Roundup: Unveiling the help for students

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Prime minister Justin Trudeau arrived at his daily presser with big news – the long-awaited relief package for students, totalling some $9 billion in new emergency measures, starting with the Canada Emergency Student Benefit that provides between $1250 and $1750 per student between May and August (being the period when they would ordinarily be out of school). This would be augmented by additional grants next year on top of loan repayment deferrals. As well, the government would be creating a number of placements for students in needed areas, as well as a Canada Student Service Grant between $1000 and $5000 for those students who volunteer with essential services during these pandemic times – on top of additional funding for the next academic year, and specific pots of money for Indigenous students. During the Q&A and the subsequent ministerial presser, there were questions on repatriations (most especially from India), as well as on what’s happening with prisons as they face the pandemic (and here is a good thread from Justin Ling, who brought the receipts as to why this matters) – made especially important because even the Correctional Investigator can’t get proper figures about what is going on. This gets complicated when you have tough-on-crime politicians making hay about needed decarceration during a crisis like this. Trudeau also gave a rare moment of candour when he stated in response to a question that universal benefits are actually more complicated than they seem, which was why they went with the CERB (but it only took him three tries to actually say it – something I’ve been pointing out for a while).

And then the requests came. Quebec’s premier asked for an additional 1000 soldiers to help cover off in long-term care facilities as the death toll continues to climb, particularly around Montreal. (Here’s a thread that explains some of what is going on, particularly as transmission from long-term-care facility to hospitals is an added problem). Around the same time, Doug Ford also asked for military assistance with five facilities in Ontario (but wouldn’t say which ones). But throughout this, we keep seeing the PM and other ministers being asked if the federal government needs to somehow “take over” the long-term care file, which I think is a bit boggling because there’s no actual mechanism for them to do that. Provincial powers aren’t delegated by the federal government – back during Confederation, they were divvied up between the provinces and the federal government, and in many cases, the provinces were given those powers because they are closer to the people. Yes, there is a federal role in healthcare (beyond simple dollars), which has a lot to do with regulation and the approval of drugs and medical devices, which avoids the duplication of every province needing to do their own. I’m not sure how exactly they should assume control of these facilities – especially because provinces do not take well to having their funding allocations come with strings or reporting requirements. Seriously – previous governments have tried, and it doesn’t go well. Yes, we’re going to need to have a reckoning in this country about the whole issue of long-term care, but that reckoning can’t simply be having Ottawa assume control. I mean, not unless they want to amend the Constitution (and good luck with that).

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau is scheduled to have a call with Turkish president Recep Erdoğan as Canada extends its arms export ban to Turkey indefinitely.
  • The current pandemic conditions are making it harder for vaccine researchers, as they face supplies expiring by shipping delays and competition for resources.
  • Maclean’s posts some remembrances of some of the victims of the shooting rampage in Nova Scotia on Sunday.
  • The Conservatives have set a fundraising bar for protected nominations (which I will remind you are an abomination).
  • Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe says that they have flattened the curve and will begin a phased re-opening next month.
  • Kevin Carmichael looks at the adverse effects of fetishizing austerity during an economic downturn – something that may have made the Great Depression worse.
  • Matt Gurney makes the case for beefing up our armed forces on a permeant basis, considering what is being asked of them at times like this.
  • Robert Hiltz laments the loss of his optimism for a better post-pandemic world.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Unveiling the help for students”

  1. I realize that the Constitution divvies up responsibilities the way it does, but my question is this: if Trudeau did invoke the Emergency Measures Act, could it give the federal government the power to take over, manage, or mandate testing of COVID-19 active disease and antibody testing, which we keep hearing will be available shortly? With Ontario doing such an appallingly awful job of testing, the most populous province will never get to the point Tam says we must be in order to start thinking about opening up. Also, few people actually trust the Ontario figures. It boggles the mind to think that Ford, Elliott and Williams, whose competence I doubt as much as that of the other two, seem confident that the first wave has peaked when there has been so little community testing that almost everyone knows at least one highly symptomatic person who was refused a test. And then there are all the current and past asymptomatic people no one knows about.

    • I think it might in theory, but I’m not sure how it would be different in practice if the province already can’t get its act together on it. But nobody wants to invoke the Act as it is.

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