The willingness of Canadians to comply with vaccination requirements and harsh public health restrictions did more to bring COVID-19 under control than the fragmented, deficient and “unsavvy” response of governments, concludes a major review published by the influential British Medical Journal.
Business
Canadian governments guilty of ‘major pandemic failures,’ influential journal says
“Beneath the surface of a general sense of satisfaction lie major pandemic failures,” the BMJ editorial reads. A “particular disgrace” was the mass COVID outbreaks and deaths at long-term care homes. Canada leads wealthy nations for COVID-related fatalities in care homes, despite more than 100 reports and inquiries over 50 years that foreshadowed a nursing home crisis.
“In other words, Canadians delivered on the pandemic response while its governments faltered.”
The authors of the BMJ series are calling for an independent federal inquiry, among the reasons, they argue, is that lacking one “allows others to step into the frame.” The “National Citizens Inquiry,” a citizen-led inquiry originally launched by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, “appears fuelled by vaccine safety misinformation and ideological concerns” about stringent COVID measures, according to the BMJ editorial, “and is far from the full, national and public inquiry led by independent experts that Canada’s pandemic performance deserves.”
On the surface, Canada appears to have held its own, they said: Compared with the “shambolic” U.K. response, and the “chaos and divisiveness” of the American response, “Canada may seem to have risen to the occasion of COVID-19,” wrote the editorial’s authors, who include the BMJ’s editor-in-chief.
However, “We wouldn’t know because no pandemic inquiry has been established by its federal government. This is a mistake.”
The Liberal government has deferred calls for a full-blown inquiry, saying only that a full investigation would be done at the “appropriate time.”
Canada has recorded a total of at least 53,063 COVID-related deaths, and nearly 4.7 million infections.
The BMJ post-mortems explore the highs and the lows of Canada’s response after a traveller returning home to Toronto from China was identified as the country’s first COVID case in January 2020.
Each province and territory created its own rules for school closures, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, limits on public gatherings, curfews and lock-downs, “leading to substantial variation in policy and practice across the country, widely varying hospital admission rates and public confusion,” Tania Bubela, Simon Fraser University’s dean of health sciences and colleagues wrote.
There was no clear or consistent messaging. “As the pandemic progressed, public confusion arose from jurisdictional inconsistencies in advice and case reporting.” Most jurisdictions reported raw case numbers, but not where those cases were concentrated, meaning public health measures were universally applied — an all-purpose response, instead of tailoring interventions and strategies.
There was fragmented health leadership, and confusion over data sharing between the Public Health Agency of Canada and provincial health authorities, a situation that will persist “without major reform,” the authors said. The public also must be involved in future decision-making “through direct consultations and inclusion of community organizations.”
“For health workers, the post-pandemic feeling is exacerbation — even rage — about the inertia of governments, health authorities and professional medical associations and their failure to tackle the depth of the dysfunction in Canada’s health-care system,” the editorial’s authors wrote.
“Were lives lost as a result of the broken systems,” they asked. “Were decisions by governments taken appropriately and equitably?”
“Those are questions that need to be put to a public national inquiry,” Dr. Jocalyn Clark, the BMJ’s international editor who commissioned the series and wrote the lead editorial, said in an interview. There’s a sense of “déja vu of a lot of things that were raised” after the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2002-2004, she said, including squabbling and dysfunctional relationships between different levels of government. “If any nation, Canada should have been prepared,” said Clark, a Saskatoon-born adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, who now lives in the U.K. “This series shows they weren’t sufficiently prepared.”
Underpaid and undervalued staff faced a lack of personal protective equipment, and even bed linens and wound care supplies. When the Canadian Armed Forces were deployed to seven Ontario homes, “military personnel reported hearing residents crying out for help from 30 minutes to two hours, while awaiting staff response.” Residents weren’t appropriately bathed or toileted. Twenty-six people likely died from dehydration at one home alone before the military arrived.
While the Liberal government “waxed lyrical” about sharing vaccines with poorer nations, Canada became “one of the most prominent hoarders of the limited global COVID-19 vaccine supply, despite itself being wholly reliant on importation,” other researchers wrote in the BMJ.
“Pandemics are mass events from which few can escape,” wrote Kelley Lee, Canada research chair in global health governance. The distinction between national and global interests, she said, “becomes moot.
One reason for the discord between Canada’s talk and its actions is the belief “that domestic political success means not championing global equity too loudly for fear of alienating voters with conservative values,” Lee said.
“But in an unequal world, it is inequity that breeds disillusion, detachment and division.”
By the end of 2022, Canada had administered almost 92 million doses, while delivering fewer than 29 million abroad.
Canada contributed to “devastating” COVID deaths by not sharing enough vaccines, the editorial’s authors wrote. “Canada was judiciously ungenerous and unsavvy in its global behaviour, despite repeated pledges by its prime minister to deliver global solidarity during COVID-19.”
The authors hint that the federal government’s relationship with the drug industry, which had been aggressively pushing back against reforms aimed at lowering drug prices, pre-COVID, became “more congenial” as the Liberal government sought vaccines and drugs.
“The demands of the COVID-19 response were also invoked as a reason behind multiple delays in implementing PMPRB (the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board) reforms,” researchers wrote. The PMRB, a federal agency that controls wholesale drug prices, recently faced an internal meltdown with the resignation of several senior leaders amid allegations of ministerial interference.
“However, despite ominous statements by drug companies and industry groups that these reforms would delay Canadian access to products including vaccines, the government downplayed any direct use of access to COVID-19 vaccines as leverage,” Pai and his co-authors wrote.
Among the “highs” of Canada’s handling of COVID, Canada had one of the lowest reported rates of cases and deaths per population than most in the G10 countries, the nation became one of the most vaccinated in the world, and women led the country’s public health response to the outbreak.
Continue Reading
CANADIAN ACCOUNTANTS TELL ALL ON STATE OF SMB FINANCES IN NEW SURVEY
Accountants “open the books” on inflation, interest rates, technology, and lack of SMB support
Accountants “open the books” on inflation, interest rates, technology, and lack of SMB support
TORONTO – Nov. 19, 2024 – A recent survey of 500 Canadian accountants has revealed several surprising conclusions about their frustrations, fears, thoughts on provincial support for SMBs, the investments that make them wary, and how many clients are actually using the financial technology they need.
And for a little fun, the survey even identified which Canadian celebrity they would back as an SMB CEO.
The survey conducted on behalf of Plooto, a leading payment automation solution for small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs), asked accountants, bookkeepers, and finance professionals a series of revealing questions that provide a snapshot of the current state of Canada’s accounting industry.
Key Findings of the Survey:
- IT’S HARD OUT THERE FOR AN SMB
Asked what they think are the biggest financial threats to Canadian SMBs, more than half of Canadian accountants (54.5%) said ‘inflation increasing their own costs.’ This was followed by interest rates making borrowing rates more expensive (46.1%); staff turnover (41.2%); lower prices offered by larger corporations in the same space (39%); interest rates cooling on consumer spending (34.1%) and foreign competition (32%).
- ACCOUNTANTS CALL OUT ONTARIO’S SMB SUPPORT
Asked which province they think is doing the least to help SMBs succeed, a definitive quarter (24.5%) of accountants cited Ontario. Quebec was a distant second at 15%; followed by Alberta (13.3%); BC (11.4%); Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador (tied at 7.25%); Saskatchewan (5.9%); and New Brunswick and PEI (tied at 4.9%). Accountants considered Nova Scotia as the province doing the most for SMBs, with the lowest vote of 4%.
- ACCOUNTANTS SHINE THE LIGHT ON COSTLY SMB MISTAKES
Asked what the biggest financial mistake they see Canadian SMBs make on a regular basis, 21% of Canadian accountants said ‘not implementing the proper technology.’ This was followed by ‘not paying enough attention to cash flow’ (19%); investing in elaborate and expensive workplaces (12.2%); hiring too quickly (10.6%); buying rather than leasing equipment (10%); overpaying to attract a top-tier executive (9.8%); hiring too slowly (9.2%); and funding the first year with non-submitted HST payments (8.0%).
- ACCOUNTANTS HESITATE TO ADVISE INVESTMENT IN ENTERTAINMENT AND EDUCATION
Based on the profitability of their current clients, accountants said they would NEVER invest in: arts, entertainment and recreation (32.2%), educational services (24.5%), travel and hospitality (22.9%), agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (19.8%) and; finance and insurance (19.6%).
- THE ECONOMY IS CLEARLY KEEPING ACCOUNTANTS UP AT NIGHT
Asked to choose the factors that are keeping them up at night, 48.8% said ‘current interest rates,’ followed by ‘fear of a recession’ (46.7%); ‘worry that their SMB clients will go under’ (29.6%); the current Federal Government (27.3%); ‘another pandemic’ (26.9%); the 2024 U.S. elections (25.3%.) and; ‘a different Federal Government coming into power’ (25.1%).
- ACCOUNTANT IRRITATIONS UP CLOSE
Asked what the most irritating things their clients do on a regular basis are, Canadian accountants said ‘not sending required information’ (64.7%); not reading financial reports (50.2%); not making time to discuss financial reports (48.4%); not paying invoices on time (47.8%); submitting information with ‘bad math’ (44.5%) and; not listening to recommendations (44.3%).
- SMBs DON’T HAVE ALL OF THE TECH RESOURCES THEY NEED
Accountants say less than a third (31.4%) of clients have all of the tech in place that they need, despite its far-reaching benefits.
When their clients use fintech, 65.1% of clients can reconcile their books faster, and 56% can make and receive payments faster.
Bonus Insight:
RYAN REYNOLDS COULD RULE THE C-SUITE
Asked which Canadian celebrity they thought would be the most effective in running a SMB, nearly a quarter of Canadian accountants said Ryan Reynolds (27.1%). Reynolds edged out business celebrity Kevin O’Leary (22%) and left Keanu Reeves (15.3%), Drake (12.6%), Arlene Dickenson (8.6%), and Michele Romano (4.1%) as distant alternatives.
PLEASE REFER TO THIS AS A SURVEY BY PLOOTO IN ANY MEDIA MENTIONS
Speaking from personal experience, a bad hire isn’t a good look. The last thing you want is to hear, “Who the hell hired Bob?” and have your hiring judgment questioned.
The job seeker who’s empathetic to the employer’s side of the hiring desk, which controls the hiring process, is rare.
One of the best things you can do to enhance your job search is to practice perspective-taking, which involves seeing things from a different perspective.
It’s natural for employers to find candidates who have empathy and an understanding of their challenges and pain points more attractive. Candidates like these are seen as potential allies rather than individuals only looking out for themselves. Since most job seekers approach employers with a ‘what’s in it for me’ mindset, practicing perspective-taking sets you apart.
“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.” – Henry Ford.
Perspective-taking makes you realize that from an employer’s POV hiring is fraught with risks employers want to avoid; thus, you consider what most job seekers don’t: How can I present myself as the least risky hiring option?
Here’s an exercise that’ll help you visualize the employer’s side of the hiring process.
Candidate A or B?
Imagine you’re the Director of Customer Service for a regional bank with 85 branches. You’re hiring a call centre manager who’ll work onsite at the bank’s head office, overseeing the bank’s 50-seat call centre. In addition to working with the call centre agents, the successful candidate will also interact with other departments, your boss, and members of the C-suite leadership team; in other words, they’ll be visible throughout the bank.
The job posting resulted in over 400 applications. The bank’s ATS and HR (phone interview vetting, skill assessment testing) selected five candidates, plus an employee referral, for you to interview. You aim to shortlist the six candidates to three, whom you’ll interview a second time, and then make a hiring decision. Before scheduling the interviews, which’ll take place between all your other ongoing responsibilities, you spend 5 – 10 minutes with each candidate’s resume and review their respective digital footprint and LinkedIn activity.
In your opinion, which candidate deserves a second interview?
Candidate A: Their resume provides quantitative numbers—evidence—of the results they’ve achieved. (Through enhanced agent training, reduced average handle time from 4:32 mins. to 2:43 minutes, which decreased the abandon rate from 4.6% to 2.2%.)
Candidate B: Their resume offers only opinions. (“I’m detail-oriented,” “I learn fast.”)
Candidate A: Looks you in the eye, has a firm handshake, smiles, and exudes confidence.
Candidate B: Doesn’t look you in the eye, has a weak handshake.
Candidate A: Referred by Ariya, who’s been with the bank for over 15 years and has a stellar record, having moved up from teller to credit analyst and is tracking to become a Managing Director.
Candidate B: Applied online. Based on your knowledge, they did nothing else to make their application more visible. (e.g., reached out to you or other bank employees)
Candidate A: Well educated, grew up as a digital native, eager and energetic. Currently manages a 35-seat call center for a mid-size credit union. They mention they called the bank’s call centre several times and suggest ways to improve the caller experience.
Candidate B: Has been working in banking for over 25 years, managing the call center at their last bank for 17 years before being laid off eight months ago. They definitely have the experience to run a call centre. However, you have a nagging gut feeling that they’re just looking for a place to park themselves until they can afford to retire.
Candidate A: Has a fully completed LinkedIn profile (picture, eye-catching banner) packed with quantifying numbers. It’s evident how they were of value to their employers. Recently, they engaged constructively with posts and comments and published a LinkedIn article on managing Generations Y and Z call centre agents. Their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X accounts aren’t controversial, sharing between ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Congratulations’ messages, their love of fine dining, baseball, and gardening.
Candidate B: Their LinkedIn profile is incomplete. The last time they posted on LinkedIn was seven months ago, ranting about how the government’s latest interest rate hike will plunge the country into a deep recession. Conspiracy theories abound on their Facebook page.
Candidate A: Notices the golf calendar on your desk, the putter and golf balls in the corner, and a photograph of Phil Mickelson putting on the green jacket at the 2010 Masters hanging on your wall. While nodding towards the picture, they say, “Evidently, you golf. Not being a golfer myself, what made you take up golf, which I understand is a frustrating sport?”
Candidate B: Doesn’t proactively engage in small talk. Waits for you to start the interview.
Which of the above candidates presents the least hiring risk? Will likely succeed (read: achieve the results the employer needs)? Will show your boss, upper management, and employees you know how to hire for competence and fit?
_____________________________________________________________________
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
Though I have no empirical evidence to support my claim, I believe job search success can be achieved faster by using what I call “The Job Seekers’ Trinity” as your framework, the trinity being:
- The power of focus
- Managing your anger
- Presenting evidence
Each component plays a critical role in sustaining motivation and strategically positioning yourself for job search success. Harnessing your focus, managing your anger, and presenting compelling evidence (read: quantitative numbers of achieved results) will transform your job search from a daunting endeavour into a structured, persuasive job search campaign that employers will notice.
The Power of Focus
Your job search success is mainly determined by what you’re focused on, namely:
- What you focus on.
Your life is controlled by what you focus on; thus, focusing on the positives shapes your mindset for positive outcomes. Yes, layoffs, which the media loves to report to keep us addicted to the news, are a daily occurrence, but so is hiring. Don’t let all the doom and gloom talk overshadow this fact. Focus on where you want to go, not on what others and the media want you to fear.
Bonus of not focusing on negatives: You’ll be happier.
- Focus on how you can provide measurable value to employers.
If you’re struggling with your job search, the likely reason is that you’re not showing, along with providing evidence, employers how you can add tangible value to an employer’s bottom line. Business is a numbers game, yet few job seekers speak about their numbers. If you don’t focus on and talk about your numbers, how do you expect employers to see the value in hiring you?
Managing Your Anger
Displaying anger in public is never a good look. Professionals are expected to control their emotions, so public displays of anger are viewed as unprofessional.
LinkedIn has become a platform heavily populated with job seekers posting angry rants—fueled mainly by a sense of entitlement—bashing and criticizing employers, recruiters, and the government, proving many job seekers think the public display of their anger won’t negatively affect their job search.
When you’re unemployed, it’s natural to be angry when your family, friends, and neighbours are employed. “Why me?” is a constant question in your head. Additionally, job searching is fraught with frustrations, such as not getting responses to your applications and being ghosted after interviews.
The key is acknowledging your anger and not letting it dictate your actions, such as adding to the angry rants on LinkedIn and other social media platforms, which employers will see.
Undoubtedly, rejection, which is inevitable when job hunting, causes the most anger. What works for me is to reframe rejections, be it through being ghosted, email, a call or text, as “Every ‘No’ brings me one step closer to a ‘Yes.'”
Additionally, I’ve significantly reduced triggering my anger by eliminating any sense of entitlement and keeping my expectations in check. Neither you nor I are owed anything, including a job, respect, empathy, understanding, agreement, or even love. A sense of entitlement and anger are intrinsically linked. The more rights you perceive you have, the more anger you need to defend them. Losing any sense of entitlement you may have will make you less angry, which has no place in a job search.
Presenting Evidence
As I stated earlier, business is a numbers game. Since all business decisions, including hiring, are based on numbers, presenting evidence in the form of quantitative numbers is crucial.
Which candidate would you contact to set up an interview if you were hiring a social media manager:
- “Managed Fabian Publishing’s social media accounts, posting content daily.”
- “Designed and executed Fabian Publishing’s global social media strategy across 8.7 million LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Instagram and Facebook followers. Through consistent engagement with customers, followers, and influencers, increased social media lead generation by 46% year-over-year, generating in 2023 $7.6 million in revenue.”
Numerical evidence, not generic statements or opinions, is how you prove your value to employers. Stating you’re a “team player” or “results-driven,” as opposed to “I’m part of an inside sales team that generated in 2023 $8.5 million in sales,” or “In 2023 I managed three company-wide software implementations, all of which came under budget,” is meaningless to an employer.
Despite all the job search advice offered, I still see resumes and LinkedIn profiles listing generic responsibilities rather than accomplishments backed by numbers. A statement such as “managed a team” doesn’t convey your management responsibilities or your team’s achievements under your leadership. “Led a team of five to increase sales by 20%, from $3.7 million to $4.44 million, within six months” shows the value of your management skills.
Throughout your job search, constantly think of all the numbers you can provide—revenue generated, number of new clients, cost savings, reduced workload, waste reduction—as evidence to employers why you’d be a great value-add to their business.
The Job Seekers’ Trinity—focusing on the positive, managing your anger and providing evidence—is a framework that’ll increase the effectiveness of your job search activities and make you stand out in today’s hyper-competitive job market, thus expediting your job search to a successful conclusion.
_____________________________________________________________________
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
News4 hours ago
Cargo jet reported ‘flight control problem’ before sliding off Vancouver runway
News5 hours ago
Trump and Musk solidify their bond with Texas trip for rocket launch
News5 hours ago
AI photos showing girl students with nude bodies roil private school in Pennsylvania
Investment5 years ago
dynaCERT Inc. Invites You to Join Us at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference | INN – Investing News Network
Sports5 years ago
AP source: Bears acquiring quarterback Nick Foles from Jaguars – Sportsnet.ca
Media1 year ago
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
-
News8 hours agoRafael Nadal calls it an emotional day as he loses in the Davis Cup before retirement
-
News5 hours ago
Calgary doctor charged with sexual assaulting patients at clinic
-
News5 hours ago
Sex abuse case: Judge orders seizure of homes belonging to billionaire Robert Miller
-
Business6 hours ago
CANADIAN ACCOUNTANTS TELL ALL ON STATE OF SMB FINANCES IN NEW SURVEY
-
News7 hours ago
Montreal mayor supports Polytechnique survivors’ call for complete assault weapon ban
-
Investment24 hours ago
Trade-X reviews: peculiarities of transactions on trading platform
-
News5 hours ago
Government spending in limbo as Tories, Liberals continue game of chicken in House
-
News7 hours ago
Jimmy John’s opens its first Canadian location
