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Canadian Politics: Revenge of the small minds


maarsen

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19 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

They are only talking about an 'iron-ring' now.

Workers work at different homes because the homes aren't giving them enough hours to get benefits, in some cases, and in other cases because the workers want to make more money and there are no rules about not working at more than one place. Also, so they can work more hours, since no legislation in any province restricts the how many hours you can work, except very specific industries like truck driving and flying a plane.

Yes, I know the reasons why part time workers move from home to home to support themselves.  This is the blindspot, to which I refer.  That is now being recognized as the source of infection in LTC's and governments are taking action to top up pay so that care workers can work in only one home and suppress transmission of the virus.  I have a concern that we will start losing care workers and medical professionals to the virus.  What then? We are already short on doctors and nurses.  We won't be able to replace them any time soon. 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/loophole-in-ontarios-covid-19-long-term-care-plan-allows-temp-workers-in-multiple-homes/ar-BB12JvCM?ocid=spartanntp

We also have to be concerned about our basic securities.  The food supply chain for example and the welfare of anyone involved in getting food from the farm to the grocery store.  The virus is refocusing our attention on what is vital to our society.

Where would you say we can be placed on Maslow's hierarchy of needs at this point.  I think we have been thrown back to stage one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

I agree with Derek Burney here that we have to be self-sufficient in certain areas of our economy.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/derek-h-burney-greater-self-reliance-will-be-an-absolute-necessity-post-covid-19?video_autoplay=true 

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On 4/13/2020 at 2:14 PM, Paxter said:

Sounds good FB. I guess if we are past peak hospitalization for this wave, then all the attention now turns to governments across the country on (gradual) transition from lockdown in May.

We can't assume it will be over.  This is only the first surge.  We can expect two or three more.  We still don't know enough about this virus and we don't have a vaccine.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/covid-19-measures-must-remain-even-past-diseases-peak-say-scientists/ar-BB12LsFY?ocid=spartanntp 

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/singapore-hit-by-a-second-wave-of-coronavirus-cases

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20 hours ago, Paxter said:

I don't think anyone is blaming the workers (I certainly am not!) The issue is governance. And it's not unique to Ontario, or even Canada. Many countries will have to seriously reform the funding and regulation of aged care in the wake of this crisis. 

The Trudeau thing is not really worth arguing over. It's just an optics thing. 

We can't afford partisanship.  Trudeau needs to get back to the HOC and move his family back to Rideau Hall.  It's incumbent on all of us regardless of political stripe, to ask questions and get answers about what government is doing; and whether they are doing it fast enough.  We need critical thinking now at this juncture.  Partisanship has a tendency towards blind spots and logic fallacies. No government should operate without scrutiny.    

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25 minutes ago, LynnS said:

We can't afford partisanship.  Trudeau needs to get back to the HOC and move his family back to Rideau Hall.  It's incumbent on all of us regardless of political stripe, to ask questions and get answers about what government is doing; and whether they are doing it fast enough.  We need critical thinking now at this juncture.  Partisanship has a tendency towards blind spots and logic fallacies. No government should operate without scrutiny.    

Haha I'm not being partisan. I'm not Canadian so I'm only just learning about your political system!

Per my earlier post - I actually took a dim view of Trudeau's action. I just don't think it's worth being polemical about compared to other policy matters.

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1 hour ago, LynnS said:

We can't assume it will be over.  This is only the first surge.  We can expect two or three more.  We still don't know enough about this virus and we don't have a vaccine.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/covid-19-measures-must-remain-even-past-diseases-peak-say-scientists/ar-BB12LsFY?ocid=spartanntp 

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/singapore-hit-by-a-second-wave-of-coronavirus-cases

I am well aware of the above (hence why I wrote "this wave" in my post). But none of that precludes Canada from looking at gradual steps (per Germany and other countries) towards restoring some further services (elective surgery, dental, radiography etc).

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32 minutes ago, LynnS said:

We can't afford partisanship.  Trudeau needs to get back to the HOC and move his family back to Rideau Hall.  It's incumbent on all of us regardless of political stripe, to ask questions and get answers about what government is doing; and whether they are doing it fast enough.  We need critical thinking now at this juncture.  Partisanship has a tendency towards blind spots and logic fallacies. No government should operate without scrutiny.    

The UK parliament is shut down for a month and the Australian parliament is shut down until August (and Australia is doing much better at this point than Canada, the UK worse) and there should be live sittings in parliament? Sorry, I just don't see it. I assume that's what you mean, because Trudeau has never left off working and neither have the cabinet and senior civil servants. Once he was out of quarantine he was back at the PM's office.

The Americans are working, but I don't know that they are having sessions

Or what exactly did you mean by "Trudeau has to get back to the HoC?"

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20 minutes ago, Paxter said:

Haha I'm not being partisan. I'm not Canadian so I'm only just learning about your political system!

Per my earlier post - I actually took a dim view of Trudeau's action. I just don't think it's worth being polemical about compared to other policy matters.

I was making a general statement about partisanship.  Nothing to do you.  I apologize if I gave that impression.  

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25 minutes ago, Paxter said:

I am well aware of the above (hence why I wrote "this wave" in my post). But none of that precludes Canada from looking at gradual steps (per Germany and other countries) towards restoring some further services (elective surgery, dental, radiography etc).

I agree.  I support this approach:

https://nationalpost.com/news/covid-19-pandemic-trudeau-says-numbers-alone-wont-determine-when-canada-can-go-back-to-normal?video_autoplay=true

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1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

The UK parliament is shut down for a month and the Australian parliament is shut down until August (and Australia is doing much better at this point than Canada, the UK worse) and there should be live sittings in parliament? Sorry, I just don't see it. I assume that's what you mean, because Trudeau has never left off working and neither have the cabinet and senior civil servants. Once he was out of quarantine he was back at the PM's office.

The Americans are working, but I don't know that they are having sessions

Or what exactly did you mean by "Trudeau has to get back to the HoC?"

HOC = House of Commons.  I agree with John Ivison here:

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-ivison-the-liberal-government-has-had-free-rein-for-five-weeks-it-is-time-it-was-reined-in?video_autoplay=true

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1 hour ago, LynnS said:

While Iverson may or may not have a point, he’s also a hard right Conservative who’s been a critic of any Liberal government, federal or provincial, for literally decades. I would take his column with a very large grain of salt.

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5 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

While Iverson may or may not have a point, he’s also a hard right Conservative who’s been a critic of any Liberal government, federal or provincial, for literally decades. I would take his column with a very large grain of salt.

No he isn't.  He has many articles favorable to Trudeau.  That's when people on the right claim he is hard left Liberal.  I've been reading him for years.  

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2 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

The UK parliament is shut down for a month 

To be fair, there’s normally a three week Easter recess anyway. It’s only one extra week for the lockdown, and they’re already planning ways to reopen virtually or with proxy voting so they can limit the numbers in the chamber.

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1 hour ago, LynnS said:

No he isn't.  He has many articles favorable to Trudeau.  That's when people on the right claim he is hard left Liberal.  I've been reading him for years.  

Lol, so have I. I don’t think there are any government supporters working for the National Post!

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1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, so have I. I don’t think there are any government supporters working for the National Post!

Interesting, since the right considers the NP to be a left wing apologist because of journalists like John Ivison.  Seems like cognitive bias to me. 

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Just now, LynnS said:

Interesting, since the right considers the NP to be a left wing apologist because of journalists like John Ivison.  Seems like cognitive bias to me. 

Lol, he worked for the Globe and Mail for years before moving over to the Post. There are no left-wingers working for the Globe. 

In fairness, I'm sure he wrote reasonable things over the years, but the outrageous stuff sticks with you. However, there are a number of very right wing columnists at the Globe and I may be blending them together.

I've been a Globe subscriber for decades,  and there are a few times I've considered cancelling but never as great a desire to do so as during their coverage of SNC-Lavalin. While Harper was PM they occasionally would say, hey, what's going on, but never did any kind of push to get the government to do anything, nor did they bother to report on what must have been a lot of back-room crap going on to make sure stuff never rose to the surface. You can be sure their Ottawa reporters had books full of notes. Don't forget, the Snc-Lavalin matter was there the entire 10 years. But put a Liberal in office and holy fuck, freedom and justice in Canada was under attack. I may still cancel the bastards out of my life, I am still so pissed. Ten years of almost free ride (not completely) for Harper, but take down the Liberal government. Fuck 'em.

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38 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

In fairness, I'm sure he wrote reasonable things over the years, but the outrageous stuff sticks with you. However, there are a number of very right wing columnists at the Globe and I may be blending them together.

I've noticed that many writers are picked up by different papers on the same article.  Andrew Coyne comes to mind.

Here's what I think:  journalists have a duty to witness, investigate and present factual information.  Now is the time to dump the bias, engage critical thinking and do their duty to the public especially since most of them are receiving media funding from the government. Journalist have a duty serve the public not the government and government has a duty to serve the public.  Not the other way around.   

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Update

April          10      11      12       13      14      15       16       17

 BC            40     35                  45      27      44       14       43

AB             49     69       82       81    138    126      162     239

ON          478    411    401     421     483    494     514     564  

PQ           765    615    554     711     691    612     997     941

The rest     51     40      29       35       44      42       40       34

               1383 1170   1066   1293  1383   1318   1727  1821

An even worse day today. I know Ontario is reflecting greater testing and testing in nursing homes, and I think Quebec is also focused on nursing homes as well. Again, does anyone know the story in Alberta, is that nursing homes too? I saw there was a small hotspot at a drilling camp. 

I will add BC as soon as the number comes out. All the other provinces are doing well, NS is down too, 27 new cases.

eta: BC added

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BC kicking some ass. I wonder if the early scare there actually helped them contain the situation earlier (e.g. less spring breakers, more attention to nursing homes). That seems to be what happened in Washington state across the border.

I know the numbers look bad this week...but they are still relatively stable and in keeping with some of the jurisdictions that have performed well (thinking particularly of Germany here). To put it in perspective, there are about the same number of cases in Michigan than all of Canada. Keep that border closed!

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Update

April          12       13      14      15       16       17      18

 BC                       45      27      44       14       43       29

AB             82       81    138    126      162     239     165

ON          401     421     483    494     514     564     485 

PQ           554     711     691    612     997     941     723

The rest     29       35       44      42       40       34      54

               1066   1293  1383   1318   1727   1821  1456

ON explained that they tested more than 9,000 on Thursday, and continued concentrating on nursing homes. Of the 485 cases, 258 were in the community, 147 were residents in homes and 80 were PSWs from those homes. I think the numbers from yesterday were somewhat similar. They will be breaking out the number this way every day. NS had another bump up, 43 of The Rest cases, after dropping back to 32, 30 and 27 the last couple of days. BC continues to do really well. I still haven't seen anything about what's the source of the increased numbers in AB, though I gather the hot spot is Calgary.

But it was another big number for deaths, 160, 117 being in Quebec. Half their 805 deaths are in nursing homes.

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