The full cost of sick days

You have to wonder how much of Rob Ford’s winning margin was directly due to the garbage strike last summer. If there is a backlash feel to this result it is not unusual. The right often wins after a period of serious misgovernance and waste from the left or centre-left. A few notable examples (from major to minor): Jimmy Carter followed by Ronald Reagan, James Callaghan followed by Margaret Thatcher, Bob Rae followed by Mike Harris, and now David Miller followed by Rob Ford. Maybe the lesson is that while it is all very well and good to be right wing the deciding factor is the temperature of the middle-of-the-road electorate. When they get ticked off heads roll.

Hopefully the unions will soon start to feel the heat. Dalton can’t be feeling too happy about this either.

Vote Ford

The shortest and simplest reason to vote for the big guy comes from a final comparison of the Toronto mayoralty candidates in Saturday’s National Post (not available online). The bottom of the page lists the endorsements for each candidate: CUPE, CAW etc for Pantalone; Carpenter’s Union, Central Ontario Building Trades, etc for Smitherman.

For Ford: no union support.

A non-union mayor in this city is way overdue. Time for a change.

Getting it wrong with the Globe and Mail

Quality and standards are what differentiate professional journalism, as practiced in our dwindling newspapers for instance, from the blogosphere, written by and for the mob. Or so we’re told. The following is from the Saturday Globe and Mail – the Editorial and Comment page, no less.

First, from “The incredible shrinking work force” by Doug Saunders (quoting author Ted Fishman):

“Given China’s age structure today,” Mr. Fishman writes, “it is in the midst of a retirement avalanche … today, for every 10 working Chinese there are two elderly dependants, but by 2050, there will be six elderly dependants for every worker.”

Really? SIX old people for every worker. Is that a demographic forecast or the scenario for the next sequel to Resident Evil?

Further down on the same page is Jeffrey Simpson waxing on about how people aren’t paying enough attention to what global warming is doing to the Arctic:

The effects of warming are not exactly under the noses of most Canadians, because they are most dramatic in the Arctic, where few Canadians venture. The Arctic is too remote, forbidding and foreign for most Canadians to think much about. It’s out of sight and out of mind, a bit like the whole issue for the government.

Good thing we have a pro on the case:

As the permafrost warms, chances increase that pools of carbon previously trapped in the frozen permafrost will be released.

Note the MSM quality style: “permafrost” repeated in the same sentence (and it’s frozen, by the way). And the “pools of carbon” are not literally pools, in case anyone got that impression.

Elsewhere:

. . . more water instead of ice means more reflected sunlight, which, in turn, contributes to warming . . .

Actually more water instead of ice means less reflected sunlight. More sunlight is absorbed by the water, which gets warmer, melting more ice, and so on.

The third column on the page, Margaret Wente’s reflections on the limits of medical knowledge, was well-written and howler-free. In fact, you could call it professional.

Bell Customer Service

It was reported on CBC radio yesterday morning that the relatives of one of Russell Williams' victims had to speak to 5 different agents at Bell Canada to cancel her cell phone contract - having to explain the situation again each time - and that the process took an hour and a half.

Well, pretty much what you'd expect from Bell.

(This was apparently detailed in one of the victim impact statements. It does not appear to have gotten much play in the MSM. But at least one other person reports having heard the same thing here).