What are you saying exactly? Did Ford ask for aid and we just haven't seen it yet? Or did he just not ask for aid because it wasn't necessary since in his own words things aren't at that stage to label this "catastrophe" an emergency?
The city and province are working together. However, the city did not ask for help initially because they thought it was not necessary. You're trying to tell me extra resources were not necessary. How in the world can you say that? Have you even experienced this? Have you driven around the hardest hit communities?
I'm not even a Ford "hater". I just think he's handled this poorly.
Why do you insist on portraying me as someone who either a) Doesn't understand the severity of this crisis or b) Thinks "more resources wouldn't help". Let me answer both for you. I get it... this is BAD for a lot of people. It SUCKS. Not ONCE have I ever said that more resources shouldn't be maximized.
However, neither of those things are what we originally started debating.
This started because people were screaming about how awful and stupid Ford was for not declaring a SOE. If that's your premise then you have to be able to explain either:
a) Exactly what declaring an SOE would add to the response
OR
b) What exactly is being impeded by NOT declaring an SOE
Nobody seems to be able to do that. On Monday during the day the media was starting to nibble around the edges of that story as people were asking questions about why it hadn't been done. What a great anti-Ford story THAT would be! However, there was a lot of confusion about what exactly an SOE would mean and how it would affect the response to the crisis. By the end of the day numerous media sources had all more or less come to the same conclusion - That declaring an SOE wouldn't really change anything on the ground. It's purpose was more legal and financial then anything to do with what resources were committed. Statements from various people close to the issue seem to confirm this. The province and the city were already working together and fully engaged in responding to the crisis. SOE has NOTHING to to do with the allocation of "more resources" to the problem.
I'm not saying Ford didn't manage this poorly. He DEFINITELY said some absolutely stupid, ridiculous things. However I get the impression that he's been totally irrelevant in regards to anything involving the province anyway. Wynne has made it clear the past few months that she considers Kelly the de-facto mayor of Toronto so it's likely the two of them have been managing and coordinating the province's response from the beginning. SOE or no SOE. If the two of them felt an SOE would have helped they completely had the power to do so... and didn't.
Again - I'm not saying Ford's done a great job. I'm saying this premise of "Ford didn't declare an SOE so now people are freezing and it's his fault" is a bit disingenuous.