We Still Have a Government, Right?: Canadian Politics 2020

lol

Carol Arbour
Wow. Considering our current premier used to sell outta the park in Etobicoke, makes me think he's just jealous. What a waste of money and time.
Like · Reply · 25 · 42w

Some fucking allies we've got:

https://globalnews.ca/news/6772979/coronavirus-3m-n95-respirators-trump-canada/

Hm, were they asked or ordered? The difference seems significant.

Good question – I don't know. Hopefully more details are forthcoming.

It's excruciating watching the press conference right now where the doctors reveal projections for Ontario. They look as grim as could be as they introduce their models.

12,000 cases by the end of April; 3,000-15,000 deaths at the end of two years, if measures stay in place or even expand.

Just in ON?

Brace yourself--I misheard. That 12,500 figure is if stricter measures are taken. Under the current level of intervention, the model expects 80,000 Ontario cases by the end of April.

Looking at the US numbers, I wonder if it might actually be good for us to stop receiving supplies from them. Maybe Trump is just protecting us.

Heh, that's the kind of 7d chess I can get behind.

I don't know if it's new or if I just noticed it, but the worldometer site includes total tests on their global chart now. Canada's administered 317,972; that's 8,425 per million people, which seems...not bad compared to most of the countries near the top of the total-cases list: a little less than Italy and Germany, more than Spain, almost double the U.S.A., 3.5 times the U.K. (Who knows how accurate these numbers are.) Also, with 13,912 positives, that would mean about one out of every 20 people who get tested register positive. Seeing as only people with suspected symptoms are getting tested...everything seems so dire and grim right now, but that seems like a sliver of good news, unless I'm overlooking something, which I often do trying to make sense of all the statistics.

Yeah, that actually surprised me.

Third day in four (even on a Sunday) where we've had 1,500+ deaths.

total deaths is currently under 300

I continue to see that as a positive sign, but it seems so out line with most countries, I'm trying not to attach too much meaning to it. I remember feeling hopeful when our caseload seemed much smaller too, and that changed.

"out of line"

cases or deaths, clemenza?

yeah i was just responding to your presumed typo

That's now the second time I've done that--honestly, sorry. They should put me in charge of keeping everybody calm.

(The rest of what I said, though, applies; I've been encouraged by our low death total, puzzled by it, but trying not to read too much into it.)

I read an article earlier that said the backlog was pretty much cleared now. Someone on the labs side took initiative without actual authority early on and informally reached out to private labs like lifelabs, so they got some kind of cobbled together, cooperative system going now that’s mostly working. Stuff like that is giving me hope!

Trump's awfulness encroaches:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-monday-online-learning-starts-1.5523011

(misleading URL)

Oof, also questions being raised about a year's worth of N95 masks that were planned for delivery to Quebec this month: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1690961/masques-n95-3m-commande-quebec-compromise-washington-trump

Good to hear about the new production facility being approved, though.

Wu Tang Clan doing their part for the capital last week:

We got you @adammiron @ottawafoodbank. Just made a donation ourselves. Appreciate Canada holding us down all these years. To our Canadian brothers, @strombo, @solicitorct & @therealrussellp, can you spread the word for more donations? #fighthunger #ottawa https://t.co/dFWPqCuyww

— Wu Tang Clan (@WuTangClan) April 2, 2020

Far from perfect, but he continues to surprise me next to his role model.

http://www.timminstoday.com/around-ontario/covid-19-first-ontario-produced-masks-ready-for-use-premier-doug-ford-says-2235610

Yep, was hearing about that on the radio. It's good news. 21 deaths today is not, though.

Pretty funny.

Oh man. Trudeau says, on wearing masks, that his understanding is it can be helpful as it prevents you from "breathing or speaking moistly" on others.

"Ugh what a terrible image."

MOISTLY. Our prime Minister just said "moistly," folks.

More: https://t.co/gDsnZulB1L. pic.twitter.com/3ihklc7yvz

— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) April 7, 2020

(Trudeau, I mean, not the tweet.)

Also everyone in Canada knows that "moistly" refers to "sounding like David Usher".

Indeed.

Other Words from moist
moistly adverb

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moist

But yeah, not the most elegant way to phrase that thought.

OK, now that I watched the clip and see that "ugh, what a terrible image" was actually JT's own comment, I think it WAS the most elegant way to phrase that thought.

I can't really stand to listen to him when he's in formal address mode (as he is when not taking/answering questions). He sounds like he's selling me something over the phone.

Ha, he always just sounds like a drama teacher to me.

Ha, I watched the moistening live - he obviously had instant regret over that phrasing.

Had the CBC on for a couple of hours this morning, including Trudeau's daily briefing, instead of CNN. There is a definite difference in terms of how return-to-normal is being presented: here, that means August/September, in the States, June. As much as I might hate it, I'm glad the view here is August/September--which, admittedly, is a lot easier to say when you're retired and not worried about your job.

43 social distancing fines issued over the weekend just in Ottawa, incl $880 for sitting on a park bench. 26 fines in Gatineau.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1691539/distanciation-sociale-parcs-amendes-ottawa-gatineau

Trudeau basically stated that 'this is the new normal' until a vaccine is developed. Grim but clear.

(xpost) Is the park-bench ordinance a municipal thing? I had considered taking a book with me in the next week or two and doing some outdoor reading on one of the benches around town, but I won't now.

Yes

Had the CBC on for a couple of hours this morning, including Trudeau's daily briefing, instead of CNN. There is a definite difference in terms of how return-to-normal is being presented: here, that means August/September, in the States, June

Interesting. In French, he said what pomenitul paraphrased and gave a possible timeline of 1-1.5 years.

I was drifting a bit...August/September seemed to come up, I thought, as a date for maybe not normal, but at least steps towards that (also in the CBC coverage after Trudeau spoke). Maybe I misheard, though. 18 months, wow.

I continue to check our daily cases.

http://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/canada/

Hard really to read anything into that the last few days.

I guess political fallout was inevitable.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-19-government-documents-1.5528726

Eh, I can see why they would have been reluctant to adopt restrictions on civil liberties and privacy or to shut down economic life before there was clearer evidence of a crisis in Canada. Seems like the right approach tbh. I don't think the evidence really suggests that Canada has done worse than comparable countries.

Probably not, but still --

A March 10 department-drafted briefing note prepared for Health Minister Patty Hajdu ahead of question period said that, with just 12 cases being reported nationwide at that point, "the risk of spread of this virus within Canada remains low at this time." The note also said the public health system is "well-equipped to contain cases coming from abroad, limiting the spread in Canada."

-- is not appreciably different than Trump's response: basically, it's not bad now, so it won't be bad two weeks from now.

What would be your response to reports of 12 cases (not deaths) of a new flu-related strain in the country? I can't say exactly but I doubt I would have acted very differently.

Me personally? The same, because I'm not an expert in the field. But with everything you read lately about how many people in the field warned of the dangers of something like this happening, I would expect someone to step up and say "this is urgent." Now, getting the rest of the country to listen when there are still only 12 cases, that may well have been impossible. But if you let memos like that off the hook, then I think you have to let Trump off the hook too, because his excuse-making has been more or less the same.

That week was the week I was glad Quebec seemed to be moving ahead of the federal govt in responding. I TAd a class on Thursday (12th) and it was all anyone could talk about, and the next day my uni cancelled classes over the weekend and the provincial govt extended that on Sunday. I can't remember the timelines in Italy and Iran, but if you were reading the news there was reason to assume it would be spread rapidly.

OTOH people are whining about the shutdown right now so...