Ontario’s complete incompetence at doing something jurisdictions both larger and smaller have successfully done is nothing short of astounding. I know it seems small and process-oriented, but it actually merits a deep-dive into how they messed up this badly https://twitter.com/amydempsey/status/1384905840457666564

Part of the problem is that this culture of mediocrity is baked into the provincial government. I remember years ago telling a top bureaucrat in the provincial justice ministry that it was easier for me to pull court documents remotely from Manitoba than in-person in Ontario

Well, the bureaucrat said, that’s because Manitoba is such a small province, it’s easier for them to get things online. Nevermind, of course, that much larger court systems also digitise this stuff, often near-instantaneously (see: Pacer)

That bureaucrat’s response was perfectly emblematic of Ontario’s problem — a learned helplessness that finds it easier to make excuses for failure than to work for better

It’s embarrassing that a province of 14.5M is worse than a province of 1.4M at making public documents available. And it’s embarrassing that a province of 14.5M is worse than a province of 970,000 at building a vaccination website. This is so, so basic

Every day, you see Torontonians disparaging Nova Scotia’s significant public health achievement in controlling the pandemic. Well, it’s a small province, they say, and aren’t there a lot of islands there, or something?

Sure, population and geography factor into the calculus. But the government also made choices that have delivered results this past year Ontario can only dream of

And throwing up your hands, ascribing everything to circumstance, is how you end up with bad public policy outcomes, like a laughably incompetent vaccine signup portal. You’re Canada’s largest province by far. Maybe try acting like it?