Defenestrate Them All: Canadian Politics 2021

risks from covid are several orders of magnitude higher than risks of the tentative adverse side effects of astrazeneca

https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/04/07/How-BC-Fumbled-Third-Wave/

Good roundup of BC's sins here. CW: Amir Attaran is interviewed (and makes pretty fair criticisms of Horgan's govt)

That's clear enough, and unfortunate.

Hmmm…

https://m1.quebecormedia.com/emp/emp/170576748_10158569474576549_6549383576524081840_ne66371a0-c824-465b-825c-7b1d74b153ee_ORIGINAL.jpg

https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada-likely-to-exceed-u-s-infection-rate-in-coming-days/

Somewhat more positive than recent news:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-vaccine-rollout-data-1.5980588

just got a vaccine appointment booked for Monday because I live in a "hotspot"

although I'm still worried they're gonna turn me away or cancel my appt since they said that those 18+ wouldn't be able to book online and also there wasn't an 18+ option available while booking but I've been told by now two sources that they won't turn anyone away once you get a slot since they just want to get as many shots in arms now

IT SHOULD NOT BE LIKE THIS.

I’d rather this, than vaccinating people in low risk areas who work low risk jobs and enjoy low risk activities.

I should clarify, I'm all for vaccinating those like me who live in hotspots, what I'm aggravated about is the lack of information (had to find out about this local clinic from a friend who texted me, which is obv not ideal for those without such a social network), the eligibility criteria that is changing day to day that is clearly just the province flailing about, and since the province is changing the rules so rapidly, it leaves the local health units to be flailing about too

what a fucking mess

Oh for sure. But go get your jab. Don’t feel bad.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/04/07/How-BC-Fumbled-Third-Wave/

Good roundup of BC's sins here. CW: Amir Attaran is interviewed (and makes pretty fair criticisms of Horgan's govt)

― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, April 8, 2021 1:31 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

eh the experts quoted here sound like quacks tbh. when an evolutionary psychologist says ‘my mathematical model says a slightly different policy would have saved billions of dollars and hundreds of lives’ it’s an rmde from me. there’s no evidence of any variants eluding the vaccine yet, and if there were that is definitely not something BC can control

a couple of them do sound arrogant, but BC does release less data than other provinces. BC's failure to act when rates were rising seems self-evident. Manitoba's doing much better than the all the provinces around it after they put in quarantine requirements for interprovincial travel. Those kinds of restrictions would be harder to put in for BC for a lot of reasons, but I think they'd be worth it.

gotta say a lot of the tone of twitter #covidzero handwringers does make me grit my teeth, like if it's so easy to manage a deadly global pandemic why didn't they try it

it seems like the premiers are attracting the lion's share of the blame (usually fairly!) but trudeau is somehow escaping public anger, even though the weak rules about travel are one reason why the variants have spread

idk maybe it’s selfish of me and we could be twerking like nz right now if we had closed borders but im glad we haven’t restricted interprovincial travel at any point

Where did "covid zero" come from suddenly? I'm glad I can say it now instead of "yknow like what island nations do because they can" when talking about restrictions here in Newfoundland. It doesn't seem from here like an option in dense, mainland areas, if we're not paying everyone to stay home. If we didn't close the country down last Feb. Like no one did. But then I don't have much of a clue what anyone else is doing. Nova Scotia opening certain things up to full capacity seems weird. Like chill out a few more months?

This article on travel restrictions from last year is a slightly weird read now https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/03/13/justin-trudeau-wont-close-the-border-at-least-for-now.html

https://apple.news/A4u0lB6wDR_e-OYGFeJkTFw

“Even after Canadians receive two vaccine doses, they won’t be able to count on relaxing individual and population-level public health measures like masking, physical distancing and avoiding gatherings because not enough is known about the effect of vaccines on variants, or on asymptomatic infection and transmission.
Unlike the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control has published clear and evolving guidelines for what fully vaccinated people are allowed to do, the Public Health Agency of Canada thinks it’s too early to say what freedoms might be ahead.”

This is a bit much for me. I’m all for doing what’s necessary, but in the face of total unknowns, it does feel like this kind of position should never be our default.

https://apple.news/A4u0lB6wDR_e-OYGFeJkTFw

“Even after Canadians receive two vaccine doses, they won’t be able to count on relaxing individual and population-level public health measures like masking, physical distancing and avoiding gatherings because not enough is known about the effect of vaccines on variants, or on asymptomatic infection and transmission.
Unlike the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control has published clear and evolving guidelines for what fully vaccinated people are allowed to do, the Public Health Agency of Canada thinks it’s too early to say what freedoms might be ahead.”

This is a bit much for me. I’m all for doing what’s necessary, but in the face of total unknowns, it does feel like this kind of position should never be our default.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/11/canada-ski-resort-p1-covid-variant-whistler

Everyone living or working in Whistler is now eligible for the vaccine...we might not have any horses left, but that barn door is gonna be nice and shut

whistler certainly seems like the case of too little too late now.

Wow, Ontario has 612 covid patients in ICU today. Total normal capacity is something like 2300 I believe, and I’m sure all those usual numbers haven’t just evaporated, so that’s getting very bad.

Sounds like they are probably flip flopping on the in person school plans again this afternoon.

they have 6 days to figure it out, so i would expect them to not discuss things until saturday at the earliest.

lol

Yeah, they are doing it.

"Indefinitely" makes me think they've already decided it's for the rest of the year. On a personal level, the last thing I wanted.

got my vaccination appointment on 4/20

blaze it

That's great. Where are you? All I get are busy signals and waiting lists.

Pretty unflattering story on CNN today about Canada's pandemic situation.

Props, VHS! (A fellow Montrealer btw.)

Montreal yeah, but since I'm working with the homeless population I'm fast tracked.

Respect.

I'm trying to figure out if I can use my volunteer work to book a dang shot somewhere, but I haven't seen anything that seems applicable yet.

Simon, I guess you don't live in a hotspot?

got my first Moderna jab today, feeling great but also feeling more angry than ever at the clusterfuck rollout of this sad, sad province

not in a hotspot no. good for you!!

all of Toronto should be a hotspot ffs

Nice Murgatroid! et otm.

All provinces in Canada rule alike; but each province is sad in its own way.

yes

https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/newfoundland-and-labrador-ndp-leader-files-court-challenge-wants-provincial-election-results-thrown-out-and-a-new-vote-held-575101/

Based Bloc Québécois lol:

By Party: 'Do you intend to get vaccinated or not?'

(Yes / No)

BQ: 87% / 10%
LPC: 85% / 8%
NDP: 81% / 13%
GPC: 79% / 17%
CPC: 71% / 23%
PPC: 34% / 58%

Environics / March 1, 2021 / n=5814 / Online

— Polling Canada (@CanadianPolling) April 8, 2021

Would be interested to see that by province. It's my impression that anti-vaxxer stuff never really took hold among francophone Québecois the way it did in anglophone North America.

Me too. It's a bit unexpected because France is anti-vaxx central in Europe, unlike the UK.

i'd guess maybe that since most anti-vax "info" comes from disinformation/propaganda, that most of the stuff out there is in english? just a guess.

That doesn’t square with France.

Doesn't the anti-vax stuff come more from the yoga/healing crystals/goop wing of disinformation? I definitely think we have less of that here in Quebec.

Yeah, I get that sense as well.

On a somewhat unrelated note, this was constantly hashed and rehashed by provincial media outlets over the past few weeks but it may not have fully made its way beyond Quebec's borders, so allow me to draw your attention to this clusterfuck:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/superspreading-event-canada-megagym-quebec-1.5985744

They forgot to mention that the owner ended up in ICU for a bit and that much of the surrounding covidiocy was abetted by Quebec City's notorious trash radio stations.

Health Canada is not restricting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in any specific populations at this time. The regulator has concluded very rare occurrences of blood clots may be linked to the vaccine, but it says the shot still meets safety standards. News release: pic.twitter.com/KcR7FjJO3T

— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) April 14, 2021

get it in me!!

just hook it into my veins!

Yeah, I get that sense as well.

On a somewhat unrelated note, this was constantly hashed and rehashed by provincial media outlets over the past few weeks but it may not have fully made its way beyond Quebec's borders, so allow me to draw your attention to this clusterfuck:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/superspreading-event-canada-megagym-quebec-1.5985744

They forgot to mention that the owner ended up in ICU for a bit and that much of the surrounding covidiocy was abetted by Quebec City's notorious trash radio stations.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, April 14, 2021 11:51 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I hope this is the nail on the radio poubelles coffin.