Back in 2004 the CBC held a contest to establish The Greatest Canadian. The list of ten finalists was impressive, with the exception of hockey commentator and bloviator, Don Cherry. Unfortunately there wasn't a woman on that list, a real injustice.
In the end Canadians chose Tommy Douglas, the Baptist minister who was first elected as a federal member of parliament and eventually became the premier of Saskatchewan. As premier Douglas introduced a program to offer free hospital care to all citizens—the first in North America. It was the beginning of universal healthcare in this country and arguably Douglas' crowning achievement among many. This really was a political expression of the social gospel which was so dear to Douglas' heart.
Inexplicably, the Ontario government chose to invoke the memory of Tommy Douglas in defending its dubious, scattershot, efforts at fiscal responsibility -- aka massive cuts in virtually every sector, including healthcare. Are they working with Dumb and Dumber Associates as their PR and strategy firm? Predictably, Premier Ford and his keystone cops were immediately mocked and criticized for such a bizarre comparison.
One of the critics was actor Kiefer Sutherland, the grandson of Tommy Douglas. In a Twitter response Sutherland agreed that his grandfather was fiscally responsible but went on to say to Lisa McLeod and Ford:
Contrary to your argument, it was never at the expense of social and human services to those in need. I personally find your comparison to his policies offensive.So I can only ask, as the grandson of this man, for you to stop posting his picture and using his name as part of your political agenda. After all, I knew Tommy Douglas and you Sir, are no Tommy Douglas. P.S. You’re lucky my mum’s not active on Twitter.
There will never be a time when this government will be able to make reference to Tommy Douglas with any credibility because of the disaster of this first year. There is time to develop a moral conscience and learn from those who have understood that governing requires compassionate and courageous choices on behalf of all citizens. True populism is not a matter of going wherever the polls suggest but acting in the best interests of all.
We're afloat in plastic and I muse about it in today's Groundling blog
https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2019/06/stemming-tide-of-plastic.html
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