Roundup: Dire stats as Parliament is recalled

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It was a very busy morning – first, Statistics Canada released the March job figures, which were dismal – 1.01 million jobs lost, massive reductions in hours worked, but also (which everyone didn’t really report) that most of these jobs will likely come back once the pandemic measures are over with, which is significant. Following that, the federal Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, released some of the federal modelling on the course of the pandemic, which put everyone into a hot and bothered state.

When prime minister Justin Trudeau held his daily presser, he largely played the role of empathiser in chief – yes, these are all grim numbers, but we’ll get through them together. More to the point, we could be in this until summer, so it’s time to get used to our new normal, particularly if there are subsequent waves that follow this one (though those ones would likely not be as severe and wouldn’t require the same measures like the current lockdown – hopefully). He did also say that he respected parliament but then started making excuses for why he wanted a virtual one, and nope. Not going to fly, sorry.

It was announced later in the day that Parliament will be back on Saturday – 12:15 for the Commons, 4 for the Senate, which likely means Royal Assent by the time the day is over. That means that we’ll have yet more emergency legislation that gets maybe three hours of “debate” in the House of Commons, and that once again all of the negotiations have been done behind closed doors, and there will be no public record about what kind of amendments were requested and agreed to, which serves no one’s interests, particularly those of Canadians.

[Maclean’s has a new Q&A with Dr. Isaac Bogoch on questions people have about the pandemic]

Good reads:

  • Apparently the government is consulting on invoking the Emergencies Act to better deal with medical resource distribution, including to Indigenous communities.
  • It looks like everyone who applies for the CERB will get it, whether they actually qualify or not, but will have to repay if they don’t qualify.
  • The government has modified their LAV deal with Saudi Arabia and will allow exports to continue, but each export will require a permit.
  • Some prisons and remand centres are starting to empty out over COVID-19 fears, but there are concerns that Crown Attorneys aren’t taking the threat seriously.
  • The Parliamentary Budget Officer says the current deficit projections are now $184 billion after current measures (but that’s still manageable).
  • A French court ruling that forces Google to pay news publishers for content has advocates in Canada demanding similar rules be applied here.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada won’t hear the attempt to suspend Quebec’s “secularism” law, and will instead wait for the main challenge to the law.
  • Here are a bunch of people trying to make excuses about “virtual sittings” of Parliament, and I can barely even.
  • Quebec is starting to plan to restart parts of their economy now that their infection rate has stabilized (which seems a little too early).
  • Nunavut’s lockdown means it hasn’t yet contracted any cases of COVID-19.
  • Kevin Carmichael parses some of the jobs data and how it might be interpreted by the Bank of Canada, and also looks for some of the silver linings in the data.
  • Susan Delacourt wonders how many of the changes to politics being made during the pandemic will survive once it’s over.
  • Colby Cosh makes some wry observations on Alberta’s pandemic modelling, and why the things that make Edmonton terrible may have largely spared it.

Odds and ends:

Maclean’s has a list of ways that Canadians can donate to help out during the pandemic.

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One thought on “Roundup: Dire stats as Parliament is recalled”

  1. Dale,

    I saw this interesting article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website about the next Queensland State General Election could be conducted entirely by postal ballot:

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-10/coronavirus-may-change-queensland-state-election-to-postal-vote/12138788?section=politics

    It will be a very significant State Election as it would be the first under the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Act, which provides a four year term for the first time, subject to the Governor’s constitutional power to dissolve at any time.

    Also, it would be refreshing to see people in power alter the mode of voting to meet the current COVID-19 Pandemic, rather than listening to the President of the United States accusing that “vote by mail” is corrupt while casting his own vote by mail; never mind the members of the United States Armed Forces always vote by mail.

    Stay safe and keep up the great work,

    Ronald A. McCallum

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