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

we share an open border with the a country of +300M that is straight up rawdogging the pandemic. so we have to respond more heavily relative to other countries

no one should be crossing the border unless they live or work here imo. saw some news story about a WA family ‘quarantining’ at whistler... jfc

https://www.vancourier.com/news/city-of-vancouver-has-no-plans-to-cancel-public-gatherings-over-coronavirus-outbreak-1.24096692

vancouver city hall seems to believe risk is low, idgi

yeah it’s really bizarre

i don't understand why nobody has put together that ppl are making a run on toilet paper because they're all working from home and now have to poop at home

Fuck Legault, but he's done a decent job so far by taking this more seriously than most.

is he gonna allow people who cover their faces onto public transit now

It's ok if you're not a public servant, they deserve to get infected anyway.

I was O_O at the number of kids who were telling me in the past week that they had plans to go to the US over March break. I'm sure they've changed plans but still.

Five cases in Ottawa now.

What I get from this is that they are only testing people who have both travelled (or been in contact with someone with COVID 19) AND who have symptoms: https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-topics/novel-coronavirus.aspx?utm_source=OPH&utm_medium=Home_Page_Banner&utm_campaign=Coronavirus&utm_content=Home_Page_Banner_OPH

We may have no idea if Ottawans are passing it on to other Ottawans, I fear.

My friend’s theatre touring show was cancelled for some reason, so he has no income (& no chance of EI) until at least summertime. Which gave rise to this idea: what if the gov’t were to replace otherwise unemployable performing artists’ lost incomes during this time with the proviso that they are expected to use this new “free” time to create something? It’d be a small chunk of change in budget terms, but it would keep a lot of folks with poor hygiene off the streets & maybe some really skookum works would get created!

shakespeare wrote king lear on EI, I've been led to understand

my housemate was saying how servers get no money from EI because the money doesn't reflect tips

I check this page (crossed 6,000 deaths worldwide yesterday), and Canada has been holding at one death for weeks, now out of 252 cases. I have no idea if that's encouraging or just lagging numbers.

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

A bit of both.

Can’t help but wonder if the upswell in conservative sentiment here in ont will be quite tamped down by all this. I’m sure the xenophobia won’t, but I suspect a few people are suddenly reappraising the value of a functioning social safety net vs the taxes that were “bleeding them to death”. If there is any silver lining...

Ha, I didn't even realize that the PCs had gained a little ground in recent polls: http://ontario.338canada.com/polls.htm

Or maybe not - made the mistake of reading comments on CTV Trudeau speech and the same people opposing public money going to social programs are bitching that “the government” should compensate them for the inconvenience of cancelled travel plans because they did everything right and it’s unfair. Connection not made.

One thing I've been thinking, although I wouldn't mention it to the people I used to work with (and still do, occasionally--I'm sure many have reached this conclusion anyway), is that Ontario teachers will likely have to give in on anything pertaining to money in the current labour dispute. There just won't be any public support right now; sadly, the Ford government knows that, and they'll make sure to mention it at the first opportune moment.

Unfortunately I think you’re right. We have two kids in special ed (gifted) and it will be heartbreaking if their programming gets affected (because it’s been a night and day change for them) but obviously the circumstances are no longer ideal. Everyone is going to be hurting.

By money I meant salary-related; I'm kind of hoping they stand their ground on support- and class-size issues, but in the end they're money issues too, so you're probably right.

Nah, don't give in on support and class size issues after fighting it for this long. The semester is probably lost anyway.

Number of confirmed cases in Ottawa doubled since yesterday to 10.

All bars, swimming pools, spas, saunas, ski resorts, film theatres, arcades, gyms, zoos, libraries, museums, etc., about to close in Quebec.

Basically anything fun that would draw people out of isolation.

Trudeau tells CTV shutting the border isn't off the table and to LCN that it's out of the question.

Nah, don't give in on support and class size issues after fighting it for this long.

All things being equal, I'd agree. But as the economy crumbles, and parents lose jobs, I don't seem them being sympathetic to any kind of a holdout, no matter how negative the long-term effects or how directly concessions might impact their own kids. Even absent present circumstances, this was probably headed from 60/40 or 50/50 parental support to 100/0 parents being equally furious with both sides.

Two weeks ago, when I was at my old school picketing at recess, I said to another teacher that Ford would be wise to settle everything immediately, because very soon he'd have CD-19 to deal with on a large scale. As much of a lunkhead as he is, I think his natural political instincts were way ahead of me. Like the infamous Rahm Emanuel quote, "Never let a crisis go to waste"--unsettling, creepy, absolutely true--he (or people who advise him) was probably already looking down the road and seeing opportunity.

"don't see them"

Ha, I teach in schools on Thursdays and I would be more furious if it turns out that I lost days of work for nothing. If anything, I feel like this should emphasize the importance of manageable class sizes and student support? But, yeah, you may be right - disaster capitalism, etc.

Tim Hortons is closing in-store on Tuesday.

http://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/tim-hortons-to-close-dining-rooms-only-provide-take-out-drive-thru-and-delivery

As I told a friend yesterday (admittedly a function of my own daily routines), I have a feeling that the biggest vector in Canada wouldn't be kids or seniors or anybody or anything else--it would be Tim Hortons.

The thing that bothers me about not including the U.S. in the just-announced travel ban is not anti-American bias or panic or anything except that it's based on "daily consultation" with Trump. I hope, and assume, Trudeau remembers who he's dealing with.

not including the U.S.

I get that it's economically motivated but given how disastrous Trump's handling of the pandemic has been thus far, I wish Trudeau would grow a pair.

my initial thought on that was it was to prevent a panicked rush for the border from Canadians in the US, but I do share all your misgivings. I have family in four different US states and their situations all vary wildly, it is quite demoralizing

Canada has been holding at one death for weeks

Me, yesterday. BC has announced three more deaths at the care home where the first was.

http://globalnews.ca/news/6683559/bonnie-henry-health-adrian-dix-covid-update/?utm_source=site_banner

Knowing this was coming doesn't make it any less unsettling.

there’s no reason to not go straight to the most extreme measures now. follow Quebec on social distancing, close border except to residents returning home. we know we’re going to get there soon, and there’s exponential benefit to doing it sooner

Ford says don't close on St Paddy's Day; hours later, the Medical Officer of Health says "uh, please do":

https://nationalpost.com/news/ontario-government-moves-to-protect-workers-affected-by-covid-19

Headline probably better than article but: https://www.thebeaverton.com/2020/03/canada-announces-it-will-exclusively-import-covid-19-from-us/

Ford has declared a state of emergency in ON.

'Bout time. No St. Paddy's then, I assume.

This piece has a doctor hypothesizing a scenario where 30% of Ontario contracts the virus.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/corona-virus-covid-19-1.5499872

The Facebook group for my former school was talking about a family there that returned from Italy a couple of weeks ago. One teacher who was in touch with the mom said they were tested on Wednesday, Peel said they'd get back to them if there was a positive, and as of yesterday they hadn't heard anything. So the cautious feeling is that that's good news.

This is good, and the most obvious thing in the world (started reading online calls for it a few days ago):

http://barrie360.com/zehrs-in-barrie-orillia-offering-seniors-only-shopping-hours-during-covid-19-crisis/

Canada's had eight deaths now, and probably tomorrow we'll join the countries with more positive cases than the Diamond Princess (a completely artificial line it's hard not to notice when you check the worldometer page).

i wonder what Trump said to trudeau that made him leave the border open to americans... must've been an intense ultimatum

"if you close to US citizens, we shut off all trade"

is how i imagine it went

my school closed finally yesterday, moving to some half-baked online esl teaching along with every other school

Yeah, going to be a whole lot of badly ran bb collaborate sessions going on

Good guess at Trump's ultimatum. And if so, I'm not sure there's much Trudeau can do except (hope this doesn't sound naive) trust the screening process and hope that there aren't a whole lot of Americans wanting to come up here at this point anyway.

I'm happy whistler shut down, that was bringing in some insane washingtonians. idk, I can see why people are mad about trudeau's decisions, but it's all just shutting the barn door after the horse got out (in my extremely uninformed opinion)