After many months of the epidemic being no partisan problem in Canada, the prospect of effective vaccines has finally politicized it. Political dissent is by no means the same as the polarization surrounding the epidemic in the United States, with Erin O’Toole making the government’s vaccination plan the subject of her first major attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Conservative leader.
There are many premiers to joining Mr. O’Toole. The Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, who recently said, like August Gust, “I absolutely love Cristia Freeland,” is now upset with Mr Trudeau’s deputy prime minister, who has denied the allegations by the Liberal government.
Although no vaccine is currently allowed to be used in Canada or the United States or Europe, Mr. O’Toole introduced a proposal in Parliament on Thursday, among other things, requiring the government to set a specific date for when Canadians will start meeting. He has ordered various vaccines; Provide details of how vaccines will be shipped and stored; And will recommend that the state be first inoculated by state health care systems.
Mr O’Toole said it was important for Canadians to know when each vaccine type would be available in Canada and how many vaccines would be available each month. “In the midst of a historic health crisis, this government should not work behind closed doors.”
The movement, following an earlier claim by Mr. O’Toole, said the government had focused more on a joint vaccine venture between a Chinese vaccine company, the National Research Council and Dalhousie University, which eventually fell apart due to a lack of cooperation from China. Was. He also said that Canada was behind the line for millions of vaccine orders.
The government denies Mr. Tully’s allegations that he has somehow thrown the ball over the vaccine and will leave Canadians waiting for a shot.
While confirming this week that the first dose will come in early 2021, Minister Anita Anand, who is responsible for purchasing them, insisted that now everything depends on Health Canada that the vaccine is both safe and effective.
“When there is pressure to move forward at the pace of politics, we will not run for science,” he told a news conference. “It’s not possible to circle a single date on the calendar but I can assure you that our delivery process will begin as soon as Health Canada approves.”
But it does raise the question of why Britain is now moving ahead with the Pfizer vaccine, Canada’s first American supplier. My London-based colleague Benjamin Mueller recently explained that, unlike Canada and the United States, the UK regulator is willing to rely more on reports from drug manufacturers that their vaccine is safe and works as promised, rather than analyzing raw data.
[Read: Why the U.K. Approved a Coronavirus Vaccine First]
Not everyone accepts the wisdom of Britain’s accelerated approach.
Scott Matthews, a professor of political science at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, told me that it was inevitable that political harmony would be destroyed in Canada around the epidemic.
“The prime minister is taking advantage of the absence of criticism,” he said.
But he said there was no danger that the current focus on vaccine delivery would damage the overall message of the importance of following public health guidelines to reduce infection.
“The Conservatives’ approach is endangering someone’s life and it is natural that they will criticize the government – that’s what the opposition does,” he said. But Professor Mathews wondered what would be achieved if certain dates were written. “Is the speed they’re talking about really that important?” He asked.
Trans Canada
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In November, before British Columbia contracted a new epidemic and before the end of the pro-hockey season, many NHL players and Olympic gold medalist in figure skating Patrick Chen flew in two helicopters. Their target was a makeshift rink at an altitude of 1,800 meters, about 100 kilometers north of Vancouver. Gerald Narcisso tells the story of the day, captured in stunning photos by Devin Olsen and Zachary Moxley.
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In Opinion, Nicholas Christophe investigates the damage done by Pornhub and its Montreal-based parent company, Mindjack, and asks: “Why does Canada host a company that provides rape videos around the world?” (Cautionary note: Their powerful report includes descriptions of sexual assault.)
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Suzanne Simrad of the University of British Columbia is one of the leading scientists in understanding how we understand forests. She has shown that they are not a collection of solitary trees fighting each other for resources, but larger and more complex societies than exchanging carbon, water and nutrients through an underground network of fungi. Take some time for Ferris Jaber’s article for The New York Times Magazine, beautifully presented by Toronto-based photographer Brendan George Coe.
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Elliott Page, a Halifax-born and raised actor and scr-nominated star of “Juno,” announced Tuesday that he is transgender.
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The small egg clutch arrived at the Montreal Insectarium in 2018. They will solve a centuries-old mystery about an insidious leaf insect.
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Some indigenous podcasters offered their recommendations for podcasts about their people and communities.
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Who has written 20 20 billion in natural gas investments. ExxonMobil said it was removing gas projects in Canada, the United States and Argentina from its plans.
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Police said the two American women tampered with a train signal in Washington state, Washington, in an action with the possibility of derailment. The tampering, leading to allegations of terrorism, appears to be an act of solidarity with Indigenous Canadians in opposing the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline between Alberta and British Columbia.
Wind Ian Stan, a native of Windsor, Ontario, was educated in Toronto, lives in Towa and has been reporting on Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow her on Twitter at ianrausten.
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