Roundup: Supply councils and stalled approvals

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After a very welcome day off from daily pressers, prime minister Justin Trudeau was back at it on Sunday, in his weekend uniform – jeans, white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, and a blazer – but no sweater because it was actually nice out in Ottawa for a change. And while some weekend pressers are merely greatest hits packages, this one had a few substantive announcements – $240 million for online health and mental health tools that people can access, $175 million for a Canadian company doing promising research using COVID-19 antibodies; and launching a “national supply council” for dealing with personal protective equipment – more of which was elaborated upon in the ministerial presser that followed – and a reminder that enhanced Canada Child Benefit payments were on the way. During the Q&A, Trudeau also reiterated that the promised legislation that would allow municipalities to further restrict handguns in their jurisdictions would be coming once Parliament returned to normal.

Something that Trudeau and Dr. Theresa Tam were asked about in their respective pressers were the news that Health Canada had ordered a pause on those Spartan Bioscience portable testing kits because while the tests themselves worked, it turns out that the swabs didn’t go deep enough into the nasal cavity to get good samples, so they risked giving false negatives. That becomes a setback that some provinces – and remote communities in particular – will definitely feel because they had already ordered thousands of those kits as part of their plans.

Meanwhile, I see that Jason Kenney is back making noises that the federal government isn’t doing enough for the oil and gas sector, and brings up the auto sector bailout of 2008-09 as a comparison of “unfair treatment.” He should be careful what he wishes for – I’m not sure he’s advocating for the same thing at all.

Good reads:

  • Maryam Monsef says her office is trying to accelerate their plans with telecom companies about increasing broadband access across the country.
  • Privacy Commissioners and civil liberties groups are concerned about the launch of COVID-19 contact tracing apps.
  • In rolling out programmes to support Canadians through the pandemic, the civil service adopted something of a “Dunkirk” mentality.
  • The chatter is that it was Bill Morneau that pushed for Tiff Macklem to be named Bank of Canada governor over Carolyn Wilkins.
  • There are some early theories as to what happened to the Canadian Forces Cyclone helicopter off the coast of Greece.
  • Mike Moffatt has the numbers to show how this economic crisis differs from the last one, particularly in which industries it his – affecting more women than men.
  • Heather Scoffield insinuates that choosing Tiff Macklem over Carolyn Wilkins as Bank of Canada Governor is not feminist, as the current crisis hits women harder.
  • Susan Delacourt sees the assault rifle ban as being related to the fact that domestic violence cases are increasing under the pandemic.
  • Chantal Hébert evaluates the kind of political capital that François Legault will need to expend to re-open schools and daycares in Quebec.

Odds and ends:

Here is an interesting look at why anti-viral drugs are harder to come by than antibiotics, and what this current pandemic could do for the field.

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One thought on “Roundup: Supply councils and stalled approvals”

  1. It will be more than refreshing to see the tail end of Mr. Scheer as he exits for the last time as leader of the unfortunate conservative party of Canada. Today he began the inevitable criticism of the Liberals for providing Canadians various lifelines to protect them while dealing with Covid19, to whit, Scheer postulates that these are disincentives for people to work. Disgusting as this utterance is, it is an opinion held by Canadian conservative followers of this party. Let’s say it loud and clear. Canadians are not “sitting around the shack til the mail train comes back” they are rightfully fearful that to congregate in numbers will be dangerous at this point. Though one should not be surprised at Scheer’s pronouncement, it once again shows Canada what meanness and pettiness drives the Conservative message. This continuation of this also flies in the face of the unquestioned fact that a great majority of conservatives who share these thought are personally indoctrinated in the religious ethic. History if replete with examples of how detached those who support conservative political parties are from the very example of kindness and compassion promulgated by their books of faith.

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