Hillier is a great leader, but not the right one for the vaccine job
OTTAWA—Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the appointment of retired General Rick Hillier to head the provincial task force that will oversee the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Ford told reporters that this challenge “needed a general,” and he went on at length as to why Hillier was the right man for the job. The […]
When knowing a little about a lot goes wrong
OTTAWA—There was a day and age when the federal government hired public health policy experts for the Public Health Agency of Canada, adult educators for the Canada School of Public Service, financial experts for Finance Canada, and well-being and benefits experts for Veterans Affairs Canada. Then something happened about three decades ago in the business […]
Post-pandemic world will be different
TORONTO—At a time when Canada faces such big and difficult challenges, you’d think MPs and commentators would have something better to do than spin out paranoid conspiracy fantasies from what should be seen by rational people as a couple of non-controversial sentences by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In a speech to the United Nations in […]
‘That’s a tough one’: potential prolonged delay in COVID-19 vaccines for Canadians would be politically ‘explosive’ for Trudeau Liberals, say politicos
If there’s a prolonged gap between when Americans and Canadians get the COVID-19 vaccine, it would become a politically “explosive” issue for the Liberals, raising serious questions about the basic competence of the Trudeau government, potentially costing it the next federal election, say political players. “It’s become a national party game to ridicule the United […]
Federal government has failed to champion Canada’s aerospace sector—and not just during COVID-19
Canada’s aerospace sector has been increasingly in the news during COVID-19, but the federal government has been failing to champion our country’s highly innovative and reputable aerospace sector long before now. We have an industry that is punching above its weight—ranked fifth in the world as an aerospace nation—but too little has been done to […]
Canadian governments must not squander their most precious resource in the fight against COVID-19
OTTAWA—Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments in Canada have benefitted from remarkable public goodwill. How remarkable? In the summertime, the Pew Research Centre found that nine in 10 Canadians felt their country was doing a good job of dealing with the pandemic. In stark contrast, fewer than one in two in the United […]
We need a made-in-Canada pandemic strategy, stat!
Now that several vaccines are on the horizon, there is hope in sight for an end to this global pandemic. But Canadians are now learning that we might have to wait longer than other countries to be vaccinated since there is no domestic manufacturer. The government was quick off the mark to sign agreements securing […]
MPs, experts paying close attention to housing supply after very strong year of sales, despite COVID-19
During a time in which Canada could be looking at a “photo finish” for a record year in home sales as historically low interest rates prevailed throughout the pandemic, both MPs and experts say they’re keeping a close eye on housing supply as well as early data suggesting movement away from urban centres and into […]
Feds need to flex creative muscles in pandemic messaging, say experts
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resumption of the near-daily briefings that were a feature of the pandemic’s first wave symbolically telegraphs the severity of the situation, say political communication experts, even as they say the government needs to flex its creative muscles to reach people beyond the frequent appeals to hunker down as new infections rise […]
Eight months into the pandemic, we’re no longer pulling together
As the prospect of a dim and diminished Christmas approaches, social cohesion is fracturing. Like hostages trapped in the same room for too many months, people are lashing out—at politicians of all stripes, at once-revered public health officials, at partying young folk, at anti-maskers, at the big-box stores that profit while local restaurants and shops […]
