On COVID-19, the Liberals have failed us
There is no puddle that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau misses. So far, there have been three ethics scandals, two blackface revelations and now the COVID cock-up.
Canada has an exemplary health-care system that’s run by the provinces, and Canadians have generally been following the advice of public health officials. But the federal government now risks lives because of its inept vaccines rollout. Just over one per cent of the country has received at least one dose of the vaccine, placing us behind many other developed countries.
Israel leads the world in vaccinating its people, and the united States, united Kingdom, Italy, Germany and even russia are far ahead of Canada in terms of the absolute number of doses that have been administered. Worse, Ottawa’s rollout is going to get a whole lot worse once the Biden administration embarks on its aggressive campaign to vaccinate 50- to 100-million Americans in its first 100 days.
Well-off Canadians are chartering flights to Florida just to be vaccinated at one of five designated clinics that have been set up for tourists. But 99 per cent of Canadians do not have that option, including front-line workers, the elderly and those with medical problems that put them in the high-risk category.
The blame lies squarely with the prime minister and his crew. The provinces have borne the brunt by allocating funds and resources to meet the need. But Ottawa has failed to procure the number of doses required.
Last week, Trudeau claimed that “another” 20 million doses had been contracted, but where are the first 20 million? He lamely said, in his rideau Cottage address, that, “We are looking at seeing those doses arrive in April or May, I believe. We’re going to continue working to see if we can get a few more doses, because all Canadians want this to move forward as quickly as possible.”
What does “working to see” mean? This is a crisis that calls for dynamic and assertive leadership commanding a whole of government effort. But that has not happened. Maybe we should bring in Americans or Israelis to do the job.
The problem is that Trudeau’s cabinet is gigantic and filled with inexperienced and ill-suited people. There are 76 cabinet members, including 37 ministers and 39 parliamentary secretaries, which makes it roughly the size of the Jamaican Parliament. By contrast, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet had 55 members.
Both of Trudeau’s key ministries during this crisis — health and procurement — are run by novices who lack credentials in either field.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu became a member of Parliament in 2015 and before that worked as a graphic designer and community organizer. She took over the health portfolio only a year ago. Likewise, Anita Anand, the minister of public services and procurement, has only one year’s experience in Parliament. Before that, she was a professor of law at the university of Toronto.
Trudeau has done nothing to bolster resources or personnel to meet the challenge of dealing with COVID-19. Canada’s health minister has one parliamentary secretary, as does the procurement minister. But Trudeau’s minister of economic development (read: Atlantic Canada patronage) and official languages (read: Quebec patronage) has six parliamentary secretaries.
Not that parliamentary secretaries can move the dial, but the distribution reveals the prime minister’s priorities in the face of a national emergency. Instead of moving mountains for Canadians, he has novices on mole hills who haven’t gotten results. For his part, Trudeau has sat out the crisis in a cottage, growing a beard and tending to his Liberal base before the next election strikes.
He is not a national leader. He is a pollster with a title.