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

Good timing, Rod Phillips: just shy of 3,000 cases in Ontario today. I'm not sure how much that is attributable to Christmas, and how much to the possibility that the new variant has been here for a few weeks (which would help explain how everything started to unravel).

this is nuts:

Rod Phillips on a Zoom call supposedly on Dec 16th - which would be from St. Barts. Sweater and all. With the Ontario legislature building in the background. You can hear the waves from the ocean at the beginning of the video. Several times. pic.twitter.com/oQ2gqIRPbZ

— KC (@kci2013) December 30, 2020

his little speech is perfect too

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-rod-phillips-caribbean-vacation-1.5857535

He'll learn his lesson when he experiences the almighty wrath of a very tough conversation.

3,300 cases today, and St. Marys has its third new case in a week (after three months without a single case). It has to be the new strain. Even if you account for Christmas and less vigilance, that should have been offset by lockdowns that have been in place for three or four weeks now in Toronto and Peel.

Anyone know how this story actually broke? Like who figured out that the twitter posts were bs - I can’t seem to find the info.

Yeah, numbers are rising here too. I was reluctant to share this here but, for personal context, my partner made the paper last week: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/we-deserve-for-our-needs-to-be-part-of-the-plan-for-some-pools-are-not-a-luxury . I really wouldn't have a problem with the lockdown if it was done with reasonable accommodations for vulnerable people whom this should be designed to protect in the first place.

Best wishes...I ran my theory by a friend, and he believes behaviour is still the driving factor in the worsening upswing (and related an example from the other day). I hope that's what it is. If it's behaviour, I feel in control; if it's some new strain that spreads rapidly, I don't.

It could easily be behavioural reasons still. I really do believe that having regional lockdowns in place during the years busiest retail season had a lot of backfire effect because a huge amount of people jdidn’t stop shopping and dining, they just travelled to less affected areas do it. Nothing was in place to stop them. Would have made a better strategy if they were trying to disperse a thing rather than contain it.

Been thinking about your/her situation there a lot, sund4r. Have there been any developments since it got published? It’s certainly not any more acceptable to let vulnerable people suffer under lockdown than it is to have no precautions at all. There needs to be room to voice concerns without being pegged as anti this or pro that, but I can imagine it’s become very difficult to navigate.

Harden (our NDP MPP and official disability critic) is still trying with the Minister, it seems. He reached out to Carleton U, who are willing to grant access to their facility if/when the Minister agrees to make an accommodation. There's also a possibility with a(n expensive) private facility next week.

St. Marys is at 15 cases now; we reached 8 around late summer, were still at 8 on Christmas Day, and have added 7 now in two weeks.

Hm, can't vouch for the credibility of this but

I work FT at the Civic, where I'm a supervisor of covid screeners. I'm usually at the main entrance, where I interact with hundreds of people per shift. I have heard nothing about the vaccination. Even the screeners who work in the vaccination clinic are not vaccinated yet. pic.twitter.com/woAvVjY6p7

— Marnie Wellar (@okaymarnie) January 5, 2021

(thread)

Incoming total lockdown in Quebec: 3-4 weeks, starting on Saturday. Good news, as far as I'm concerned. Legault will confirm the government's plans tomorrow.

what can they lock down beyond what's already closed?

They won't be lifting the current one, more like, with some added rules: 1) remote working will be made compulsory; 2) primary schools will remain closed for an extra week, until the 18th (25th for secondary schools); 3) a curfew (7:30 pm - 6 am) is in the cards. Skimping on schools will come back to bite us in the ass imo.

interesting. my cousin just went back to primary school on monday (online), wonder what will happen with that

No word on extending online in Ontario schools yet; surely they will, this statement from Lecce notwithstanding.

https://www.wrdsb.ca/blog/2021/01/05/a-message-from-the-minister-of-education-for-ontario-families/

"To ensure a better learning experience, every teacher in this province received mandatory training on remote learning, before the school year began" has been greeted with amusement and ridicule from teacher friends on Facebook. They received none.

I keep checking section 5.4 (deaths per 100 000 pop.) of QC's official covid data and am consistently amazed at how poorly we've performed so far. Worse than Sweden ffs:

https://www.inspq.qc.ca/covid-19/donnees

Sorry, deaths per 1 000 000. 100k is more common ime.

What's the point of having a strict curfew if high schools are still running.

I don't really get the curfew logic in general? It feels like a symbolic gesture to get people to take the other restrictions seriously, but maybe I'm missing something

This is it yes.

The announcement is worse than yesterday’s leak since primary schools will be reopening on Monday and high schools a week later. This utterly defeats the purpose of a lockdown as far as I’m concerned. And before we get into this debate again, check out ‘Éclosions actives et terminées par milieu’:

https://www.quebec.ca/sante/problemes-de-sante/a-z/coronavirus-2019/situation-coronavirus-quebec/

Schools are not the biggest hotspots but they are part of the problem.

Ugh

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErFQdWQXMAMuw0-?format=png&name=360x360

staying on brand

xp It's an electoral trade, suburban households vs city households.

What's the point of having a strict curfew if high schools are still running.

― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, January 6, 2021 2:33 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

COVID is a night-owl

lol yes exactly this is why I am genuinely perplexed. Honestly, it feels like anti-lockdown protester bait

The French are doing it, so why can’t we!

Nah, Legault just can't close everything and he is just providing relief to families over everything because that's his constituency.

i live in montreal and have no problem with a short-term lockdown or keeping schools open

i assume that a lot of the more easily preventable spread of COVID is due to people who are NOT respecting the rules, rather than people who are. the curfew is an attempt to get through to them. it makes sense to me as a thing to try and i applaud trying different things (shrug)

I am very for a lockdown, same for the curfew, I just wish the restrictions were severe across the board, I live alone and I feel like my mental health is pulling the weight for parents to be able to have a relief from their kids.

literally all I want is an official explanation for it -- why try this specific thing? tbc I'm not pissed or anything, obvs the hospital situation is gravely dire right now

and yeah lockdowns and school restrictions are thumbs up from me

My wife is about to start substitute teaching at the high school level, so at this point it’s not so much a matter of if we’re getting covid as when.

@van horn street, setting aside the "parents need to work"/economy stuff, there's just the fact that kids suffer serious longterm detrimental effects from the closure of schools

<3 to you and your wife pom

Depends on the kid, maybe. I would have loved not going to school when I was little and bullied and alienated and hating every second I had to spend in the company of my so-called peers. I’m not saying this is true for most kids, far from it, but it’s something to bear in mind.

Thanks, rob.

<3 to all. These are trying times and we all view them through our own occasionally twisted lenses, I suppose.

Bear in mind that school is also a respite from broken homes.

On the bright side, homeless shelters will remain open.

And yeah while I won't buy the economy stuff, I did not think of the long term detrimental effects on kids.

yeah i am not on board with the economy piece either!

Apparently travelling down to the caribeans is still a-ok?

Tbf Legault did co-found Air Transat.

I since learned it's because air travel is a federal jurisdiction. Sorry about that.

It's been a day.

I've heard so many times today that this is the first time the Capitol building has been stormed since 1812. I know I should know this, but was that us?

define "us"