Today In Moral Posturing

Canada is a land rich in resources.

And all it can offer the world is ... nothing:

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was touring Europe expressing solidarity with Canada’s NATO partners last week, a new study by the Parliamentary Budget Officer said his government has postponed billions of dollars in capital spending to replace aging military equipment promised in 2017.

Yves Giroux said the Trudeau government has so far “underspent” $10 billion of the $164 billion it promised for 348 projects, including replacing outdated warships, jet fighters and military vehicles from 2017-18 to 2036-37.

It took Giroux four years to get the full list of the projects and more funding delays are expected during the 20-year project. ...

According to Giroux: “Between 2017-18 to 2020-21, there was a cumulative shortfall of almost $10 billion between what the department of national defence spent on capital and what was originally planned under SSE … suggesting significant delays in military procurements. ”

He said the Trudeau government failed to meet its planned capital expenditures on the military every year since it announced them in 2017.

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• The Canadian delegation posted photos of themselves seeming to walk busily past Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. The monument isn’t really between any offices that the group would have been visiting, so the image was almost certainly staged.
• At a summit with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Warsaw, Trudeau could be seen sporting his signature loud socks.

**

As soon as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned from Europe, his official Twitter account posted a 90-second sizzle reel set to inspirational music showing the Canadian leader posing with refugees, posing with world leaders, posing with Canadian soldiers and posing in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

 

(Sidebar: travelling around the world and bleating seems to be a Liberal thing.)

Well, Justin and Chrystia did meet with a neo-Nazi.

Does that help?

Also:

Canadian officials who met with members of a Ukrainian battalion linked to neo-Nazis didn’t denounce the unit, but were instead concerned the media would expose details of the get-together, according to newly released documents.

The Canadians met with and were briefed by leaders from the Azov Battalion in June 2018. The officers and diplomats did not object to the meeting and instead allowed themselves to be photographed with battalion officials despite previous warnings that the unit saw itself as pro-Nazi. The Azov Battalion then used those photos for its online propaganda, pointing out the Canadian delegation expressed “hopes for further fruitful co-operation.”

After a journalist asked the Canadian Forces about the Azov social media postings, officers scrambled to come up with a response, according to documents obtained by this newspaper through Access to Information law.

 

 

To wit:

In a related commentary in the CMAJ, Dr. Skarsgard cited data showing an estimated 7,600 pediatric surgeries were postponed at Canadian children’s hospitals between mid-March and June.

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According to a survey commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network (CCSN), many cancer diagnostic tests and treatments were cancelled or postponed because of COVID-19. These delays led to increased fear and anxiety among patients and caregivers, which continue today.

Overall, 54% of those surveyed have had their cancer care appointments cancelled, postponed, or rescheduled because of COVID-19. The same was reported by about 75% of prediagnosis and recently diagnosed patients. Because delays in cancer care can lead to progression of cancer, “It was disheartening to think we might face a public health crisis down the road when more patients might develop into late-stage cancer [because of delays to their treatment]”, says Jackie Manthorn (CCSN, Ottawa, ON, Canada).

 

Despite overall satisfaction with virtual visits, 71% of patients and caregivers in the survey remained concerned about receiving in-person care. They expressed concerns with their ability to receive hospital or emergency room care if needed, to get cancer-related tests, to see their doctor for follow-ups, to get help for new symptoms or side-effects from treatment, and to receive cancer treatment in a timely fashion. “Some patients were not having their scheduled tests before an appointment, not having their physical exam when it was needed, not having tests done to see if cancer cells were growing, and having a procedure done with no follow up afterwards”, says Manthorn. “Patients felt adrift, insecure.”

 

74% of those surveyed reported that delays in appointments and treatment had a major impact on their mental and emotional wellbeing. Many felt worried, concerned, anxious, or stressed by the delays. Recently diagnosed patients or those with metastatic disease reported the highest levels of anxiety, as did caregivers. “Sometimes caregivers can be more stressed because they are the ones navigating on behalf of the patient”, says Manthorn. “So if appointments are cancelled, it can be distressing. Caregivers were also worried about their loved one being alone in the hospital in case they were given bad news or needed more treatment, and could not understand the information.”

 

The devil, one sees, is in the details:

“Sickkids, along with our government and community partners, has been preparing for this possibility for a number of days,” hospital spokesperson Jessamine Luck said in an email to the National Post Monday evening.

Luck said she couldn’t provide specific numbers, or any further details, to respect the privacy of the children and their families, but said the hospital expects to receive fewer than five children with cancer from Ukraine within the next 36 to 48 hours.

“Toronto has a strong and compassionate Ukrainian community and SickKids has long-standing partnerships with Ukrainian children’s hospitals that enable us to support urgent children’s healthcare needs in Ukraine,” Luck said. ...

On Monday, 21 Ukrainian children with cancer were flown out of Poland to England. Hospitals in Poland have taken in children needing healthcare and have called for support from international partners to help provide additional care to the children so they can continue their vital treatment.

 

Now, before everyone gasps in horror, let one remember that Canadians are already @$$holes whose paranoia kept children from life-saving surgeries (ie - 7,600 of them in one count), schooling and socialisation. This same paranoia was the mask that revealed the horridness of the average Canadian. They were happy to have the authorities seize children from people they didn't like. Does this sound like people capable of empathy?

While it would be laudable to help sick children under ordinary circumstances and not when there are backlogs of people who actually pay into the system, "Canada" isn't actually doing anything on a wider or more effective scale. Can't it?

"Fewer than five"? What is that? Four? Two? Why not twenty-one children like those transferred from Poland to England? One cannot be certain of the exact number Polish hospitals are treating at the moment but there must be more than five.

This is optics, something that seems good now and will be forgotten when this war becomes passé.