Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Wow, Canada Really Has A Handle On This Coronavirus Screw-Up

When aiming for failure, choose a snowboard instructor and his eclectic band of yes-men: 

Friends of cabinet attempted to pull strings with Public Works Minister Anita Anand for lucrative pandemic contracts, internal emails show. Lobbyists included a former aide to a Liberal MP, and the ex-president of a Liberal Party riding association who sought millions in contracts: “We’ve been seeing a lot of people who ‘know a guy’ in China.”

 

(Sidebar: so that they would not have to lie, I assume ...)

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Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office struggled to find positive news in early weeks of the pandemic, according to internal emails. Sabrina Kim, then-director of communications, urged coworkers to find “positive updates” at the same time the Public Health Agency complained it was short of body bags for pandemic victims: “We love good news!”

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Canada lags the developed world in COVID-19 vaccinations because it provided insufficient upfront funding to the smaller domestic companies that had potential inoculations in their pipeline, vaccine developers told a federal Parliamentary committee on Monday.

Had the federal government taken the approach of the United States and the United Kingdom, which provided hundreds of millions of dollars to companies with potential candidates early in the pandemic, the country would be on the cusp of making homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, John Lewis, an Edmonton-based biotechnology executive, told MPs.



What? The? Fudge?:

The City of Toronto is seeking to recoup the $187,000 it says it spent forcing an Etobicoke barbecue eatery to comply with public health lockdown measures.

 

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