‘There is no playbook in dealing with the pandemic’: how StatsCan has mobilized around urgent COVID-19 data collection
With the majority of people at Statistics Canada still working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency has been working to become more agile in its collection of disaggregated data and the disproportionate effects of the crisis on vulnerable communities, according to Tina Chui, acting director of diversity and social statistics. “There is no […]
Vaccine briefings could help manage public expectations around pace of rollout, say experts
The Trudeau government’s move to start holding weekly briefings on the distribution of vaccines against the novel coronavirus could dispel concerns among the pandemic-weary public about the pace of the rollout—as long officials are upfront about the knowns and unknowns, say political experts and scientists. Weekly briefings around the logistics, distribution, and allocation of vaccines […]
It’s time Canada had a national vaccine injury compensation program
After almost a year of enduring the pandemic and its enormous health, economic and social toll, help may be on the way. The world has been encouraged by the promising early results from the Pfizer and Moderna messenger mRNA vaccines. The possibility of a vaccine being available in the early new year appears realizable. It […]
‘Nobody can afford it’: long-term care costs to soar in coming decades, says report by ex-federal Finance Canada official Don Drummond
The cost of funding Canada’s long-term care homes is on track to more than double by 2041 as Canada’s elderly population grows and much-needed improvements are made in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, says a report by a collection of Queen’s University professors including former senior federal government finance adviser Don Drummond. The federal […]
Unite the forces of government, business, and science to combat climate change post-pandemic
COVID-19 has dominated news headlines in 2020, with governments around the globe focused on protecting the health of its citizens, and businesses across all industries scrambling for ways to both survive and keep their employees safe. This has been the year of a pandemic, but it has also been the year of Australian wildfires, deforestation […]
Erin O’Toole has fumbled the push for Canada’s 988 suicide hotline
Suicide is serious. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, which has been a source of unprecedented emotional stress, 11 Canadians died by suicide, and dozens more attempted to end their lives, every day. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth; in some Indigenous communities it has reached epidemic levels. Since the upheavals produced by […]
Freeland’s economic plan puts a chicken in every pot
OTTAWA—The Trudeau government brought down its long-awaited economic statement earlier this week and history was made as it was delivered by Canada’s first-ever female Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. The latter was long overdue. The smaller numbers in the economic statement may be more revealing than the staggering $381-billion deficit and another potential $100-billion stimulus program. […]
It’s time to get the vaccine story straight
The opposition Conservatives are none too pleased that this week’s fall economic statement did not have an outline of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan. “Without a plan for vaccines, there can be no plan for the economy,” Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said. “Canadians have only asked one thing of this government: what is the plan? […]
Dropping premier approval rates and cooling federal Tory support in key Prairie provinces not a problem for O’Toole, say politicos
With the federal Tories’ support cooling off in three reliably blue Prairie provinces, politicos say Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole’s biggest concern is still introducing himself to Canadians and less about being painted by the same brush as his provincial conservative counterparts. Though the federal party is performing poorer in western provinces where the blue […]
Liberals harness more spending power to fight COVID and lay out election-ready agenda
OTTAWA—Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland reopened Ottawa’s spending taps to help Canadians cope with the epidemic while setting out an expansive, equity-focused agenda for the next Liberal election campaign. In her first accounting of government spending since she took over as finance minister from Bill Morneau in August, Freeland released a 237-page package of new supports […]
