The main networks had their year-enders with prime minister Justin Trudeau air over the weekend, and I’m not sure that we’ve learned too much more that’s new, but nevertheless, here we are. To CBC, Trudeau said that they need to be ready for an election regardless, given that it’s a hung parliament, even if he doesn’t want one, but wouldn’t rule out calling one himself (which is fair, given that there may be a situation where he may not have a choice to clear a logjam in Parliament. Things happen). He also says that it’s possible that he did contract COVID when his wife had it, but he was asymptomatic the whole time and was in self-isolation throughout.

To CTV, Trudeau defended his vaccine strategy given the scramble for PPE early on, slammed the NHL trying to jump the queue for vaccines, gave some more explanation as to the rationale behind the planned stimulus spending once the pandemic ends (and again promised to balance the budget after temporary benefits programmes are wound down), deflected on his ethical blind spots, and stated that he wasn’t ready to decriminalise all drugs yet, despite some sectors calling for it as a way to deal with the opioid epidemic.

Meanwhile, the PM’s private photographer, Adam Scotti, offered his year-in-review, and there are some amazing photographs in there. Take some time to wander through them and it will take a while, because there is a lot to go through from the year that was. I think what I was most taken with were the photos of the full House of Commons from early in the year, and how strange that looks now given the current circumstances. Highly recommended overall.

Good reads:

• Additional travel restrictions have been imposed on the UK after a new strain of the novel coronavirus have been identified there.
• It sounds like Ontario is headed for a province-wide lockdown starting on Christmas Eve (ostensibly to prevent travel between regions).
• Here’s an interview with Anita Anand about getting the vaccine contracts into alignment while being bombarded with accusations of being at the end of the line.
• Harjit Sajjan talks about his concerns about China, and how the government is responding to them.
• Karina Gould says this past year has wiped out ten years of gains when it comes to international development and helping the world’s poor.
• The Canadian Press has a year-ender with Dr. Theresa Tam on why imagines of people getting vaccines made her emotional, and about her lessons learned.
• Here is a year-in-the-life of Major-General Jennie Carignan, who commanded the NATO forces in Iraq for the past year.
• Apparently when they were looking at pandemic election preparedness, Elections Canada thought that briefing the Governor General was somehow appropriate.
• Here’s a look at challenges facing would-be immigrants who received their approval to come to Canada, but have been waylaid by the pandemic.
• In response to comments from Erin O’Toole and Rex Murphy, deputy minister Daniel Quan-Watson shares his experiences of racism in Canada.
• While his voter base continues to be boxed in on all sides, Jagmeet Singh is claiming victory for pushing on an open door around pandemic programmes.
• Brian Pallister is hinting that he’s not going to run again in the next election, but he will stay on until the end of the pandemic.
• Heather Scoffield hears from some business leaders who are calling on the government to get into the industrial strategy game.
• Chantal Hébert charts how much more cold-blooded of a leader Justin Trudeau has become over the past year.

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