The Issues Manager for Trudeau’s Procurement Minister, Anita Anand, contacted other Liberal press secretaries for their opinion on how to finesse the government’s “unattractive delivery numbers” for PPE and masks.
“China eats weird animals disease”
The risk of eternal lockdown – The implications for human rights could be worryingly far-reaching
Periods of society-wide threats are danger-times for rights. Anxious populations tend to accept restrictions on liberty which would be strongly resisted at other, more peaceful, moments. During the “War on Terror” which followed the 9/11 attacks, detention without trial, mass surveillance and torture were authorised by liberal democracies. We may be seeing that dynamic repeated today, as the legally enforced social-distancing restrictions put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19 raise some of the most difficult questions in modern times about life, liberty and the basic tenets of democracy.
Easy money: buying and selling fake Covid test results
Coronavirus has changed the way we travel and many countries now demand proof of a negative Covid test before letting you in – with tests often costing hundreds of pounds. BBC reporter Joice Etutu has been speaking to two women who admit using and selling fake certificates.
“I was kind of nervous because I didn’t know what to expect.
“When I got to the counter where they check in your passport before you board the plane, the man asked me for my [Covid-19 test certificate]
“He literally read through it for no more than 10 to 20 seconds, and then he smiled and asked me where I was going and said, ‘have a safe flight.’
‘We’re double-dipping’: Trudeau pressured to speed vaccine distribution amid Covax backlash
Justin Trudeau is facing growing pressure to speed up Canada’s sluggish distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, as the country fends off accusations that it is taking supplies of the drug meant for developing countries.
The federal government drew sharp criticism last week when it announced that it would draw on Covax, a mechanism created to fairly distribute Covid-19 around the world, for its supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Canada is entitled to receive shots through the Covax program, which uses advance purchases by wealthy nations to subsidise doses for poorer countries. But it had already completed a series of direct deals with pharmaceutical companies to secure its own supply, prompting accusations of “double-dipping”.
WHO whitewash: Investigators BACK Beijing’s claim Covid did NOT leak from a Wuhan lab and call for ‘no further study into that theory’ – but they WILL probe China’s claim virus was imported on frozen meat
WHO scientists sent on a coronavirus fact-finding mission to China have today thrown their weight behind Beijing – dismissing theories the virus leaked from a lab wile backing theories that the virus was imported on frozen meat.
Peter Embarek, leader of the WHO team, said that ‘further research’ into the imported meat theory – which is being pushed by Beijing – is needed, along with studies looking at early cases of Covid reported outside of China.
At the same time, he dismissed theories that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, saying the possibility is ‘extremely unlikely’ and does not need to be investigated further – despite US government officials calling it ‘the most credible’ theory just a few weeks ago.
Ontario reports 1,022 new Covid cases … if the covid don’t kill ya eviction will
Ontario is reporting 1,022 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 30,800 tests completed. Locally, there are 343 new cases in Toronto, 250 in Peel and 128 in York Region.
As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 398,633 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 9, 2021
FUREY: Ontario fear-mongered we’d face 20,000 cases — we’re at 1,200
Last Wednesday, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts re-opened. Massachusetts art lovers no longer have to worry that they’ll miss their chance to see the gallery’s current exhibitions of Monet, Cezanne, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
While it’s already a cavernous space, the gallery has a number of COVID-19 protocols in place, including time-reserved tickets, limited capacity, and mandatory mask-wearing.
More good news… Eviction enforcement resumes in three eastern Ontario regions Wednesday. Toronto set to follow on Feb. 22
“Canadians have a right to not be detained” | Keean Bexte on mandatory quarantine for travellers
On last Friday’s episode of Rebel Roundup, host David Menzies was joined by Alberta-based Rebel reporter Keean Bexte to discuss his story about a woman in Calgary who was forced into quarantine in one of the federal government’s COVID-19 hotel/jails.
No matter what you call it, Canadians are being held against their will by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government — ironic, coming from a government that touts itself as being transparent.
FUREY: Canada made pandemic playbooks — and we’re not following them
It’s quite something to look back and see what Canada’s response to a pandemic was supposed to be and then compare it to what we’ve actually being doing to deal with COVID-19.
There’s one recurring theme that comes across when you study the various pandemic preparedness documents that have been put together by different levels of governments in recent years: It’s that they all anticipate a situation worse than the one that is currently unfolding, but they call for less restrictive measures than the ones that have now been enacted.
Leaked audio reveals top WHO officials ‘secretly criticised China for not providing information about coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic’
Top officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) secretly criticised China for not providing information about the novel coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic, leaked audio files have revealed.
The recordings, published by Indian TV channel WION, purportedly showed how WHO executives complained about Beijing’s refusal to release critical data in January last year.
But in the same month, the WHO’s Director-General publicly lauded Chinese President Xi and his government for their effort to battle against the disease.
Their silence makes the WHO complicit.
Toronto: ‘We will take appropriate enforcement action,’ officials say about businesses that plan to reopen Thursday despite lockdown rules
City officials say they are “prepared to respond as required” against businesses that say they intend on reopening Thursday, despite provincial health orders.
“We will take appropriate enforcement action against any business that operates in contravention of the regulations governing the operation of non-essential businesses as we have done throughout the pandemic,” fire Chief Matthew Pegg said Monday during a COVID-19 briefing. Pegg leads the city’s emergency operations.
A number of businesses have announced their intent to reopen through a group called “We Are All Essential,” which plans to defy COVID-19 rules.
Businesses listed on the site include Toronto’s Adamson Barbecue, whose owner was previously arrested and charged after reopening the restaurant.
Lockdown extended for 2 weeks till Feb 22 in Toronto, Peel and York as COVID-19 restrictions lifted in eastern Ontario
Ontario is starting to ease COVID-19 restrictions, lifting stay-at-home orders Wednesday for three eastern regions that have low infection rates, but keeping the rest of the province in lockdown another week with Toronto, Peel Region and York Region not slated to emerge until Feb. 22.
The plan to be outlined by Premier Doug Ford this afternoon lets a four-week state of emergency imposed on Jan. 12 expire Tuesday, but comes with an “emergency brake” to allow a quick return to regional shutdowns if cases flare, particularly from new variants of the virus that are more contagious.
Ontario reports 1,265 new Covid cases … Say … are hotel quarantines legal?
Ontario reports 1,265 new COVID-19 cases; testing down 45 per cent
Ontario is reporting 1,265 new COVID-19 cases on Monday along with 33 more deaths, as testing rates fell more than 45 per cent as is often observed after a weekend.
Toronto reported 421 new cases as it exits a week-long period where it was transitioning to the province’s main COVID-19 data management system.
Civil liberties group warns mandatory hotel quarantines may harm low income Canadians
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is questioning Ottawa’s move to require hotel quarantines for international travellers, saying it may harm lower-income Canadians and infringe on citizens’ mobility rights.
Cara Zwibel, a lawyer who heads the organization’s fundamental freedoms program, is calling on the federal government to produce any evidence that returning passengers are breaching the current requirement to self-isolate at home, which she suggests is the only fair basis to toughen the rules.
POWERFUL: Independent grocer pleads with politicians to “be honest with the people”
Harassed for — obeying the law?!
As they used to say on Monty Python: “And now for something completely different…”
Britain’s vaccine success the path Canada should have followed
On May 16, 2020 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke publicly for the first time about Canada’s deal to try and develop a COVID-19 vaccine with the Chinese firm CanSino.
On that very same day, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government had its own announcement about vaccines.
Ontario reports 1,489 new Wuhan Flu cases… more lives expected to be crushed under extended lockdown
Ontario is reporting 1,489 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 51,700 tests completed. Locally, there are 517 new cases in Toronto, 261 in Peel and 121 in York Region.
As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 379,184 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 7, 2021
Large-scale reopening of Toronto won’t be anytime soon, Tory says
Mayor John Tory said Saturday he believes “it will be some time yet” before a larger scale reopening of Toronto is possible.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Peel Region, the medical officer of health said he would like to first see the impact — over a period of two to four weeks — of the reopening of schools in Peel on Feb. 16 before the region gradually reopens further.
Both were reacting to The Canadian Press report from Friday, in which a source said the Ontario government was planning to gradually ease restrictions in the province, starting next week with regions that have been less affected by COVID-19.