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

See: https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/202003/24/01-5266218-le-quebec-franchit-la-barre-des-1000-cas.php

Only four dead so far, all from the same retirement home I think.

Omg: https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/a-z/2019-coronavirus/situation-coronavirus-in-quebec/
xp

Is testing more extensive in Quebec? I highly doubt it but I'd love to see actual data on this, nation-wide.

"The significant increase in confirmed cases is explained by the fact that on March 22, 2020, cases tested positive by hospital laboratories are now considered confirmed. They no longer need validation by the Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec (LSPQ)."

Mayors of Ottawa and Gatineau request that no one cross the river unless absolutely necessary: https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/03/24/les-maires-dottawa-et-de-gatineau-ne-veulent-plus-de-deplacements-interprovinciaux

(This is a very common crossing; I e.g. regularly jog across it when the weather permits.)

I just picked up a bunch of things at Long & McQuade since they will probably be indefinitely closed as of tomorrow. I called ahead of time and paid. When I got there, the store looked completely black. I had to call and stay in the car and open my trunk. The guy dropped the items in, shut it, and gave a thumbs-up indicating I could drive off.

Aid package stalled in Commons. Tories and NDP both say they agree with the income support measures but don't support the govt shoehorning additional powers for itself over Parliament, which sounds probably OTM: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/parliament-covid19-emergency-funds-legislation-1.5507797

Wow, didn't know about this situation (15K Cdn citizens stranded in India): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/india-lockdown-canadians-stranded-1.5508697

Trudeau simplifies the income support plan to a $2000/mo cheque for anyone who is missing work because of the crisis: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/trudeau-combines-emergency-covid-19-aid-benefit-for-canadians-1.4867539

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/canada-coronavirus-emergency-trudeau-148362

"But the drawn-out process was a strange hiccup in the frenetic pace of announcements from a government trying to navigate a crisis it never anticipated..."

As you can see from my posts yesterday, I didn't think it would take an extra day either. But still, compared to what you saw in the States, I'd say "hiccup" is more accurate that "drawn-out."

Yeah, seems decent.

At least one of our banks looks not to be much different than American banks circa 2008. (I'm with the CIBC.)

http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/royal-bank-of-canada-sued-by-reit-over-cmbs-margin-calls

Will freely admit that I don't understand most of the terms in that article very well. Finance not a strong suit. I will look them up, though.

I don't either. I'm just assuming that "margin calls" and "rock bottom prices" and "lawsuit" are a bad combination.

Just going to throw this out there in case it’s helpful to you guys too - M&M meats was a very low stress source for getting some frozen food today. They had what looked like normal stock, and if you do a click and collect order online before you go, they usually have it all ready in a box for pickup, so you can be in and out in just a couple of minutes. Beats lining up outside the big stores.

Not sure if there's one in Stratford or not, I'll check--thanks.

I rarely give Ford credit for anything, but here goes:

http://www.blogto.com/city/2020/03/doug-ford-tenants-toronto-dont-have-pay-rent-if-cant-afford-it/?fbclid=IwAR0sUemRuvo00DlayDPhcD_KlUyU2ioyTE9jOXggbY2t7Lhnig8L1S-vYK0

No surprise--and glad he's not pushing back against reality.

http://www.iheartradio.ca/newstalk-1010/news/reality-you-re-likely-locked-down-until-summer-1.11184525

Yeah, good to announce it early enough.

We are seeking clarification on the details of the government’s plan.

Yeah, I'm curious about how this will work as well. It's a step in the right direction but idk how you would justify allowing someone to not pay rent at all and requiring someone who is slightly better off to pay their rent in full, or what grounds would be used to decide who gets away without paying. Either a simple freeze on rents/mortgages/property taxes or scaled income supports would seem to be simple and fair.

I'm guessing that station is Tory-leaning but this article also suggests a promising move: https://www.iheartradio.ca/newstalk-1010/news/disgusting-premier-announces-anti-price-gouging-order-1.11192211

This crisis may yet make a socialist out of Ford.

The explosion of American cases the past few days is stunning. It's so hard to compare us with them...where their testing is compared to ours, 1/10th the population, etc. If you look at the two daily bar graphs on worldometer, they're not the same, but they're not all that dissimilar.

anyone understand why they're militarizing the canada-US border?

I was joking with my wife yesterday about building a wall at the ON/NY border after the COVID explosion. The US sending troops to its border might actually be funnier.

I'm unclear on what the situation is. This, from 13h ago, says the troops are already there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3hn9pEvQqw

This, from 11h ago, says the admin decided against it: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-us-wont-post-troops-at-canadian-border-ottawa-says-it-strongly/

Most daily cases yet. We've sort of stabilized within a range the past few days (600-700), but if you just stay there, that doesn't seem like flattening the curve.

There's talk of quarantining all of Montreal.

Nice.

http://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2020/03/toronto-apartment-company-puts-other-landlords-shame-incredible-covid-19-supports/

769 deaths today (so far). Definitely not flattening.

In Canada? It says 59 here: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html?topic=tilelink#a1 . Am I missing something?

Ugh, sorry--769 new cases, that's what I meant. The cases aren't flattening.

that was scary!

this story about the Alberta health minister is great stuff: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-minister-tyler-shandro-behaviour-vital-partners-1.5511288

I don’t think we can really expect it to flatten significantly until something like 3 weeks after most travellers returned because doubtless a ton didn’t isolate properly or are just going to get sick even in isolation, and will spike the stats. Probably will have a better idea a month from now. I’d guess there was also significant spread during the panic shopping phase, which seems to be easing, but that’s also a slowdown that’s going to take weeks to be seen in the stats.

Asked a friend about this a couple of days ago--it just disappeared from the news.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sophie-trudeau-feeling-great-covid-19-1.5513731?fbclid=IwAR1ptDilNam95gsQUmDd2Gx5pGUP7gSVRWGFZhol510KnCyCakVgzCN-z9Y

Xp. The top doc here bonnie henry is far too sanguine and was talking about hoping new cases would start dropping in 10 to 14 days on wednesday. Really don't understand the rationale behind saying stuff like that when we've had issues with people not taking social distancing advice seriously

Interesting - Montreal police going to start fining people for not observing social distancing directives: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1689514/coronavirus-montreal-police-policiers-spvm-covid-19-pandemie-bilan

A bit o_O that citizens will be encouraged to contact the police or call 911 if they observe a violation.

Oh, Vancouver is already doing this?

don’t think so

OK, it's limited to orders issued under the state of emergency, which means only one so far concerning bars and restaurants: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5508543

Re: Vancouver

Almost 3,500 confirmed cases in Quebec. It’s too early to tell, but it does seem as though Legault wasn’t decisive enough.

Henceforth even grocery stores will be closed on Sundays.

ON has one more death than QC, though. Maybe QC is testing more?

Oh, no, QC is ahead. The federal page is not up-to-date.

Based on the numbers Legault provided during today's press conference, death rate in Quebec is currently around 0.7% – may it remain so.

Given that Legault was acting more decisively than any other leader in the country, I think it's wishful thinking to imagine that he should have known to make even stronger choices.

I blame the snowbirds who ignored instructions, went to weddings, etc.

That's fair, I'm just confused as to why BC's curve seems so much less aggressive seeing as that's where it started in Canada.

Didn't realize that Ontario's cases were so starkly in contrast to the notion that those over 60 are most at risk.

              Number	 Pct.
19 and under	 42	 2.5
20-64	       1,319	77.3
65 and over	343	20.1

http://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus#section-0

I don't think those over 60 are more at risk of contracting the virus than any other age group? I think they are more at risk in the sense that the virus is more likely to be fatal for them? I could be wrong.

That's my understanding as well.

Could just be a reflection of misrepresentation in testing? I mean, they were only testing those who travelled for a long time and I’d suspect 20-64 forms the majority of that group.