‘We’re all under the gun’: MPs work 24-7 in the midst of a pandemic
By the time the clock ticked past 8 p.m. on April 6, Liberal MP Wayne Easter still had 16 calls left on his list to return, capping off another busy day wherein urgent requests have become the norm. MPs like Mr. Easter, and their staff, report their hours being consumed by “case work” of constituents […]
COVID upheaval may prompt long overdue repudiation of selfishness disguised as austerity
OTTAWA—More than a decade has passed since, during the 2009 financial meltdown, we heard the now-resurrected refrain: “We’re all socialists now.” That ironic phrasing is, of course, a recognition of the reality that, in the worst of times, people turn to government to inject large quantities of money into the economy in hopes of resurrecting […]
Patients in psychiatric care at great risk to COVID-19 outbreak, warns Sen. Kutcher
Independent Senator Stan Kutcher is raising the alarm about the looming risk of a COVID-19 outbreak among patients in psychiatric care, facilities that he’s warning don’t have the capacity to protect against or properly respond to infectious diseases. As a leading psychiatrist who pioneered research and headed the psychiatric department at Dalhousie University, the Nova […]
Feds order 30,000 ‘made-in-Canada’ ventilators
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is working with a number of companies to produce 30,000 made-in-Canada ventilators as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “If we end up making more ventilators than Canadians need … that will be great news, and we will have ventilators to share with other countries […]
Can COVID-19 help us address viral nature of man-made conflict?
Faced with an unprecedented pandemic, people across the world now have one thing in common: the fear of COVID-19. Everyone is now confronting a common enemy, presenting a sobering reminder for high-income countries that they are not immune to global health outbreaks. The spread of the virus has become not only a universal public-health issue, […]
Crisis underscores that health workers are backbone of health system
Across the world, members of the public are clapping from their doorways and balconies to show their appreciation of health workers. It is becoming clearer than ever that our health system is largely our health workers. Ventilators do not work without health workers; testing does not happen without health workers. All forms of care required […]
Charities, non-profits could plunge into crisis before federal wage subsidy kicks in
Since they are on the front lines of our COVID response and form a vital part of our social fabric, Canadian charities and non-profit organizations should immediately qualify for the new Canada emergency wage subsidy program, or they’ll be forced into crisis. Many of these organizations provide a wide range of health and social services, […]
It is past time for co-operation to prevail over narrow political preferences
A senior adviser at the World Health Organization (WHO) was recently asked by a journalist about Taiwan’s success in combatting COVID-19 and whether the WHO will reconsider Taiwan’s engagement with the agency. Rather than answer the question, this senior adviser appeared to hang up the phone, dodged the question, and ultimately, responded by suggesting that […]
Trudeau says feds ‘expect’ shipment of medical supplies from U.S. amid concerns from Ontario over delays
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government continues to have “very productive” discussions with the Trump administration over the shipment of medical supplies needed by front-line health workers. Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) was pressed on Monday about Washington’s resistance to sending masks across the border, as the Ontario government warned that hospitals in Canada only […]
Hungary: the first casualty?
LONDON, U.K.—“Hello, dictator!” said Jean-Claude Juncker cheerily to Hungary’s leader, Victor Orbán, at a European Union summit meeting a couple of years ago. The president of the European Commission was only joking, of course, but it was gallows humour. Dictatorship was clearly where Orbán was heading—and now he has arrived. On March 30, the Hungarian […]
