Issues, ethics, memory
Premier Doug Ford fired aal members of the Ontario COVID Science Advisory Table in the summer of 2021. Ford does not want expert advice to get in the way of his blatantly political decision making and short-term thinking.
Some believe that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab. Others insist it was an American lab. But a group of eighteen health scientists says that COVID-19 began in a market in the Chinese city of Huanan, where the virus spread from live animals to humans.
I sat beside my six-year-old grandson as he endured online classes in grade one during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2021. It was not a pleasant experience for him. Nor was it a picnic for me, hovering just off screen. But I was pleased to accompany him.
It is difficult to be in leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some politicians, including B.C.’s John Horgan, have high approval ratings. Others, notably, Alberta premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe have failed dismally in their tasks, and Kenney especially is paying for it in sinking popularity. Which brings us to Ontario’s premier Doug Ford.... Continue Reading →
This is a narrow entry into a much wider story. At work some years ago, I developed tightness in my neck, shoulders, and upper back. I went for massage therapy but that helped only for a brief time. I began to develop headaches as well. Then I remembered that the collective agreement negotiated by my... Continue Reading →
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been so omnipresent during the COVID-19 pandemic that it is easy to forget we have a minority government in Canada. The Liberals must rely upon some combination of support from the NDP, Bloc Quebecois and Green parties. The NDP and its leader Jagmeet Singh have, in particular, used their leverage... Continue Reading →
Stacked chairs at En Route centre, March 20, 2020 There is talk among many Canadians, as well there should be, about a just recovery arising from COVID-19. The pandemic has shone a harsh light upon injustices that have been hiding in plain sight and there is no excuse now for looking the other way. Here... Continue Reading →
On March 8, 2020, Canada reported its first death from COVID-19. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Like many people, we had heard increasingly disturbing news, but it did not seem quite real. Declaration of the pandemic got our attention. Two months later, I looked back to see how the pandemic shifted from far away news to something that changed our lives.
There has been stunning news recently about hundreds of older people dying of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities (LTCs), most of them private, for-profit homes. In some cases those people had been left alone and drenched in their own urine and faeces. This is absolutely shocking and unacceptable. Advocates for the frail elderly, and unions... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 