Trudeau lucky he’s not boss in California
Gavin Newsom is one of those politicians who, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, says all the right things about all the right issues. He is very progressive, one of the most left-wing governors in the history of a state with a propensity for electing left-wing leaders.
The environment is a huge issue with him. Probably the hugest if it weren’t for the pandemic that has engulfed California in the same way it’s overwhelmed Canada. He’s battling the virus with everything he’s got, and is willing to throw great gobs of money at it, even though California faces worrying budget issues. He’s deeply concerned about social justice, which is critical in a state where Latinos make up almost 40 per cent of the population. He is also committed to fighting homelessness, another perpetual issue in a state with a friendly climate but high taxes and living costs.
California’s population, at 39 million, is just a titch more than Canada’s 38 million. running it should be a cinch for Newsom. He believes the rich should pay their fair share, though he recently rejected a bid to push them even higher. The legislature is overwhelmingly controlled by democrats. California republicans might as well be an endangered species for all the attention they get. donald Trump’s re-election bid lost the state by 30 percentage points. democratic President Joe biden is a big supporter: Vice-president Kamala Harris is from California, as is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
yet Californians are out for his head. California has a law allowing the governor to be recalled if enough voters sign on for it. The minimum number of signatures for a recall ballot is 1.5 million, and organizers say they’ve almost hit that mark. They plan to seek two million in all, to ensure plenty of room for challenges. The bid appears so certain to go through, the White House has already weighed in with support for the embattled governor.
Newsom has been in office two years. The trigger for the recall effort has been his handling of the pandemic. California this week passed New york as the state with the highest death toll. Given its population is double New york’s, that’s not surprising, but Californians remain alarmed at the continuing grip of the virus despite measures that match Canada’s in their growing desperation. Over the past week, the state has averaged 463 deaths a day. Canada averaged less than 100 over the same period. Total deaths, at about 45,000, are more than double Canada’s, for a roughly equal population.
Newsom’s efforts have been studded with missteps. After initially indicating its vaccine rollout would focus on labour sectors, ensuring those most likely to be exposed on the job would get priority, the state announced it would switch attention to those over 65. That upset labour organizations representing the large body of farm workers, shift workers and low-income groups, overwhelmingly Hispanic, many of whom are among the most vulnerable. Latinos make up 55 per cent of all confirmed cases and 46 per cent of deaths despite a median age of just 28. They complain of difficulties getting access to vaccines, even for those who qualify.
An early snafu occurred when the state’s corrections department shifted a group of prisoners from one prison to another, on crowded buses and without testing, sparking an outbreak when they were wedged in at the new facility. A later report in the Sacramento bee indicated a massive fraud by inmates across the state resulted in up to us$1 billion in pandemic claims being paid to people incarcerated for murder, rape, child molestation and other brutal crimes.
“It is perhaps, and will be, one of the biggest fraud(s) of taxpayer dollars in California history,” revealed Sacramento district attorney Anne Marie Schubert.
California has matched Canada in the severity of its lockdown efforts. yet, far from protecting the vulnerable, conditions in homeless camps have reached a stage that a disgusted federal judge in Los Angeles ordered city officials to meet him in a skid row area he denounced as “appalling and dangerous.” When one Los Angeles suburb passed a $4 an hour “hero pay” order, a large grocery chain closed two of its stores, saying it couldn’t afford the increase.
A California republican who contested the governorship the last time the state had a recall ballot in 2003 said democrat governments have moved steadily to the left in the interim, with “failing schools, skyrocketing taxes, rampant homelessness, rising violent crime, skyrocketing housing prices, skyrocketing energy prices, fleeing businesses and ultimately people leaving.”
“I fear we’re slowly, inevitably becoming a gigantic detroit that just happens to have better weather,” he lamented.
except for the weather, California and Canada share many similarities in their approach to the pandemic — big spending, big lockdowns and pleas to isolate — and the unimpressive results. Newsom even shares some of Trudeau’s judgment issues, having been caught attending a lavish birthday dinner at a high-end Napa restaurant at the same time he was pleading with Californians to avoid socializing.
The difference, perhaps, is that while Canada’s Liberals plot a re-election bid on the theory that Canadians will forgive almost anything from well-meaning “progressives” who say the right things, Californians aren’t quite as soft-hearted.
TRIGGER FOR THE RECALL EFFORT HAS BEEN HIS HANDLING OF THE PANDEMIC.