Defenestrate Them All: Canadian Politics 2021

Only if he says 'pretty please?'

I still don't stay home in the literal sense, but 99% of my time outside is just walking with no one near. I'd estimate 5-10 minutes a day (getting coffee, supermarket, post office) within range of anyone else.

(And we're back down to two active cases in St. Marys.)

You shouldn't let your guard down, of course, but I wouldn't be worried at all if I were you.

I never really have been through this whole thing, a luxury I've been granted because of where I am. Right now, I'm not sure if it's more depressing on nice days or dreary ones. I suggested to someone last week that nice days were the worst--if it's dreary you don't want to go out anyway, and walking around on a beautiful day with mostly empty streets feels so wrong--but then there'll be a cool, drizzly day like today and I think, "No, this is much worse."

Don't worry, Ontario, Newfoundland is here with unspecified assistance!

Hahaha wow, thanks, folks - our team needed that laugh for a minute today. And this is why you don't do social media in a hurry... clearly we were on speaker, and just about to head off to the COVID briefing. 😅 https://t.co/Hi3BsEOYJq

— Andrew Furey (@FureyAndrew) April 14, 2021

Goof took the bait from people fussing about the phone screen being on.

... he isn't known to be deaf. Anyways.

more lockdown restrictions coming for Ontario tomorrow bc the Ford gov't still doesn't fucking get it

the restrictions won't be "paid sick leave and a competent vaccine rollout" i'm guessing

Very curious--what else can they do?

I assume grocery stores or take-out at restaurants (which I do two or three times a week) won't be affected. A curfew? I'd hate the symbolism, although personally, it wouldn't affect me much--I'd bump my evening walk by a couple of hours. I was supposed to golf next week; I guess they could shut that down, even though I don't remember any reports of golf-course spread.

You're right, of course; vaccinations. I stumbled onto a booking yesterday through sheer chance, a random post in a town FB group; it's chaotic figuring out what to do.

Going back to the 8pm curfew has been brutal.

I was just complaining about this to a friend who lives in NY and he was just like ‘sorry you have a responsible government’. Point taken, although it requires extra caveats to thoroughly land.

This story seems... odd:

@CBCNews has learned from sources with knowledge of the request, that @fordnation asked @jkenney for healthcare workers to send to #Ontario for help with their #COVID19 surge. #Alberta has not made any committments. A request was also made of @PremierScottMoe

— Kathleen Petty (@kathleen_petty) April 15, 2021

This is rather stunning, even making allowances for alarmism-sells:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-covid-ford-curfew-1.5989426

I said just above that I've never really been worried, and that's true--never enough to ground myself--but that does make you want to barricade yourself at home.

The government has provided data on workplace clusters in Fraser Health and Coastal Health since the start of February.

The information is quite interesting!

Fraser Health = spread out, but manufacturing the biggest

Coastal Health = HEAVILY bars and restaurants pic.twitter.com/plxIBSiByu

— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) April 15, 2021

Some people are thinking the "other" category is because the government is hiding something.

To be clear, this is my extrapolation of the data provided to try and highlight the most interesting things as estimates.

Here is the raw charts. pic.twitter.com/yBiswsLYLQ

— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) April 15, 2021

afaik BC has never released this kind of info on where outbreaks were happening. Can see why they decided to shut down indoor dining.

This data should've been released way before, specially since there will always be, on average, a two-week lag due to onset of symptoms.

In places with high transmission rates, data also indicates that deaths occur two to eight weeks after the onset of symptoms.

So the high number of cases actually indicates behaviour from about roughly two weeks ago.

Considering some (or a lot of) people may be asymptomatic or have minor symptoms, the number to look out for here is the hospitalization rates.

Stateside, there were cities with hospitals overcapacity, with areas set up outside to keep watch of any emergency cases. But a lot of people seeking medical help were being turned down if their symptoms were not severe or life-threatening.

BC has hospitals that are already overcapacity, but the real effect of Covid will start once there aren't enough paramedics to pick up people who are close to dying or when there aren't enough nurses to treat patients. Unfortunately, it looks like that may just happen:

https://vancouversun.com/health/local-health/b-c-hospital-capacity-concerns-centre-on-staff-not-beds

We had an entire country to the south of us with all these problems. You'd think we'd bother to look over the data and study how to better manage a pandemic in cities with high transmission rates.

BREAKING: @JustinTrudeau says he’s ready to deploy mobile Red Cross vaccination teams to Ontario.

— David Akin 🇨🇦 (@davidakin) April 16, 2021

ok

maybe he should do it then

Might need a request or approval from the province? Not sure how it works.

Ford is already saying thanks but no thanks. Stupid--why would you ever turn down help?

Would help more if we had some vaccines to administer. I think maybe they should stop throwing around words like “secured” when obviously it’s actually completely contingent on whatever new shit will come up.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/feds-secure-8-million-more-pfizer-doses-as-moderna-cuts-coming-shipments-1.5390234

Ontario / Quebec border reportedly closing on Monday.

https://www.macleans.ca/society/health/the-superspreader-events-that-governments-let-happen/

Apparently Ontario has over a millions doses frozen in storage right now.

gl ontario

A little worrying when police departments are more reasonable than elected officials: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-police-checks-covid19-1.5991872

Thought I might have my first police encounter today. Toward the end of a walk, I cut through the Hall of Fame grounds here (four baseball diamonds). I could see a cruiser up ahead in the small parking lot beside the building, but he pulled out before I got there. Suspect it was a speed trap.

you were walking under the limit i assume?

they've reversed the playgrounds decision, which triggered literally every parent i knew in the province; but as-of-yet have not acknowledged that they have done little of what experts have been begging them to do so far.

How does “at least we’re not Alberta” feel now, Doug?

you were walking under the limit i assume?

Nice...I've seen one doctor after another on TV and online say they're got it completely backwards with the outdoor restrictions, and that this could even lead to more transmission as they drive people indoors. So I'm glad they reversed course with playgrounds. Selfishly, I hope golf courses are next, but probably not: there's a perception issue, as a friend points out (golf = rich lawyers and doctors), and also you've got clubhouses in the mix.

i was hoping to get out to the island for some disc golf at some point, but i guess that's probably a no-no?

golf/disc golf seem to me like practically the safest outdoor activities possible

I’m sure the island would be fine, it’s just the access to it I’d worry about.

The walking paradox for me is, the further away from home I travel, the more isolated I can be when I walk; but am I breaking any rules by driving further?

The Stratford police also say they won't be doing random checks. Are there any jurisdictions across the province who haven't said the same? Looks pretty bad on Ford--clearly there wasn't any consultation.

It’ll just get abused by the worse officers in every department, despite what the press releases say.

Walking drunk at 8:10 in the streets of a curfew-ed city was an experience.

Unless you have a 70% chance of surviving your intubation/resuscitation and ICU care you will be allowed to die.
This is coming from Critical Care Services Ontario in the days ahead.
We've all been put on notice.

— Dr. Barb King (@DrBarbKing) April 19, 2021

Sad state of affairs when I'm mildly encouraged that the daily caseload in Ontario has momentarily plateaued around 4,400 for the past three or four days.

AstraZeneca supposedly available to 40+ in Ontario starting tomorrow. Don’t have an appointment yet, but I certainly intend to get one ASAP

I signed up for notifications from shoppers. Hopefully that will get one of those bad boys inside me!

Because I'm working my way through Mad Men again, when I heard the AstraZeneca announcement I thought of "If you don't like the conversation, change the conversation" (I'm not sure if that originated with Mad Men or not).

I 'pre-registered' for a vaccine on Thursday as I was eligible to do so - but I honestly have no idea what the import of this is. The info I received just says someone will be in touch at some point to schedule an appoint but they are not able to provide a timeline.

I somehow missed that the national budget was tabled today: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/budget-tax-1.5993593

Money for a child care programme, luxury vehicle tax, minor vacant home tax, digital services tax - on the surface of it, mostly sounds decent?

Consensus seems to be that this is an election year budget and there will be elections in the fall.

the third wave probably prevented spring elections

spending seems wise to get the economy going after covid, plus it has the upside of upsetting all the deficit hawks

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chrystia-freeland-budget-2021-pandemic-1.5993901

More than half of that — $8.4 billion — would go toward early learning and child care, matching almost exactly what advocates had said would be necessary to deal with a lack of high-quality, affordable spaces.

But the budget also offers new and substantial sums for Old Age Security ($3 billion), public transit ($2.6 billion) and measures related to climate change and the environment ($1.9 billion). Expanding access to the Canada Workers Benefit — a refundable tax credit that supports low-income earners — would cost an additional $1.7 billion; Freeland says that could lift 100,000 people out of poverty.

Back in 2014, Freeland said that the Reagan-Thatcher revolution grew from the idea that "an overgrown, inflexible welfare state" could be blamed for a sluggish economy and high inflation. But the key problems of the modern economy, she argued — low economic growth and high economic inequality — can be traced back to a lack of government action.

"If too much government was deemed the problem of the earlier era of stagflation, it is easier to argue today that the problem is too little of it — too little stimulus, too little oversight, too little redistribution," she wrote.

Seven years later, that looks like foreshadowing.

I thought that piece was at least a little overstated but good lord I'd love to be proven wildly wrong

you're probably right...don't know if it's that different from past Trudeau budgets even