It appears that Conservative leader Erin O’Toole has decided to use his need for a COVID-test after one of his staffers tested positive in order to be performative about the whole affair. Despite there being a dedicated testing services available to MPs and their families (because yes, Parliament is an essential service), O’Toole and family apparently opted to attempt the public route, which in Ottawa has been backed up for days because of a lack of testing capacity. O’Toole then put out a press release to blame the federal government – not for inadequate capacity, which is the domain of the provinces, and O’Toole couldn’t possibly be seen to criticize Doug Ford and his lack of appreciable action on the pandemic – but because rapid testing hasn’t been approved by the regulators at Health Canada. Hours later, Michelle Rempel, the new Conservative health critic, doubled down and demanded that Cabinet force Health Canada to work faster (and misusing an analogy about the bourgeoisie and “let them eat cake” in the process).

It seems to me a fundamental misunderstanding of the role that Cabinet plays when it comes to ministerial oversight and responsibility. They shouldn’t be overriding regulators for political expediency – but then again, the Harper government did it with nuclear safety.

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) September 17, 2020

Michelle Rempel doubles down on blaming Cabinet for not approving tests, and calls Trudeau “Bourgeois.” #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/QxFqQVNpet

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) September 17, 2020

Also, when you make a big deal out of mass suffering because your social equal is inconvenienced, that kind of class solidarity doesn't lend itself well to accusing others of bourgeois and/or Bourbon entitlement.

— Andrew Young (@SpartanVTyranny) September 17, 2020

There are a couple of problems with O’Toole’s demands, and one is that Cabinet should be interfering in the work of a regulator, which sets up all kinds of bad precedents – you know, like the one the Conservatives set when they fired the nuclear safety regulator because she refused to restart a nuclear reactor during a crisis of isotope production. The other is that Health Canada has good reason not to approve these tests as they are, because they produce false negatives more often than the regular tests, and that creates a false sense of security among people who may be spreading the virus. “Oh, but the FDA approved it!” people say, ignoring that it’s an emergency approval that relies on self-reported results and not independently verified ones, which again, should be concerning – not to mention that infections in the US are still spreading rapidly. The fact that Health Canada is doing the job that the FDA didn’t shouldn’t mean that we’re “falling behind” – we’re doing the due diligence that they’re not.

As well, I’m not exactly mollified by the notion that O’Toole attempting the public route when he had an option available already because it’s the kind of performative “We’re like real people” nonsense – especially if it took a spot away from another local family who doesn’t have access to the private test that O’Toole did. It’s not heroic or setting a good example – it’s political theatre that could hurt other people in the process.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau has begun the political theatre of “consulting” with the opposition leaders in advance of the Throne Speech.
• Bill Blair says the decision to allow an American billionaire into Canada without quarantine was not a political decision, but a mistake made by a CBSA agent.
• Investigations into the cyber-security breach at CRA last month have shown that some four times as many accounts were affected as initially believed.
• The Canadian Forces’ special forces are looking for a “senior intelligence advisor,” which could mean taking on more intelligence duties as Americans pull back.
• Members of the Parliamentary Black Caucus say that justice and public safety reforms need to be the next priority for dealing with systemic racism.
• Arrests have been made at a First Nations protest in Caledonia.
• Justin Trudeau appointed CTV broadcaster Marci Ien and Ya’ara Saks to be the party candidates in Toronto Centre and York Centre, bypassing nomination races.
• Jagmeet Singh is doing some chest-thumping in advance of the Throne Speech.
• It seems that QAnon and other pandemic conspiracy theories are taking root in particular among people in Quebec.
• The “Wexit Party” is changing its name to the “Maverick Party.” No, seriously.
• Kevin Carmichael remarks on the dynamics at play in Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins’ decision to not run for a second term.
• Heather Scoffield posits that fixing existing social programmes – and actually implementing childcare – will do more for people than Basic Income.

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