Vaccinating against COVID-19 was always going to be a huge task: Not only do you have to invent a vaccine, you have to test it, get it approved, manufacture enough of it, ship it out to distribution centres and then actually stick a needle in someone’s arm to actually deliver it.
Every step of the process has had its own challenges, and while the science and regulatory approval may have moved faster than expected, the final step is raising some fresh concerns.
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Doctors say provinces and territories need to really speed up their distribution of vaccines, many doses of which are sitting in refrigerators and freezers and not being administered. Data gathered by The Globe shows provinces have so far used only between 17 and 38 per cent of the COVID-19 vaccine doses they’ve received by now.
In a news conference today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he understands and shares the “frustration” that Canadians are feeling.
“We have seen some challenges that I think we are all impatient about in terms of getting vaccines into arms,” he told reporters.
Mr. Trudeau said it would be a topic of discussion at the next virtual first ministers’ call on Thursday.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney changed his mind and asked for the resignations of a cabinet minister and his chief of staff because of their recent holiday travels.
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An Alberta mother whose son’s Make-A-Wish trip to Hawaii was cancelled because of the pandemic says she is livid that some politicians still travelled to warm spots in during the holidays.
Travel agents say a new government requirement to get a COVID-19 test before returning to Canada is causing serious difficulty to some Canadians already abroad.
An economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests companies receiving the federal wage subsidyshould not give bonuses to highly paid CEOs.
Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq says she has returned to work after taking time off to deal with depression and burnout.
And Georgians vote today in two U.S. Senate runoffs that will decide which party controls the chamber in Washington. Georgia went narrowly for Democrat Joe Biden in November’s presidential election, the first time a Democrat had won the state in a generation. Complicating the Republican efforts to win both Senate seats is that party organizers are deeply divided between those conscerned about winning the race and those who follow Donald Trump’s assertions that the whole electoral process is flawed.
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on the lack of urgency in Canada’s vaccination plan: “Since it began its vaccine rollout on Dec. 20, Israel has administered as many as 150,000 doses daily. Canada began vaccinating even earlier, on Dec. 14, but since then has immunized only 120,000 people – yes, fewer than Israel does in a day. On Monday morning, we had 300,000 doses languishing in freezers, like old bags of peas.”
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Licia Corbella (Calgary Herald) on politicians caught travelling during the holidays: “Federal and provincial politicians are falling all over the place. It’s bizarre that they haven’t learned that they don’t get to flout the rules they impose on the rest of us. Hypocrisy is often harmful in politics. When that hypocrisy and rule breaking takes place during a deadly pandemic, it’s fatal.”
Tania Cameron (The Globe and Mail) on why the next national chief of the Assembly of First Nations should be a woman: “First Nations women are always fighting for fairness and for a seat at the table. Our mothers and grandmothers had to fight for the right to retain Indian Status if they married a non-status man, for matrimonial property rights, for the right to run for chief and council positions, for the right to vote, and even for the right to enter a bar. It has always been a struggle, even though we are a matrilineal society – and unfortunately, that’s even been the case in our own organizations.”
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) on Donald Trump not going gently into that good night: “Egomaniacs can’t accept defeat. Mr. Trump couldn’t go out with dignity, an alien concept for him. Burdened by his narcissism, ensconced in his delusional world, he could only continue to wreak havoc on the republic in a hopeless quest to reverse the election result.”
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
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