The COVID-19 Omicron variant is in Ottawa; and WHO questions travel restrictions

Politics Insider for Nov 29, 2021: A Worrisome New Variant of COVID is Here; a fight against inflation; and some ryan reynolds

Worrisome news: Sunday, Ontario Announced that the Omicron COVID-19 variant was detected in Ottawa in two patients who recently traveled to Nigeria. CBC has a story. These cases are likely to be only the first.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos He said the confirmation of two cases of omicron is a sign that the country’s monitoring system is working, but more cases of the variant are expected. “As monitoring and testing continues with the provinces and territories, other cases of this variant are expected to be found in Canada,” Duclos said.

It is not yet clear if Omicron is more virulent or transmissible than previous variants, or if it has developed resistance to the vaccine. However, Moderna’s medical director told the BBC that the company could release an updated vaccine in early 2022 if necessary, CNBC reported.

Disputed bans: On Friday, Canada imposed travel restrictions on foreign nationals who had visited southern Africa. who has complained on the bans, considering them unscientific and useless, and some Canadian experts agree, Global reports.

Not racist: At Toronto sun, Lorrie goldstein remind readers that travel bans were once considered racist.

Not Ottawa’s fault: Don’t Blame Inflation on Stimulus Spending, Former Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz told CTV Domingo: “In fact, what the stimulus did was prevent the economy from going into a deep hole in which we would have experienced persistent deflation.” (Video)

Inflation has reached 4.7 percent, according to the latest figures released by Statistics Canada in October. The Bank of Canada expects it to peak later this year and begin to decline in the second half of 2022.

Conservative financial critic Pierre Poilievre blames the Trudeau government for causing inflation, and recently entered a Debate on Twitter with Even solomon about CTV coverage of the question.

ICYMI: Maclean’s Jason markusoff has a good explanation on inflation in our January issue.

Culture change: New Chief of Defense Staff Wayne eyre promised to change the culture of the Canadian forces, get rid of the idea that it is an “old man’s club,” he told CTV on Sunday, the Balloon reports.

General Eyre said there are many aspects of the military culture that he wants to uphold, such as protecting others and serving above oneself, but he wants to address the “exclusionary aspects” and incorporate the values ​​of inclusion such as “the face of Canada. it is changing. “So if we want to be able to attract and retain top talent from all segments of Canadian society, we have to embrace that value of inclusion,” he said on the television show. General Eyre said that over the next several weeks, the Canadian Armed Forces will announce a series of initiatives in greater detail on culture change, support for misconduct survivors and the complaint reporting system.

Not just women: On an interview On Global, Eyre noted that more than 40 percent of the nearly 19,000 claims filed by survivors and victims of military sexual misconduct are from men.

ICYMI: At Balloon on Saturday, Andrew Coyne have a persuasive column arguing that a patchwork of policies aimed at reducing emissions is much more costly than simply raising the carbon tax.

Relying solely on carbon pricing to achieve our goal, says the Trudeau government in the 2016 Framework, “would require a very high price.” Very high, compared to what? Compared to the current price, no doubt. But compared to alternative measures? What the government really means is that the price would be visible to the public and therefore politically toxic. While the cost of subsidies and regulations, although higher, and although the public just as surely pays for them, it is invisible.

Not so efficient: At Star on Saturday, Robin sears write thatCompared to Germany, where a new professional coalition government has just published “a 177-page set of specific political commitments, with detailed agendas and timelines,” the government of Canada takes a “delaying approach to governing through legislation. “.

ICYMI: Ryan Reynolds received a Performing Arts Award from the Governor General and a musical tribute from Steven Page, Global reports.

– Stephen Maher



Reference-www.macleans.ca

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