Asked on Wednesday how this crisis might end, the prime minister insisted the story was still being written. Challenged to explain what the future might hold, Justin Trudeau directed everyone’s attention to the present.
The prime minister’s language on Wednesday was particularly stark.
“This is the largest economic program in Canada’s history,” he said of measures the federal government has outlined over the last three weeks to keep the economy alive.
“Canada hasn’t seen this type of civic mobilization since the Second World War,” he said of the massive effort to reorient Canadian society around a single overarching goal.
He referred to the pandemic as a “fight” Canada must win. The goal, he said, was to “defeat” COVID-19. And he returned to a theme of service.
“We all have to answer the call of duty,” he said.
Trudeau’s use of wartime language might help people understand how serious the current situation is.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives to address Canadians on the COVID-19 pandemic from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Grim numbers, long timelines
But public pressure for more information is increasing. How long might we be in this battle? How brutal could it get?
Ultimately, the question for the prime minister is whether he is saying or doing enough to properly prepare Canadians for whatever might come next.
Asked about the future on Wednesday, Trudeau declined to be precise.
“I’ve said from the very beginning that there are a wide range of scenarios that we have been looking for, that we’re planning for, that we are trying to work towards as a government, as a country,” he said. “We know that they’re going to be in place for a number of more weeks, perhaps more months, but everything depends on how Canadians behave.”
From the start, Trudeau has framed the national response as a shared effort of governments and citizens.
The difference between the best- and worst-case scenarios
Predicting the spread and toll of a once-in-a-century pandemic — and the measures that might be necessary to counteract — is difficult.
On March 11, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said as few as 30 per cent of Canadians and as many as 70 per cent might eventually be infected by the novel coronavirus. That range covers anything from 11.3 million people to 26.3 million people.
It’s not clear how much more precise the scientific and statistical models might have become over the last three weeks.
Federalism likely adds an extra degree of complexity; both the situation and the details of the response vary from province to province.
In that respect, individual provinces might be better positioned to offer their own individual projections — something no province has so far done.
That the situation in Canada could become much worse should not be lost on anyone at this point. The images and stories coming out of places like Italy and New York have been widely broadcast. Across the world, more than 45,000 people have died. Massive segments of Canadian society have been shut down or curtailed.
How long? How many?
But pockets of complacency still exist. Bylaw officers in Ottawa recently had to break up a child’s birthday party that was attended by more than a dozen kids.
It’s also natural to wonder about how long our lives might be disrupted or changed.
If the government told us tomorrow that 50,000 people might die in Canada (a number selected entirely at random), would that make anyone take this more seriously? Would it cause people to panic? Could it, perversely, lead some people to calculate that the official warnings have been overstated?
The High Park public tennis court is closed in Toronto on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Ontario has closed recreation areas due to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Is it possible we’ll still be social distancing this summer? Is it possible some measures could be relaxed and then enforced again? The probable answer to both questions is ‘yes’.
When the storm is bearing down, it might be tempting to set aside questions about what you’ll do after it passes.
To the question of what happens next, Trudeau’s reply is that it all depends on what we do now. Two weeks from now, it might be easier to say what the next two months will look like.
“How well we do this right now determines where our country will be in two weeks or in two months,” Trudeau said on Wednesday. “It’s in our hands. It’s in your hands.”
But as Canadian society shifts from scrambling to shut down to sheltering in place, it won’t just be reporters asking questions about what’s happening and where we’re headed.
Transparency and trust
Rarely, if ever, has a leader gone into a war with a publicly stated projection of how many might die, or a particularly accurate forecast for how long it might take. So Trudeau might be forgiven for not rushing to offer predictions.
But we’ve seen too many leaders fail in the past to be honest and transparent when it comes to waging war. And there’s a risk that leaders will be seen as hiding something if they’re anything less than fully and totally transparent right now.
That, in turn, could make it harder to maintain the public’s trust and support — which could undermine efforts to keep the pandemic in check.
Trudeau has called Canadians together. He has empathized, encouraged, cajoled, warned and scolded. He has shared stories of heroism and good citizenship. He has promised the government’s support and he has tried to provide reassurance.
He has not hidden the fact that this won’t be easy. And he has spoken in terms of “months.”
The importance of what we do now can’t be lost in a rush to figure out what happens next.
But at least part of the prime minister’s task now is to prepare Canadians for how hard this could be — even in the best-case scenario.
MONTREAL – One expert says entry-level pay under the tentative deal between Air Canada and its pilots could be a stumbling block ahead of a union vote on the agreement.
Under their current contract, pilots earn far less in their first four years at the company before enjoying a big wage increase starting in year five.
The Air Line Pilots Association had been pushing to scrap the so-called “fixed rate” provision entirely.
But according to a copy of the contract summary obtained by The Canadian Press, the proposed deal announced Sunday would merely cut the four-year period of lower pay to two years.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, says as many as 2,000 of Air Canada’s roughly 5,200 active pilots may earn entry-level wages following a recent hiring surge.
After the airline averted a strike this week, Gradek says the failure to ditch the pay grade restrictions could prompt pushback from rank-and-file flight crew and jeopardize the deal, which is up for a vote next month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
ROME (AP) — Salvatore “Totò” Schillaci, the Italy striker who was top scorer at its home World Cup in 1990, has died. He was 59.
Schillaci had been hospitalized in Palermo following treatment for colon cancer.
The Palermo Civico hospital said in a statement that Schillacci died on Wednesday morning after being admitted 11 days ago.
Schillaci scored six goals for Italy during the 1990 World Cup. He came on as a substitute during Italy’s opener against Austria, scored in a 1-0 victory, and went on to earn the Golden Boot awarded to the tournament’s top scorer. He only scored one other goal for Italy in his career.
Italian soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina announced that a minute of silence would be held in memory of Schillaci before all games in the country for the rest of the week.
“The uncontrollable celebrations, in which his face was the symbol of shared joy, will remain forever part of Italian soccer (history),” Gravina said. “Totò was a great player, a symbol of tenacious desire and redemption. … His soccer was full of passion. And that fearless spirit made everyone appreciate him and will make him immortal.”
Schillaci also won the Golden Ball award at the 1990 World Cup as the tournament’s top player ahead of Lothar Matthaus and Diego Maradona.
Schillaci played for Messina, Juventus, Inter Milan and Japanese team Jubilo Iwata during his club career.
“You made an entire nation dream during the Magical Nights of Italia ’90,” Inter said on its social media channels.
West Germany won the 1990 World Cup, beating Argentina in the final, while Italy beat England for third place with a winning penalty kick from Schillaci.
Roberto Baggio, who scored Italy’s opening goal in the third-place match, wrote on Instagram, “Ciao my dear friend.”
Having been born and raised in Palermo, the Palermo soccer team announced that it would hold a public viewing of Schillaci at its Renzo Barbera stadium ahead of the funeral, the Gazzetta dello Sport reported.
French soccer player Wissam Ben Yedder will stay free ahead of his trial on charges of sexual assault while intoxicated, one of his lawyers told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Marie Roumiantseva said Ben Yedder will remain under strict judicial supervision after a woman filed a lawsuit for sexual assault earlier this month.
The 34-year-old Ben Yedder, a prolific striker in the French league, was briefly detained then released after the alleged incident in his car on the French Riviera. Ben Yedder had been stopped by police after he first refused to do so. He was then put in a jail cell.
After he was summoned to appear in court on Oct. 15 and placed under judicial supervision, the Nice prosecutor’s office appealed the decision not to remand the player in custody. The investigative chamber of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence did not grant this request and kept Ben Yedder under judicial supervision.
Ben Yedder attended a hearing Tuesday during which he offered to go to rehab. He has admitted he drove while under the influence of alcohol but has denied any sexual assault.
In a separate legal case last year, Ben Yedder was charged with “rape, attempted rape and sexual assault” over another alleged incident in the south of France.
Ben Yedder has been without a club since his contract with Monaco expired at the end of last season.
