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

Winter’s gonna be hard.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pipelines-enbridge-easement-idUSKBN27T2M0

This pipeline has been a massive ecological disaster waiting to happen for ages now, so it’s understandable. Unfortunately expect a good bit of Canadian hardship as fallout from a shutdown.

I'm not a parent, and I do understand the problems that would be created, but the decision not to extend Christmas break seems very wrong to me. A one-week extension is an obvious way to mitigate major problems coming out of all the family gatherings that will of course take place. And on the same day that New York closes schools, and--the first I think--a COVID-related death in Toronto.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-school-staff-member-dies-after-reportedly-contracting-covid-19-1.5194304

I get an e-mail every morning with between 5-15 new LTOs (long-term occasional) in Peel. At some point, keeping schools open will be untenable because of the lack of supply teachers.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-november-18-update-1.5806310

Not sure if Ford means it or if he's just stalling.

Plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050; no concrete proposals or penalties involved aiui
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/net-zero-emissions-1.5807877

I found this piece, from about a week ago, interesting. The authors, both scholars in law as well as public health or epidemiology, argue that, legally, Medical Officers have far greater powers than they are using - they can, apparently, "take whatever steps the medical officer of health considers necessary", including e.g. independently ordering closures without requiring governmental approval. Interesting to see Ottawa's Vera Etches (whom I usually only see praised) criticized for even taking things like business considerations into account when they are completely outside her purview. (Having said that, Ottawa's new cases numbers seem overall to be on the decline, while aiui the province as a whole is doing worse.)

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/politicians-are-failing-canadas-chief-medical-officers-need-to-step-in/

28 day lockdown for Toronto and Peel. We've moved into "orange" where I am, which is still pretty slack. I'm going to make a concerted effort to get my shopping done next week. Don't want to count on the mail, don't want to risk malls closing, and don't want to face busy malls, either.

i think canada’s dealing well with the second wave and expect they will continue to. i dont think lockdowns of the form we saw in the first wave (widespread closure of all non-essential businesses, mass school closures) are gonna happen.

not long until vaccines are available. i think we’ll come out of the whole thing with a p enviably low death to pop rate and in very good shape economically. from my pov, canada has a really good CDC and politicians mostly let them take the reins on this and pushed a shit lot of money out

in the first wave the cases were way more concentrated geographically since the virus had just seeded. at the same time, testing capacity barely existed and we were getting high positivity rates and hospitalizations while being totally in the dark. that’s why lockdowns of that form were necessary. now that the virus has had time to spread around more evenly we’re seeing a more widespread increase in cases, and it’s happening just about everywhere. mostly caused by weather and the accompanying move indoors

Canada-UK trade agreement:

Good news for Canadians today!

🇨🇦 and the 🇬🇧 have successfully concluded trade talks and agreed to the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement.

This agreement will provide continuity and stability for Canadian businesses and workers across the country. https://t.co/JoJyY7kBTq pic.twitter.com/o6pPk3q0Nl

— Canada Trade (@CanadaTrade) November 21, 2020

(xpost) I'm not sure, but I think the Toronto/Peel lockdown is basically what was in place last spring, with the exception of schools.

I suspect teachers won't be happy, but if it essentially came down to stores or schools, I think they made the right decision.

It is, mind you, outrageous that Wal-Mart gets to stay open while independents don't. Is it just that Wal-Mart qualifies as a grocery store, or is there more to that?

hadn’t seen that. still pretty geographically targeted (although obv a lot of people live there) and yeah no schools

closing schools is terrible imo

some wal marts have entire grocery stores in them and are probably an essential service to nearby communities

Only post-secondary is going 100% online in Toronto/Peel; elementary and high schools are staying open.

I noticed that where I am, Perth, is one level stricter than London-Middlesex right now; pretty sure they have more cases, so it must come down to positivity rate.

We're ordering groceries from Wal-Mart every week rn tbh.

Yeah, I don't know about Canada, but I can presume that it is similar to the US in that many more rural communities depend on the Wallyworld for many basic necessities.

I always thought the opposite was true, that a rural area would be far less likely to have a Wal-Mart around. (I'm in a town of 6,000; there are Wal-Marts 40 minutes west and 20 minutes east, with farmland on either side of town, and two grocery stores in-town.) If that's true, though, then for sure, I'd want them to remain open.

I guess from my experience is that in many rural parts of the US, the largest town in a given radius has the Wal-Mart, and people come from all over to shop there once or twice a month. It was certainly true when I lived in mountain California-- I had to drive 40 minutes on the interstate to get to the Wal-Mart, because all the smaller businesses marked everything up to an insane degree

Listened to about 30 minutes on the CBC over this subject this afternoon. The guest was a representative from the small-business association. There were good points on all sides--the callers definitely came down in favour of smaller businesses--but what surprised me was the host. You would have come away thinking she either a) works for the government (which I guess, in a sense, she does), or b) has major holdings in Wal-Mart.

I actually do think it’s pretty stupid to destroy small businesses that aren’t statistically significant vectors if infection. Restaurants to curbside and closed gyms etc, yes. But independents whose business is just going to the big boxes instead (who actually are proven vectors) have a legit complaint here - many of them are more than willing to set up capacity limits and other precautions and it’s awful that on a second wave of restrictions, the competitive unfairness wasn’t addressed at all. Speaking strictly of the Ontario approach anyway. I know they are doing things like segregating non essential products from instore shopping in Manitoba, but people are complaining about that too. That probably is the best way to handle the large retailers, but small footprint places should get to operate with a bit more logical discretion - like if half essential/half non essential stock in there, don’t make them deliver just that one half for curbside. It makes no sense at small scale. A capacity limit and hygiene protocol should suffice. jmo.

Any thoughts on the Grimes/Factor grant scandal? To me it seems mainly a manifestation of the shitty public view that arts funding = charity.

Apropos of nothing, I recalled this morning how, federally, the Liberals won every seat but 1 in Ontario in 93 (when I was in high school), every ON seat but two in 97 (when I was finishing hs), and every ON seat but three in 2000 (when I was in my third year of undergrad). It was a little startling, considering that everyone I know seems to take as a given that rural ridings in non-Northern Ontario are assumed to be guaranteed Tory territory these days by most people I know (if you run a blue cow...).

Wow, that last sentence was mangled. I came back to the computer after stepping away, ha, and missed that I had already said the same thing at another part of the sentence.

*are guaranteed Tory territory these days. (full stop)

I didn't know the story about Crystal Math's FACTOR grants had become an issue among non-musicians. Not really sure what to think of it. On the one hand, I get why it seems a bit eyeroll that someone with her financial resources is getting public funding. On the other hand, you're right that it's not a means-tested grant and idk if people are even arguing that it should be as much as hating on Grimes - if anything, it's probably more like a business subsidy where they want the recipient to be financially successful. It's also true that the system has largely been successful at its stated goals of developing a Canadian music industry and star system.

Fgti probably knows more than anyone else here?

With regards to Canada Council/Ontario Arts Council type grants, which I know slightly more about, I will say that I do see a bit of a question to be raised with giving grants to tenured faculty composers, since their jobs already pay them to write music, which is what the grant is meant to do.

FACTOR grants exist mostly to fund music that will be commercially successful; Grimes receiving money seems par for the course (and as many have pointed out, was most likely applied for on autopilot by the people who work for/with her). Whether some of these grants SHOULD be means-tested is relevant or interesting as a topic, I think. (shrug)

But independents whose business is just going to the big boxes instead (who actually are proven vectors) have a legit complaint here - many of them are more than willing to set up capacity limits and other precautions

This was one of the main arguments of the small-business representative; that independents, because they only allow a few people in at a time, are much better able to monitor traffic. If an independent is full, you join a small line outside, whereas big stores are not especially attentive to, or not good at controlling, whatever capacity they're supposed to enforce. Based on personal experience, I would have to agree with this.

Fgti probably knows more than anyone else here?

Oh I see, so it is being discussed on ilx. Makes sense that one would have to do things like "read a thread about Grimes" to know that.

Ha yes, I missed it “over there” too obvs. I’ll check it out when I get home.

They're discussing this National Post piece: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/matt-gurney-a-dollar90000-canadian-arts-subsidy-for-grimes-who-lives-in-california-with-elon-musk/ar-BB1bjHFf?li=AAggNb9

I posted these over there but they're probably more relevant here:

The National Post is very right-wing, approximately a Canadian equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, maybe? His 'concern' for up-and-coming artists is quite likely disingenuous. Some subsidies have been put forth to assist with the issues he refers to, which I note he doesn't praise here, e.g. https://www.cbc.ca/music/new-program-will-pay-canadian-musicians-for-live-stream-concerts-on-facebook-and-instagram-1.5569422

...
And the Liberal govt, of whom Gurney is not a fan, has roughly doubled funding for the Canada Council, which funds music by lesser-known, less commercially oriented artists: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/arts-federal-budget-canada-council-heritage-1.3501480

BREAKING: CTVNews has learned McKinsey & Company was paid $1.6million to help create the COVID-19 command tables, and $3.2 million to help with the school re-opening strategy. https://t.co/F3FQtG8ftW#onpoli

— Colin D'Mello CTVNews (@ColinDMello) November 25, 2020

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/small-business-retailers-big-box-lockdown-1.5812762

good article about the complaints of Ontario businesses. Did the Independent Business association endorse Doug Ford, I wonder

Quebec govt also had McKinsey consult on a plan for reopening the economy and it completely ignored McKinsey's proposals.

that tweet is even better if you only read the first half of the sentence

Never will get used to the beauty of a Canadian child being born. pic.twitter.com/OudHSpAXOB

— Lloyd Legalist (@LloydLegalist) November 23, 2020

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/we-took-our-eye-off-the-ball-how-canada-lost-its-vaccine-production-capacity-1.5204040

Vaccines are even being developed here, apparently, but even if they are successful, they would have to be mass produced elsewhere.

Why does it matter that we don’t produce vaccines here if we can just buy them from places that do?

Because it means we would get them later, at least that's the case being made: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/politics/article-canada-will-get-covid-19-vaccines-after-other-countries-due-to-lack-of/

seems like a fake scandal. not every country has a big pharmaceutical industry. and if the astrazeneca vaccine works out, it sounds like that montreal facility will start cranking them out (although the recent news about that one hasn't been great). canada bought a shit load of vaccines, actually more than any other country in per capita terms and we diversified across most treatments:

Canada is leading the world in vaccination readinesshttps://t.co/ai7PiHsKgc pic.twitter.com/A5pl3uV5MP

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) November 13, 2020

And the most diverse portfolio pic.twitter.com/Js4h0YY13m

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) November 13, 2020

my friend works in vancouver general hospital, he got an email today saying they were preparing freezer space for some vaccines that would arrive in 2 weeks

Why would Trudeau say that then?

to temper expectations, maybe? countries that produce vaccines will vaccinate their own vulnerable populations “first“ and so well go through a news cycle or two of mass vaccinations in the UK. but it would be very strange if despite contracts countries with production capacity boarded them all for months. also the bottleneck in vaccinating will be worse than the bottleneck in production, so there’s no reason not to sell excess vaccines once they hit the limit

So you're saying we will get them later but "later" means days rather than weeks or months?

idk when we’ll get them. i just don’t think producing countries hogging the vaccine and Moderna and Pfizer abdicating their contracts with other countries is gonna happen to any great extent

the big constraint on the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, for example, is freezer space. the latter needs to stored at -70c, while former needs -20. UK or Germany or the US can produce much more per day than they can freeze. they’ll start selling to Canada and other countries once their freezer storage capacity runs out, which should happen pretty quickly after production ramps up

Hm, seems like uncharacteristically bad PR from Trudeau if that's the case.

i just think some people on twitter were loud with their "canada is fucked on vaccines" takes
we'll see if they're right