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It is fundamentally unjust. Families seeking access to justice for their loved ones who have died, many of them in appalling conditions in long-term care homes and retirement homes are now faced with the added injustice of Bill 218. The Bill protects negligent long-term care and retirement homes, and has been forced through legislature at a breakneck pace. Only 15 of 58 people, including families of those who have died, were allowed to appear before the Standing Committee of the Legislature last week. The rest were cut out and the Ford government MPPs refused one more day of hearings to hear from them. More than 2,000 residents in long-term care have died of COVID-19, with more every day. Their families deserve access to justice, at the very least.
In a last ditch effort to get retirement and long-term care homes carved out of the Bill, the Ontario Health Coalition held an online press conference today where Natalie Mehra the executive director, legal experts from the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and Will Davidson LLP, and family members of deceased long-term care residents with COVID-19. We can not let this affront to the memory of all the elderly who have suffered needlessly to stand.
Please contact your MPP as soon as possible and tell them to carve out long-term care and retirement homes from Bill 218.
The Bill is going to third and final vote in the Legislature on Tuesday.
Today's announcement is the set up of a centralized procurement agency for the province.
Ontario Newsroom
news.ontario.ca
Supposedly this will lead to savings; I have more than a few doubts.
I think centralized procurement can make sense in a few select spaces; for example, buying MRI/CT machines can be done more cheaply with a province-wide contract for 15 machines over 3 years is issued vs each hospital buying on its own.
However, centralizing many things tends to both reduce flexibility locally but also often raises prices.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but it has to do with the fact that large contracts can often only be fulfilled by one or two large players in an industry.
Where a local hospital or school Board can hire a mid-sized company to supply something at a competitive price; a province wide contract at 20x the scale can't be bid on by such a company and you from 20 possible suppliers to just 2.
Its something you can see with City contracts for supplying trees; there are only 2 or 3 companies large enough to bid; even though there are dozens of nurseries.
But they simply can't swallow a contract to be the sole supplier to Toronto.
The result is fewer bids, more problems with supply (substitutions, species unavailable) and likely higher prices too (difficult to prove).
Hmm, I wonder who will get those contracts...
AoD
Hmm, I wonder who will get those contracts...
AoD
Surely the huge advantage for Mr Ford and Company is that it will centralise where you can go to look for 'back-handers"?Today's announcement is the set up of a centralized procurement agency for the province.
Ontario Newsroom
news.ontario.ca
Supposedly this will lead to savings; I have more than a few doubts.
I think centralized procurement can make sense in a few select spaces; for example, buying MRI/CT machines can be done more cheaply with a province-wide contract for 15 machines over 3 years is issued vs each hospital buying on its own.
However, centralizing many things tends to both reduce flexibility locally but also often raises prices.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but it has to do with the fact that large contracts can often only be fulfilled by one or two large players in an industry.
Where a local hospital or school Board can hire a mid-sized company to supply something at a competitive price; a province wide contract at 20x the scale can't be bid on by such a company and you go from 20 possible suppliers to just 2.
Its something you can see with City contracts for supplying trees; there are only 2 or 3 companies large enough to bid; even though there are dozens of nurseries.
But they simply can't swallow a contract to be the sole supplier to Toronto.
The result is fewer bids, more problems with supply (substitutions, species unavailable) and likely higher prices too (difficult to prove).
Today's announcement is the set up of a centralized procurement agency for the province.
Ontario Newsroom
news.ontario.ca
Supposedly this will lead to savings; I have more than a few doubts.
I think centralized procurement can make sense in a few select spaces; for example, buying MRI/CT machines can be done more cheaply with a province-wide contract for 15 machines over 3 years issued vs each hospital buying on its own.
However, centralizing many things tends to both reduce flexibility locally but also often raises prices.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but it has to do with the fact that large contracts can often only be fulfilled by one or two large players in an industry.
Where a local hospital or school Board can hire a mid-sized company to supply something at a competitive price; a province wide contract at 20x the scale can't be bid on by such a company and you go from 20 possible suppliers to just 2.
Its something you can see with City contracts for supplying trees; there are only 2 or 3 companies large enough to bid; even though there are dozens of nurseries.
But they simply can't swallow a contract to be the sole supplier to Toronto.
The result is fewer bids, more problems with supply (substitutions, species unavailable) and likely higher prices too (difficult to prove).
Doug Ford has a bit of an obsession with Procurement, and thinks streamlining it somehow cures all ills.
'"The difference between myself and John Tory is that I can hit the ground running; he doesn't understand City Hall," said Ford. "He doesn't even understand what the procurement department does."'
I can't find it, but during his term as councillor, he harped on how all the different departments of the city were purchasing their pencils from different places and how purchasing needed to be centralized.
He's still convinced that government can be run like a business.
So apparently Ontarios Top Doc is expecting that we can reopen everything before Christmas.
https://www.680news.com/2020/11/17/...province-could-be-in-green-zone-by-christmas/
I mean, theoretically he's right. If we locked everyone inside for a month, no one else would get sick. The reality is something completely different. The near-two months of lockdown we had from mid-March to Stage 1 at May 19 took us down to ~1000 cases a day provincially.Wishful thinking. Infection rates are up and as long as we have people not following the clear rules, rates will go up. Time to enforce and fine those who don't.
I mean, theoretically he's right. If we locked everyone inside for a month, no one else would get sick. The reality is something completely different. The near-two months of lockdown we had from mid-March to Stage 1 at May 19 took us down to ~1000 cases a day provincially.