Roundup: Pandemics and aid packages

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It was a day yesterday, where COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, Justin Trudeau announced a $1 billion aid package to deal with the outbreak, Donald Trump announced travel restrictions from European countries, and the NBA suspended their season (if you care about such things). More and more events are being postponed or cancelled, and the markets have entered Bear Market territory.

(Note: Maclean’s has an updated COVID-19 Q&A here).

As for that $1 billion package the government announced, one of the missing pieces are measures for workers who can’t access EI or sick leave when they are forced to self-isolate, which the government says they’re working on. As for Parliament, it does indeed have a pandemic plan, but it’s still early when it comes to deciding what portions of it need to be activated, and that can include suspending the Chamber’s sittings, but that would require some kind of negotiation with the other parties as to when to pull that trigger, and its duration.

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Meanwhile, Supriya Dwivedi worries that we aren’t warning people enough of the risk coming from the US, given how much of a gong show their healthcare system is. Susan Delacourt takes particular note of Trudeau’s language in asking Canadians to play their part to “flatten the curve” of the spread of the virus. Colby Cosh delves into some of the failure of the US’ centralized Centres for Disease Control in the early stage of the COVID-19 transmission. Heather Scoffield says that adequacy of Trudeau’s $1 billion COVID-19 package won’t last given the state of the economy.

Good reads:

  • The federal budget will be unveiled on March 30th.
  • Iran claims that the COVID-19 outbreak is delaying their ability to transfer the Flight PS752 black boxes to Europe.
  • Canada has been funding Interpol efforts to curb human smuggling, but some of those efforts may be in countries with poor human rights records.
  • The Parliamentary Budget Officer says $105 million or the retaliatory tariffs collected from American products has remained unspent, and wonders why.
  • The fact that we are on our sixth vice-chief of defence staff in four years is raising a number of questions about the top brass of our military.
  • Fraud charges against the military’s chief judge needed to be withdrawn because they couldn’t find an impartial judge to hear the case.
  • The conversion therapy-banning bill contains provision against removing minors from the country, and it sounds like that is happening in Manitoba.
  • Conservative MP Scott Reid has been kept off of all committee and critic roles, possibly still being punished for breaking ranks in a vote last parliament.
  • Jason Kenney is going to be in Ottawa for the First Ministers Meeting, and he’s urging the federal government give into his many and varied demands.
  • Kady O’Malley has a Privilege Nerd column on the potential consequences for the government for leaking the contents of a bill before it was tabled.
  • Chris Selley has some good questions about the government’s conversion therapy ban bill.

Odds and ends:

The Conservatives and NDP have been resurrecting the false talking point that most Canadians are “$200 away from insolvency.” This was debunked here.

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: Pandemics and aid packages”

  1. The conservatives need to publicly call out the ugly mass of right-wing internet trolls in the comment threads of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Rebel News and other outlets, who are hoping that Trudeau dies of coronavirus and spreading rumors and memes alleging he has HIV. Some going even further and making references to JFK’s tragic fate, in response to Delacourt’s column. Not all the comments meet the legal threshold of a death threat, but they are no less morbid and perverse. I really don’t know why he puts up with this abuse, except that he’s willing to sacrifice his personal security and well-being to do his part in building a better country. For that he gets all of the flak and none of the credit. Nevertheless, he persists. But I don’t know for how much longer.

    If they like the response from the orange disease vector so much, they should move there. One would hope that a life-or-death crisis like this brings out the best in all people, but sadly, there is a segment of society who just use it as one more excuse to justify their unbridled hate. This poor man, I hope he isn’t sick after attending that conference and I hope he doesn’t get sick at the meeting with the chiefs and the premiers. A British MP is already under quarantine, and Italy’s top doctor has since passed. Whatever trajectory his future holds after dealing with this crisis and no doubt others, he needs to stick around for as long as is humanly possible. I don’t want to see another light of kindness and humanity like Justin Trudeau get extinguished from this cruel, harsh Trumpian world.

    • Meanwhile, in the real world — far away from J.B.’s long-running fever dream — CBC’s John Paul Tasker has this to report from Thursday’s Question Period:

      “I’m sure I speak for all members when I convey our best wishes to the PM and his wife and any other parliamentarians who have been affected by symptoms and wish her a speedy recovery,” Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said to applause from all sides of the Commons.

  2. Support for the gig community will be very expensive but I am sure that Trudeau will attempt to address this issue. I am sure that by the time the virus burns out, Canada’s debt will rise by 60-100 billion dollars. Of course the conservatives will crucify Trudeau but all conservative supporters will gladly take all the money without qualms. Just the way they are!

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