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

*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

I assumed it’s the usual Trudeau derangement syndrome types makes disproportionate amounts of noise.

Flopson is probably right but my links were from CTV and G&M, not PrairieRebel13 on Twitter, ftr.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-covid-19-response-tension-recordings-1.5814877

Big showdown in Etobicoke yesterday.

http://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/11/26/police-adamson-bbq-covid19/

I lived in the New Toronto/Alderwood area for 25 years, was never aware of their existence.

stolen joke from FB: "bbqanon"

Why the media gave that situation any oxygen to begin is infuriating. It was obvious that he just wanted to be a martyr and the subject of gofundme campaigns.

lol right on time: https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2020/11/fundraiser-adamson-barbecue-raises-more-28k/

Agree with your take on supposed vaccine crisis, dyson. I don’t think there’s much that could be done better under the circumstances.

That said, it should now be a given why having air tight supply lines for such things is kind of a big deal. People hopefully will remember these things for future and push for more proactive governance.

Blaming Trudeau for the decline of vaccine creating capacity is sorta dumb, it happened a long while ago, when Trudeau was still a Breboeuf dweeb.

Oh, Tories who do that are ridiculous, considering it was Mulroney who privatized the companies in the first place. No one (including Trudeau and Chrétien but also Harper) has done anything about it in 35 years. Maybe it doesn't matter, as flopson might be saying.

I missed the AOC/Jagmeet Singh Twitch stream. Anyone knows if it will be archived?

There's a VOD on Twitch

I watched some. AOC said that she might be making Twitch a weekly thing. She wound up streaming for 6 hours just because people were donating too much money (200,000 USD by the end - I think for eviction defense and assisting undocumented people).

According to Trudeau, 50% of us will be vaccinated by next September. Not sure if that sounds good or disappointing. It feels vaguely Hunger Games-like, or like Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." My guess is that teachers will be somewhere in that first 50%, which may or may not include me, a retired but fairly active supply teacher. That I start thinking this way is not ideal.

Where did he say 50%? The reports I've seen say (vaguely) "the majority", e.g. https://globalnews.ca/news/7488324/vaccine-coronavirus-trudeau-nato-fortin/

I heard audio of him saying that on the news yesterday.

Hm, he says "majority" in the clip that comes with the Global piece. 50% would be a weird goal to set or promise to make, for the reason you give.

I went looking for a clip, couldn't find one. I positive I heard Trudeau say this yesterday.

"I'm"

Anyway, whether 50% or a majority--which probably means, I don't know, 55 or 60%; I doubt very much it means 75% and upwards--my original point still holds: I'm left wondering if I'm going to be on the right side of that. (If I weren't still supplying, I'm almost certain the answer would be no.)

Right, I was hoping "majority" meant 70%+ or whatever the threshold is for herd immunity.

50% isn’t half-bad (heh) when you consider that it very likely covers the vast majority of at-risk Canadians.

In terms of elementary schools--this is what I don't like, it gets me thinking "me, me, me"--I have to believe the thinking will be get the teachers vaccinated, and then the kids are near the end of the line.