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| A merry Pi Day to all y'all. |
So, all of those elderly people experienced death differently, right?:
The biggest lesson Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says she learned from the experience with COVID-19 a year into the pandemic is that: “we failed the most vulnerable.”
“I think the tragedy and the massive lesson learned for everyone in Canada is that we were at every level, not able to protect our seniors, particularly those in long-term care homes,” Tam said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period. “Even worse is that in that second wave, as we warned of the resurgence, there was a repeat of the huge impact on that population.”
As of March 11—the one year mark since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic—more than 22,000 Canadians had died after contracting the virus, which over the last 12 months hit Canada’s seniors the hardest, with outbreaks experienced in care homes across the country, as well as in workplaces or communities where people are in close quarters.
We didn't fail the elderly (practically, anyway), Theresa. You did.
To wit:
Jan. 20: In response to news from China, Dr. Tam says: “It is important to take this seriously, and be vigilant and be prepared. But I don’t think there’s reason for us to panic or be overly concerned.”
**
Canada’s chief public health officer yesterday in an official report on the pandemic deleted all references to garbled advice on masks. Dr. Theresa Tam as late as April 3 claimed there was no evidence masks protected Canadians from Covid-19: “It is absolutely mind-boggling.”
**
Last week, Canada’s top doctor said that if we’re not sick, or haven’t been around someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19, we shouldn’t wear a mask. “Putting a mask on an asymptomatic person is not beneficial, obviously if you’re not infected,” she said.
This week, Dr. Theresa Tam did a complete about-face: actually, the use of non-medical masks can help to control the spread of COVID-19, she said. “Wearing a non-medical mask, even if you have no symptoms, is an additional measure that you can take to protect others around you in situations where physical distancing is difficult to maintain, such as in public transit or maybe in the grocery store.”
**
A timeline of Canada’s coronavirus response excluded any mention of Dr. Theresa Tam’s contradictory mask advice.
Yesterday, the Public Health Agency of Canada released the 2020 report on the state of public health in Canada titled “From risk to resilience: An equity approach to COVID-19.”
Included in the report was a timeline ranging from December 2019 to August 2020 detailing milestones in the coronavirus response.
The only mention of mask-wearing recommendations listed in the timeline was on April 7th when a Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health issued a statement “supportive of wearing non-medical masks as an additional layer of protection.”
However, Dr. Tam had repeatedly advised Canadians against wearing masks as far back as March.
“Right now there is no need to use a mask for well people,” said Tam during a March 28th briefing.
**
So why did Theresa Tam ignore her own agency, and the advice of her own bureaucrats, and react the exact same way the Chinese-compromised WHO did? Tam advised against closing the borders, and the Liberals just let the virus fly right in and shut down Canada.
Well, that’s because Tam is one of seven members of the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme. She works for the WHO, then she works for Canada.
**
A search through parliamentary records revealed that on the matter of the pandemic’s existence, Conservative MPs had raised concerns about a possible pandemic as far back as January 2020, nearly two months before the World Health Organization declared it.
On January 27, 2020, Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux asked the Liberal Health Minister if Canada had “enough antiviral drugs in the national emergency stockpile to address a possible broader outbreak?”
About a month later, Conservative MP Steven Blaney also raised concerns about a possible pandemic.
“The World Health Organization is talking about a possible pandemic, but what is the government doing? Nobody knows. Radio silence. This situation is very worrisome. This is a serious, high-risk issue, but the Liberals are twiddling their thumbs. What is the government’s plan for helping Canadians protect themselves from the coronavirus?” said Blaney.
In total, since the pandemic began Conservatives have addressed the coronavirus crisis as a “pandemic” at least 2439 times in various committee meetings and House of Commons affairs.
Note that Tam does not take it upon herself, as the chief public health officer, to castigate herself for failures that, in any other country, would have her removed from that position. Her sanctimony and moral dissonance are clear. What is not clear is why she mounting defenses for her baffling incompetence (or culpability) now.
The government is poised to issue "vaccine passports" for a virus it failed to stop, stem, prepare for or now stamp out and that is largely survivable for most people.
It is certainly clear that accountability is a thing for the proles and not for those entrenched in power.
Which may or may not be Theresa Tam soon enough.
Also:
Legault has yet to offer Quebecers a more complete accounting of why their province has been the site of so much more suffering than others.
While a number of officials are investigating specific dimensions of the crisis, Legault has refused growing calls to hold a public inquiry.
In a recent interview with Radio-Canada, he was asked whether his stance was close-minded.
"When I look at Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, they are doing exactly what we are," he replied, pointing to three provinces that aren't holding inquiries.
"Are they being closed-minded?"
Collectively, the three provinces have registered fewer than 4,000 deaths. Ontario, where just over 7,000 people have died, is holding an inquiry into its long-term care response.
**
A new survey by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce found that a majority of Canadian business owners are worried that they might be forced to shut down before the end of the year due to the financial hardships brought on by the pandemic.
“Today’s numbers from the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions give us the most recent snapshot of the health of our business community, and unfortunately they are sending a very clear message – the light at the end of this pandemic tunnel is still a long way off for most Canadian businesses,” wrote the Chamber’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Policy Dr Trevin Stratton.
“With a whopping 51% reporting they did not know how long they could continue to operate at their current level of revenue and expenditures before considering closure or bankruptcy, the coping ability of businesses to weather the pandemic is quickly dwindling. 40% stated they cannot take on more debt, with the burden even higher for small businesses.”
Out of the businesses surveyed, only 38.4% of business owners reported that they are confident that they will be able to operate for a year or longer at the current revenue levels.
The study also found that nearly one-third (29.6%) of food and accommodation businesses are expecting to lay off employees in the next three months.
Who do they think they are? Friends of the PM who enjoy a different tier of accountability (if that). That's who:
Since the story emerged last year we have heard so little on it from the Trudeaus, or all the eager corporate sponsors and entertainers who so gladly gave their endorsements and money when all was shine.
Most have dropped out with little more than a curt press release, or said nothing at all.
The prime minister himself? Does he now regret he gave WE status and currency? Or, conversely, is he sad he ever showed up on the same stage with so dubious an enterprise? And if not, why not? He might even offer one of his prized apologies for them, apology being such a practiced mode for him.
But it’s the brothers themselves who owe a full explanation and accounting. And as for whether it’s up to them whether they will go to Parliament Hill and meet with the committee ordering their presence — well, who in the hell do they think they are?
What? The North Koreans are not moved by a senile child-sniffer?:
North Korea has not responded to behind-the-scenes diplomatic outreach since mid-February by President Joe Biden‘s administration, including to Pyongyang’s mission to the United Nations, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters on Saturday.
The disclosure of the so-far unsuccessful U.S. outreach, which has not been previously reported, raises questions about how Biden will address mounting tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The Canadian judge in Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s U.S. extradition case rejected her request to admit as evidence Huawei employee statements that contradict a U.S. claim she misled bankers about the company’s business in Iran, a ruling said on Friday.
But the judge provisionally allowed parts of an expert’s report that Meng’s team requested be permitted into evidence, subject to further submissions about its relevance, the ruling showed.
Meng, 49, was arrested in December 2018 at Vancouver International Airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran and causing the bank to violate U.S. sanctions.
She has since been fighting the case from under house arrest in Vancouver and has said she is innocent.
The evidence Meng’s team sought to add is related to their claim that HSBC knew about Huawei’s businesses in Iran, and that Meng did not mislead the bank.
Two affidavits were from Huawei employees who attended the meeting where the United States alleges Meng lied about the company’s business connections in Iran.
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the British Columbia Supreme Court said that allowing this into evidence “could do no more than invite credibility findings,” turning the matter into a he-said-she-said case.
Holmes also rejected two more Huawei employee affidavits alleging that HSBC employees knew about Huawei’s connections to businesses in Iran, stating that they were beyond the “proper scope” of an extradition hearing.
“The difficulty Ms. Meng faces is that this body of evidence relates to issues properly within the domain of a trial, not the extradition hearing,” Holmes wrote.
Also:
Harper said the U.S. under both former president Donald Trump and likely continuing under President Joe Biden, is stepping back and that is a major disruption to the international order.
”A huge change that’s occurred, particularly since I left office, has been the United States really stepping away from a lot of its traditional leadership role,” he said. “China is now a competitive rival of the United States across a range of spheres.”
We didn't have to open up China.
If people feel that they must learn what is now a hobby language, more power to them. But it doesn't have to be publicly funded:
The premier of Nova Scotia has announced $1.92 million in funding to renovate a former convent to create a satellite campus of the Gaelic College.
Iain Rankin made the announcement Saturday during a visit to the site of the new campus in Mabou, N.S.
Rankin says the funding will help in promoting, preserving and perpetuating the Gaelic language, culture and identity.
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