With the spread of variants on the rise, and certain provinces still insistent on relaxing public health restrictions, we’re going to get another round of reporters demanding that the federal government invoke the Emergencies Act to force provinces to maintain lockdowns – which they can’t actually do. No, seriously – they can’t do it.
Criminal negligence
219 (1) Every one is criminally negligent who
(a) in doing anything, or
(b) in omitting to do anything that it is his duty to do,
shows wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons.— MP Ryan Turnbull 🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@TurnbullWhitby) February 21, 2021
Erm, no David. They can’t. Have you actually read the Emergencies Act?
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 21, 2021
It’s right in Section 3: For it to be a national emergency, it must exceed the capacity or authority of the province.
This pandemic has not exceeded their capacity or authority. Their refusal to act is not because they don’t have capacity, it’s because they don’t have the will. pic.twitter.com/36rui1H9Ti— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 21, 2021
I cannot stress this enough – the federal government cannot just invoke the Act on a whim. It needs to meet the threshold – which I am hard-pressed to see how this situation does – and it needs provincial consent, and if it doesn’t it is essentially declaring war on the provinces, and is going to poison the well of federalism. And even more to the point, keeping the focus on the federal government continues to give premiers who aren’t doing their jobs a free pass when we should be holding them to account for their failures.
Speaking of which, the math on these variants is scary, and premiers need to so something about it rather than feigning helplessness, which is what they’re oh so good at. They have the power to do something about it, rather than shrugging and blaming the federal government for not making vaccines appear out of thin air. But that’s what they’re doing, and that’s what the vast majority of the media are letting them get away with. We shouldn’t let them.
https://twitter.com/moebius_strip/status/1363532149832310784
https://twitter.com/moebius_strip/status/1363533026559332355
https://twitter.com/moebius_strip/status/1363534914046500865
Good reads:
- Justin Trudeau will have a virtual meeting with Joe Biden on Tuesday.
- The government is expected to announce the process for selecting a new Governor General this week, and I am gobsmacked they haven’t even begun yet.
- Travellers calling the government phone line to book for quarantine hotels are complaining about long wait times and poor service.
- It seems that Providence’s “made-in-Canada” vaccines will still require components from abroad, for at least their initial batches.
- One of the women who made allegations against General Jonathan Vance about their inappropriate relationship has gone public about her experience.
- The Newfoundland and Labrador election seems to be a compounding series of Charter violations at this point. Yikes!
- Kevin Carmichael takes note of the debate on inflation taking place in the US, and how it may have repercussions in Canada.
- Susan Delacourt looks into the behavioural sciences unit in PCO, and how they are trying to figure out how to make people better respond to pandemic orders.
- Chantal Hébert wonders how the senate amendments to the assisted dying bill are going to play in the Commons with two parties hostile to its existence.
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