and keep it properly afloat. No, apparently Payette and Asunta regularly threw tantrums abusing and belittling staff.
And let's not forget that, even after the renovations she had demanded had been made at the cost of hundreds of thousands, she refused to live in the GG's official residence -- all with the approval of the demented and delusional Trudeau.
This appointment and "resignation" was an insult to Her Majesty. In trying to replace her, Trudeau again is ignoring the learned committee Stephen Harper struck to find and assess potential candidates for governor general. He'll just ask Telford and Butts to come up with a few star names -- the way he disastrously picked Payette.
And speaking of delusional, how she could use her ludicrous hippie son as her official escort in various duties was beyond insulting to everyone in attendance.
Good riddance. G-d help us with his next pick -- and it better not be Harry and Meghan! Meghan's imperiousness is intolerable.
Had a letter in both 'The Globe and Mail' and 'The Calgary Herald' today. Basically, the same subject, but 'The Herald' edited out the best line.
As well as not paying enough for the vaccine, Canada's lack of supply is also the result of Pfizer's not getting the corporate tax break it has been lobbying CRA to give it. Another brilliant move! Just when we desperately need Pfizer's product, Canada decides to pick a fight with the producer. Way to go!
And then there was the Liberal campaign promise to bring in pharmacare. This meant further regulating drug prices to ensure they came down because at market prices, Canada would never be able to keep Singh's demand for pharmacare. It would simply be too expensive.
So, the pitiful Jane Philpott, then health minister, put the boots to the drug companies with stiffer regulations along the lines of what New Zealand had stupidly done. Guess what has happened to drug supply and research in New Zealand? Ground to a halt. Zilch, not happening.
So, there you have the real reasons why Canada can't get the vaccine. Just so dumb.
Would someone please tell me why the lead story on the front page of today's 'Globe and Mail' features a big article about the election in Uganda??!! Who cares??!! Another failed African state that's completely effed up (see "In the vernacular....." January 12/18). There isn't one country in that entire sorry continent that isn't completely failed and corrput -- including Uganda. Lazy reporting.
Back a number of months ago, the Trudeau government clapped itself on the back for negotiating the purchase of millions of vaccines. Problem was, they didn't pay enough and when Israel, a country that knows a thing or two about money, came along and offered the manufacturers more than twice as much, Canada went to the back of the international line.
That's what happened. Trudeau forgot everything is about money, which is why we don't have nearly enough doses for all Canadians. The other little wrinkle is that we arrested Meng Wanzhou and then negotiated the purchase of vaccines with China, which promptly pulled the plug on vaccines for Canada because of Wanzhou.
Duh! Why would Canada buy vaccines from the country that manufactured and spread the virus while detaining someone the Chinese wanted shipped back and then expect to get the vaccines?!
That's about as dumb as it gets!
"The following may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised."
That's what I need to say before I get into the mess on my forehead.
About 15 years ago, I had Mohs Surgery on a basal cell in my forehead. (If you don't know what Mohs is, google it.) Apparently, it is always 99% effective. Naturally, I had to be the pesky one percent. So, it came back and off I went for another Mohs adventure last Wednesday to the Calgary Skin Cancer Clinic. The surgeon had to go in three times before the slide came back clean, i.e., no cancerous cells. Isn't that what happened the last time? Oh, and at one point during the ordeal, "Yes," was the surgeon's reply, when I asked her if that scraping sound was her banging on my skull.
Anyway, it was seven hours of surgery, followed by two hours of sewing up and attaching a skin graft when the skin would no longer stretch over the gaping wound. And they had to stretch some skin to get enough for the graft. Gawd!
Following a ton of freezing, I promptly came home and vomited all evening, during which I think I burst a suture or two because it's a big mess at the moment. So, face-time calls with the grands are out for a while -- although granddaughter would probably love to ogle the ugly incision from my hairline to my eyebrow. You know kids, some just love gore!
But I am grateful that a recent mammogram came back clean and thankful I do not have melanoma -- the worst kind of skin cancer. So, I should really quit complaining and bitching about something that is fixable.
Shut up, Nancy
Something is very wrong when Twitter can arbitrarily cancel someone's account; same with facebook. I refer to the cancelling of Trump's account. Even if offensive and inciteful, his account should not have been cancelled. That's a slippery slope (I hate that expression) that should not have been trodden.
What's next? Book burning? Such decisions are arbitrary and made by individual people, which is wrong. Apparently, facebook is also cancelling and censoring people. In fact, I have been given advisories by fb about posts I have made that apparently contain incorrect "facts". WTF?! Facebook has even added notes to some of my posts saying that they contain false information.
Wrong again.
As to impeachment, apparently one of its outcomes is that the impeached be barred from ever holding office again. This is wrong too. Fine, impeach a president, but he/she should be able to run again for whatever he/she wants and let the electors decide via the ballot box.
Trump will never again be a free man, so long the list of crimes and offenses he has committed. He will be tied up in litigation for the rest of his sad, narcissistic life. He will float away in a cloud of lawsuits and jail terms, but the system needs to be impartial and Twitter and fb need to stand down. Otherwise, where does it end?
This is a worthwhile read and all Canadians should contemplate sending this item to our Members of Parliament, Prime Minister and Provincial Premiers!
As of today, that's how many Canadians have actually had the needle poked into their arms. That's it! Apparently, vaccines are sitting in freezers rotting while....who knows what is happening with the "roll out".
After 10 months of "planning" -- TEN MONTHS -- it's a complete balls-up and everyone blames anyone and everyone else. My doctor has no idea when I might get a shot and B and I are in a priority age zone. This is a major disaster and lives will be lost. Hope ours aren't two of them, but who knows?! Just heard the president of Shopper's say that they are ready immediately to give two million vaccines a week across the country. Why the hell is that not happening?! They roll out the flu shot like clockwork every year, so just use the same template. I totally don't get it?!
And how about those multitudes of politicians who jetted off to sunny climes to work on their tans?! Kenney at first said he wasn't even going to sanction or chastise anyone. How dumb can you get?! Now he's demoted a few, but it's all too little too late. He should have demanded their resignations immediately. But he didn't because apparently he's very loyal to his people. In politics, as Kenney should know, after so many years mired in it, politics is a blood sport and he should have spilled a bunch a while ago.
Problem is he knew about their plans and so did Ford. Neither did anything about it. What happened to political instincts? After all my years in the Federal government, I've got them in spades and I immediately knew none of this would pass the smell test. Nevermind all the official jargon about guidelines and protocols and how these officials and ministers followed them. Forget about all that. This is political and Kenney's nose apparently wasn't working.
Oh, and while I'm on about percentages, I apparently have more Neanderthal DNA than 70% of other people. That explains a lot!
This isn't going away. It makes Redford's Sky Palace look like chicken feed.
Hilariously -- but not really -- every year the Lake Superior State University compiles an annual list of words and phrases that should be banished. The university's aim is to, "uphold, protect and support excellence in language by encouraging avoidance of words and terms that are overworked, redundant, oxymoronic, cliched, illogical, nonsensical and otherwise ineffective, baffling or irritating.
This year's list includes some beauts!
People's inarticulateness is breathtaking.
