Politics Insider for December 10, 2021: Public Health Failures; Canada is taking a backseat to Ukraine; and Marc Miller opposes Bill 21
Welcome to a sneak peek at Maclean’s Politics Insider Newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered directly to your inbox in the morning.
An auditor general report revealed Thursday that the Public Health Agency of Canada had trouble keeping track of whether travelers ordered to stay in quarantined hotels actually did, CBC reports. The agency also did not inform some people that they had COVID-19.
PHAC only had records to verify the hotel stays of about a quarter of air travelers during the period February through June 2021.
“Because the agency did not have stay records for 75 percent of the travelers who flew to Canada, it did not know whether those who were required to remain in quarantine in government-authorized hotels had complied,” said (Auditor General Karen) Hogan. “Additionally, the agency did not reliably track whether air travelers who had been notified of positive COVID-19 tests had stayed at a government-authorized hotel as required.”
Einstein at the airport: In Press, Paul journet critics (translation) Current Canadian Travel Rules and concludes that while you don’t have to be Einstein to understand them, it’s not easy. The Big Picture: It’s hard to have faith in the people who run the system.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the federal government was accused of not doing enough. Now she is criticized for being too harsh. In fact, there has been a constant from the beginning: no matter what is required in theory, in practice it varies, for inexplicable and unjustifiable reasons. It is through these holes that the virus sneaks. And this is what should be reported above all.
Abandoned migrants: Another AG report on Thursday found that the federal government failed to protect migrant workers from the spread of COVID-19, despite repeated warnings, the Balloon reports. Quarantine inspections were found to be “inadequate”.
Workplaces were almost unanimously deemed “compliant,” despite inspectors gathering little or no evidence, the report says. Even after the government was informed of these problems and given the opportunity to remedy them, and long after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to better protect workers, things only got worse: 88 percent of inspections of 2021 were deemed inappropriate, according to the report.
Canada absent: In Maclean’s, Justin ling writes that Canada is taking a back seat in the international coalition supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression.
When President Joe Biden took a video call with his Russian counterpart on Tuesday, he began working on the phones: Paris, Berlin, Rome and London were all on his call sheet. He was building a unified front of countries seeking to send a strong signal to Russia that an incursion into Ukraine would have dire consequences. Ottawa was conspicuously not on his list. It is an uncomfortable omission.
Mr. Dithers redux: In CTV, Don martin notes a series of files in which the Trudeau government appears to be dragging its feet and write that it has “elevated shuffling to a dark political art.”
Either way, it’s strange behavior for a third-term prime minister, whose staff should have figured out how to start the government’s engines and hit the gas now without months of thought and useless delay. After all, it was Trudeau who framed this mandate as vital to solving key files such as indigenous reconciliation, climate change, pandemic preparedness, and restoring Canada’s place on the world stage. But the prime minister’s overly controlling staff, seemingly reluctant to delegate actions beyond his little circle of love, have stuck the entire government inside a decision-making funnel, which is clearly too small.
Cowardly: Minister of Crown-Indian Relations Marc miller spoke on Thursday about a teacher from Quebec who was removed from the classroom because she wears a hijab, which is prohibited by Quebec’s secular law: “It’s cowardice. This type of discrimination does not reflect the Quebec society in which I want to live. “
Global has a raid of political reaction.
Miller noted that under Bill 21, the Minister of International Development Harjit Sajjan “could not give music classes in Quebec, due to the turban he wears on his head. He shouldn’t, because he’s a lousy musician, but that’s the only reason he should be excluded from teaching, frankly … it’s discouraging and he’s upsetting someone vulnerable. “
CTV drive with the quietest reaction of Erin O’Toole, who said he opposes the law but considers it a Quebec issue.
Numbered days: In News, Chantal hebert write that (translation) O’Toole, struggling to remain the leader of his party, may face a choice between slow death or summary execution. He points out that recent history shows that the opposing leader’s seat appears to be equipped with an ejection seat.
In recent years, Stéphane Dion, Stockwell Day, Michael Ignatieff, Thomas Mulcair Y Andrew Scheer they all wanted a second chance to bring their party to power. Only Stephen Harper He succeeded, mostly because he had just managed to end a years-long divide between the progressive conservative and reformist wings of the conservative movement.
UCPers to vote: Speaking of conservative leaders in trouble, Jason kenney will face a leadership review in April in Red Deer, which Don braid writing at Calgary Herald, gives you a good chance of survival.
Kenney has every chance of getting a big win in this one. The floor conventions where attendance can pile up are their natural habitat.
Passports to stay: Ontario will announce today that it is abandoning its tentative plan to end the provincial vaccine passport program in mid-January, CBC reports.
Summary of tests: CBC has a good summary of how different provinces are distributing rapid tests to their citizens, something that some are doing better than others.
Omicron evokes: Chrystia Freeland said in committee Thursday that MPs should approve $ 7.4 billion in pandemic aid due to renewed COVID-19 uncertainty, CP reports. “Recent developments related to the Omicron variant serve as a reminder that the fight against COVID is not yet over and underscore the importance of key aspects of Bill C-2,” Freeland said in his opening remarks to the committee.
Private surgery: Saskatchewan says it plans to reduce its backlog of COVID-related surgeries by privatizing some procedures, CP reports.
– Stephen Maher
Reference-www.macleans.ca