In moving forward, the Ford government faces 3.5 problems. First, this PO statement means the Premier knew Phillips was in St. Barts at some point between Dec. 13 and Dec. 29. On what date? And when did PO know? Because ministerial travel is tracked/approved by PO/PMO #onpoli

More fundamentally, on the date that the Premier learned Phillips was out of the country - whenever it was - why wasn't Phillips ordered home immediately? Why was the Premier "disappointed" only after the public learned the news - Instead of when he learned it? #onpoli
These Qs are the most serious threat to Phillips because they raise the possibility that his interest might begin to conflict directly with the Premier's - and that usually spells your Waterloo. Ford will be reluctant to sack but he will if he must to make it all go away #onpoli
Second, those holiday social media posts by Phillips. They smack of an open attempt to leave the false impression Phillips was home when he obviously was not. Sure, you tape messages and sked posts in advance. But these are damning and have to be accounted for #onpoli
Which won't be easy. The, "we all make sacrifices" message - posted from a white sand paradise - is dead awful. Seems deliberate, deceptive and hypocritical. No way around that other to acknowledge it, own it and eat a full plate of shit. (Tip:DO NOT blame staff) #onpoli
Third, there's the "St. Barts" thing. It might seem like a detail but it's a big, quiet, implicit problem. The signal that specific destination communicates - the luxury, the expense, the out-of-all-imaginable-reach-for-most-people-of-it is very hard politics. #onpoli
Maybe that's unfair - if he can afford it what the hey. But, for a populist govt that peddles a "hey folks", lunchbucket brand of Conservatism it's just deadly. The next time someone around Ford moans about the elites and downtowners, St. Barts will be thrown right back #onpoli
In other words, it's as off-brand as it gets for this govt. And that's a problem for Phillips because it stirs resentment among his colleagues. Which is his "half" problem that's left lingering: caucus. They will hate this. Most of them hate defending the lockdown already #onpoli
Now they have to defend Phillips and St. Barts? They're not going to like that one damn bit. Chances are, some already resented his success: his easy entry into politics and broad influence over Ford. This will be like dropping a hornet's nest on top of all that. Way bad #onpoli
The takeaway is that Phillips will survive IF Ford is willing to spill all this external and internal political capital on him. But it's not going to be easy going and the effort required will stir more resentment. Phillips may live on but he'll be badly damaged. Badly. #onpoli

More from Government

Canada is failing to act on Climate Change. @wef @WorldBank @IMFNews @IPCC_CH @UNDPGAIN @AntiCorruptIntl @Pontifex @JustinWelby @OCCRP @StopCorpAbuse @TaxJusticeNet @FairTaxCanada @ecojustice_ca @WCELaw @CanEnvLawAssn @envirodefence @IBA_Canada #cdnpoli


Covid recovery money is going to the oligarchy.

Ottawa and the provinces have put very little on the table to help clean-tech companies directly during Covid 19 while targeting fossil-fuel producers with more than $16 billion in aid.

Coast to coast people have demanded treaties be honored. We demanded climate action, divestment and land back but Canada is not listening. This video shows 10 years of rallies in Waterloo Ontario. City & regional council declared a climate emergency. 🚨

The Bank of China (BOC), SNC-Lavalin and WE Charity were recipients of taxpayer-funded the Covid 19 Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
Typically excellent piece from @dsquareddigest The exponential insight is especially neat. Think of it a little like fishing...today you can’t export oysters to the EU (because you simply aren’t allowed to), tomorrow you don’t have a fish exporting business (to the EU).


The extremely small minority of people who known anything about this who think that Brexit will be good for the City make a number of arguments which I shall address in turn...

1. They need us more than we need them. This is a variant of the German carmakers argument. And we know how that went...Business will follow the profit opportunity and if that has moved then so will the business...

And what do we mean by us / we. We’re not talking about massed ranks of Euro investing / trading etc blue blooded British institutions.

Au contraire. We’re talking about the London based subs of US, Asian and indeed European capital markets players...As soon as they think the profit opportunity has moved then so will they...it’s a market innit...

You May Also Like

"I really want to break into Product Management"

make products.

"If only someone would tell me how I can get a startup to notice me."

Make Products.

"I guess it's impossible and I'll never break into the industry."

MAKE PRODUCTS.

Courtesy of @edbrisson's wonderful thread on breaking into comics –
https://t.co/TgNblNSCBj – here is why the same applies to Product Management, too.


There is no better way of learning the craft of product, or proving your potential to employers, than just doing it.

You do not need anybody's permission. We don't have diplomas, nor doctorates. We can barely agree on a single standard of what a Product Manager is supposed to do.

But – there is at least one blindingly obvious industry consensus – a Product Manager makes Products.

And they don't need to be kept at the exact right temperature, given endless resource, or carefully protected in order to do this.

They find their own way.