Editor’s note: Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst and a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @WorldAffairsPro. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his; view more opinions on CNN.
It seems an awfully long time since Canadians were last lectured by the state on sexual behaviour. Just as folks were headed out for Labour Day long weekend frolicking, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, warned fellow citizens to wear a mask while having sex and to avoid kissing people in order to prevent passing along a COVID-19 infection.
Tam, who also serves on a World Health Organization (WHO) international oversight committee, said “sex can be complicated” during the pandemic and that the lowest risk sexual activity during COVID-19 involves “yourself alone.”
The stern warning — echoed again on Tuesday by Dr. Tam amid reports people are holding large gatherings — “What we don’t want is this virus getting into a setting where there is a high degree of transmission, sometimes called super-spreading events. Those are crowded, enclosed places where people are gathering where they’re not observing public health measures or where we have to help them adjust their protocols to better manage,” she said.
“The most difficult part is private functions, family gatherings, where we need to make sure we support persons in this country to know what to do to minimize the risk.”
Her admonitions come as Canadians start to send their children back to school and prepare for a further reopening of the economy. With fears of an uptick in numbers — the daily case count in British Columbia surged to 121 on Friday from 80 in early June — Canadian officials are turning up the heat and warning of rollbacks on openings if people don’t heed the rules.
The co-ordinated, blunt and direct public health messaging and parental-like warnings are in stark contrast to United States, where COVID-19 cases per capita are more than five times what they are in Canada.
Perhaps mindful of the need to speak directly to young Canadians as pandemic fatigue sets in and a more cavalier attitude takes hold, Tam didn’t mince words — even if it meant breaking our national taboos. In fact, it was exactly the type of blunt and direct public health messaging that is absent in the U.S., but which has helped to crush the curve north of the border.
“We need to do better with risk communication here in the United States. We know this virus affects every facet of our life — from what happens in the bedroom to the kitchen table to our social gatherings,” Dr. Syra Madad, senior director of special pathogens at NYC Health and Hospitals, told me. “If you treat this as a taboo topic or preach for abstinence that’s not going to work.”
HUGE CONTRASTS IN NUMBERS
As of Labour Day Monday, the U.S. had the highest number of cases and deaths in the world (over 6.3 million and almost 190,000 respectively). And, in terms of the average number of new infections per day, the U.S. is in worse shape now than over Memorial Day weekend, when there were fewer than 20,000 new cases per day compared to over 50,000 new cases on Friday. Currently, new cases were trending up in 14 U.S. states, 14 were holding steady and 23 reporting lower case counts (including the District of Columbia).
Contrast that to Canada, where the daily COVID-19 case count is less than one-quarter of what it was at its peak on May 3 (1571 vs 247 as of Monday).
This is not to say we haven’t had our blind spots: Neglect in long-term care homes, especially in Quebec where more than half of all deaths occurred in such facilities, was deemed a national shame and prompted a coroner’s inquest.
There were also outbreaks at farms in southwest Ontario (close to Michigan), where migrant farmworkers are employed and work and live in close proximity
WHY CANADA?
There are a number of theories as to why Canada has managed to flatten the COVID-19 curve much better than the United States. One is that Canadians, who entered confederation with the motto “peace, order and good government” are much more compliant than our southern neighbors with their attachment to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” — even if it means potentially killing others by refusing to wear masks in the name of freedom.
“A lot of Canadians are rule-followers. If you’re at the bank and there’s three tellers open everybody gets in line behind one teller and waits for their turn to be called. We are very, for the most part, rule followers — especially in Ottawa,” Sarah Chown, the managing partner of Metropolitan Brasserie in Ottawa and local chair of the Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association, told me.
It can also be argued that the federal and provincial governments enabled Canadians to respect lockdowns and stay at home by offering unprecedented and generous financial aid from early on — including up to CAD$2000 per month for Canadians out of work, as well as more time to pay taxes and mortgage payment deferrals, allowances for seniors, and wage subsidies for businesses — all a far cry from the limited amounts offered south of the border. Even the media received a $30 million handout from Ottawa in the form of forgiveness of broadcasting fees.
In all, the COVID-19 measures helped push the federal deficit to $343.2 billion this year and the federal debt past the $1 trillion mark for the first time, former federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in July.
And all that is on top of free public health care, including free testing.
“If compliance means personal or business bankruptcy, people will ignore orders such as lockdowns. I suspect that’s part of the American COVID-19 story in certain regions,” Canadian political analyst Yaroslav Baran told me.
From the get-go, Canada’s federal and provincial leaders focused on science over politics and spin, evangelizing the importance of wearing masks, maintaining physical distancing and proper hand hygiene, promises to support widespread testing and contact tracing backed by free downloadable COVID-19 exposure app. Even the recently concluded federal Conservative Party leadership race was mostly online — after going on for much longer than anticipated.
And with a possible federal election on the horizon, Elections Canada is prepping for a surge in demand for mail-in ballots, all without controversy.
A key but painful measure to stem possible COVID-19 contagion from the United States, the border was closed to all but essential travel on March 22. The closure has been extended to September 21 but expect pressure from the Trump Administration — which is trying to project a return to normalcy — to open the border ahead of the November elections.
POLITICAL BROMANCES
Unlike the U.S., where political divisiveness and legislative gridlock have become commonplace during the pandemic, some unusual political “bromances” have sprouted here in Canada, none more prominent than that between Ontario Premier Doug Ford of the Conservative Party and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland from the ruling federal Liberal party. Referring to his federal colleague with such glowing terms as “amazing,” Ford seems to seize every opportunity to praise their newfound bonhomie.
Through daily, televised briefings, the pandemic has also transformed the heretofore unknown provincial health officers into celebrities in their own right, with Dr. Bonnie Henry in British Columbia, gaining international notoriety with a flattering profile in The New York Times and a fan club on social media.
And throughout it all, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has remained front and centre, filling the airwaves during the first months of the pandemic with daily briefings in a comforting Mr. Rogers tone of voice, assuring Canadians that “We’re in this together” and that the government will be there for them, especially in terms of financial aid.
BETWEEN FRIENDS
It’s been said that Canada has had no closer friend and ally than the United States. That sentiment was summed up in 1976 with a bicentennial gift book called Between Friends/Entre Amis. It was an eloquent acknowledgment of how much we have in common, including the longest undefended border in the world. Here on Vancouver Island, we breathe the same forest fire haze, share stewardship over the same endangered marine mammals and gaze at the same stars and aircraft contrails as our neighbours in northwest Washington state. Even the Stars and Stripes has pride of place in many spots alongside the Maple Leaf.
But with the United States being the Number One COVID-19 hot spot in the world, I cannot remember a time when we have been so thankful for being kept apart.
America — entre amis — get your act together so that so we can bring this COVID-19 estrangement to an end.
TORONTO – Ontario’s education minister has asked officials to conduct a governance review of a Brantford-area Catholic school board after trustees spent $45,000 on a trip to Italy to buy $100,000 worth of art.
Trustees of the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board promised to pay back the trip expenses, not long after they were reported by the Brantford Expositor, but Education Minister Jill Dunlop said more answers are necessary.
“While I acknowledge that the (board) is taking steps to fix their error in judgment, I remain concerned that accountability was only taken after my ministry and the public expressed clear concerns for the misuse of taxpayer dollars,” Dunlop wrote in a statement.
“With that in mind, I have asked my officials to start the process to conduct a governance review of the board.”
The Brantford Expositor reported that the art purchased in Italy included life-sized, hand-painted wooden statues of St. Padre Pio and the Virgin Mary, a large crucifix, sculptures depicting the 14 stations of the cross and a bust of Pope Francis.
Most of the art is destined for St. Padre Pio Catholic Secondary School, currently under construction, which the board wants to make a “flagship” school, the newspaper reported.
Board chair Rick Petrella initially told the Expositor that he and three other trustees travelled to Italy over the summer to meet artisans and commission the religious artwork.
“We looked at buying it off the shelf, but nothing stood out,” he told the newspaper.
But Petrella and the board of trustees now say in a subsequent statement that they regret the trip, and have promised to repay the expenses, as well as look at donations or other funding to offset the cost of the artwork to the board.
“We recognize that the optics and actions of this trip were not favorable, and although it was undertaken in good faith to promote our Catholic identity and to do something special for our two new schools, we acknowledge that it was not the best course of action,” they wrote.
The province is also conducting an audit of the Thames Valley District School Board in southwestern Ontario due to a staff retreat in Toronto that cost nearly $40,000, including a stay at the Rogers Centre hotel.
The ministry is also doing an expedited investigation of the Toronto District School Board after Premier Doug Ford raised concerns about a recent field trip, which saw students from 15 schools attend a protest on mercury contamination affecting a First Nation community in the north.
Videos of the protest on social media show some march participants chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, which prompted Ford to complain that teachers were trying to indoctrinate children.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.
TORONTO – Credit card fees for small and medium-sized businesses are starting to dip lower as a deal reached between the federal government and the two major card companies is set to take effect.
Mastercard and Visa are reducing interchange fees by up to 27 per cent in a move that Ottawa says will save businesses about $1 billion over five years.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business thanked Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland for seeing the deal through. In a statement, he said qualifying businesses could expect about $350 savings per year for each $100,000 in Visa sales and about $200 in savings per year for each $100,000 in Mastercard sales.
To qualify, businesses’ sales volume can’t exceed $300,000 on Visa and $175,000 for Mastercard.
The change officially takes place Saturday, but some payment processors have already started to pass on the savings.
The small business group has, however, noted that not all processors have been clear that they’ll pass on the savings, pointing for example to Stripe where not all customers will see a change.
Kelly said Stripe’s decision means the company would keep the savings that were intended for small business customers.
“It’s extremely disappointing to see a big company take this approach,” he said.
Stripe says customers on its Interchange Plus plan, which sees costs vary by transaction type, will see the fee reductions passed through, just like other network cost and fee changes.
But those on its flat-rate plan won’t see a change, because the company says it has seen other costs and fees rise that add up to more than the reduction in interchange fees.
Other processors such as Moneris have said that qualifying businesses on both its interchange plus and flat rate model will see a reduction.
Finance Ministry spokeswoman Marie-France Faucher said the fee reduction should benefit about 90 per cent of businesses that accept credit card, and the department expects companies to pass on the savings.
“The federal government is closely monitoring the implementation of the credit card fees reduction, with the strong expectation that all payment processors like Stripe will pass the savings on to small businesses.”
She said the revised code of conduct for the industry has also given businesses more rights, including switching processors without penalty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.
MONTREAL – Quebec’s largest nurses union has reached a deal with the provincial government more than a year and a half after their collective agreement expired in March 2023.
Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé, known as the FIQ, announced Thursday evening that two-thirds of union members had voted to adopt a new collective agreement recommended by a conciliator.
The details of the deal were not disclosed, but a major sticking point had been the government’s push for nurses to be more flexible in moving between health-care facilities to address staffing needs.
The union rejected a deal in principle in April over concerns about transfers between health centres, but president Julie Bouchard says those requirements will now be better defined.
However, Bouchard is not declaring victory and says the union will continue to fight to improve difficult working conditions, which include mandatory overtime and staff shortages.
The union has 80,000 members, including the majority of Quebec nurses, and the new collective agreement covers the period from 2023 to 2028.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.
