We live in a time where democracy is threatened.

A world in which autocracy is on the rise in countries that claim to be free and democratic.

A world wherein the power of social media is utilized and carefully crafted to convince the public that government communication is “transparency,” while in fact, it is anything but.   

Witness south of our border, wherein the Trump administration has leveraged Dick Cheney’s writs during the George W. Bush presidency (predicated on the since-disproven threat of “weapons of mass destruction”) to allow the current president unprecedented latitude in exercising powers without congressional oversight.

Closer to home, we have an Ontario premier ramming legislation through parliament designed to centralize decision-making power at the provincial level through regional chairs appointed by the Ford government and who will be granted sweeping powers over the elected members of the regional council.

Clearly, this arrangement is designed to facilitate Ford’s ability to direct the actions of the regional chairpersons in whatever fashion he may desire.

Apparently Mr. Ford believes that he makes better decisions than any other elected official in the province. This despite a sorry track record of passing legislation that has not succeeded in anything other than wild spending — something that has resulted in Ontario having the largest deficit in the history of the province. Moreover, the provincial government is no more efficient today than it was a decade ago.

Take health care for example — something that, unfortunately, during the last 10 days I have had direct experience with.

You see, last Tuesday it was necessary to take my wife into emergency. We arrived at the hospital at 5 p.m. and the intake, facilitated by our doctor having faxed advanced notification to them, was remarkably swift. It was the only efficient service transaction during the following hours and days.

It was 2 a.m. before a doctor recommended that she be admitted into the hospital and it was 5:30 a.m. before the doctor who had the authority to do so was able to get to see her. That gentleman was the only internist on duty in the entire hospital and he was continually on the run.

We remained in the ER for another 12 hours before a “bed” could be found.

Now, to be clear, this bed was not in a hospital room — it was in a hallway alcove screened off by portable folding screens. The nursing staff — wonderful, caring people by the way — stated that this was because the hospital was full to overflowing. However, they also reported that these hallway beds were in common and constant use.

My wife spent the next two days in the hallway with minimal privacy, assaulted by noise and under lights that stayed on 24 hours a day. Finally, and again due to the fierce advocacy of a couple of outstanding nurses, she was able to be placed in an actual room.

Confusion is rampant, scheduling of tests and procedures chaotic — often illustrating that the right hand has little or no idea what the left hand is doing — and communication between medical staff and patients is disjointed and regularly must be corrected due to that chaos resulting in undue stress for the patient.   

In my observation, this is not the fault of the nurses or doctors. This is a system that is tasked well beyond its maximum capacity, particularly given the shortage of specialists.

There are plenty of electronics — many hours are spent by every shift documenting the condition, care and treatment of each patient. In fact, I believe there is so much data stored in that it is practically impossible for the incoming shift to read it all. It is my suspicion that shift change briefing between incoming and outgoing nurses is vital to ensure the care of patients.

I could go on, but I think the point is clear.

Our health-care system has been, and is, chronically underfunded by the Ford government while he spends federal healthcare transfer money elsewhere. 

But wait, he says: my government spends more on health care than anyone ever has.

To that I would say: the price of steak when Doug Ford took office was a fraction of what you pay today. Of course the cost of health care is higher now than at anytime in history — so is everything else.

The issue is one of more dollars and a rethink of the system itself. As I have written in the past, bigger and centralized is not better (The Lake Report, “Arch-i-text: Amalgamation shows bigger is rarely better,” Jan. 25, 2024). In fact, it is considerably worse.

But Premier Ford seems not to be aware of this as he attempts to take direct charge of regional government and involve his administration in all manner of ridiculous undertakings, while denying the voting public the right to information and participation.

An intelligent man concerned with the welfare of this province’s citizens would come to very different decisions than what is currently occurring at Queen’s Park.

Instead, we have someone who purports to be a man of the people while acting like an autocrat and ignoring his government’s record of failure.

Sounds a lot like Trump, no? 

Brian Marshall is a NOTL realtor, author and expert consultant on architectural design, restoration and heritage.