Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Robyn Urback writes that the second wave of COVID-19 can be traced largely to people - including far too many political leaders - who have been able to treat a pandemic as somebody else's problem due to their own privilege. Aaron Wherry points out the cost to social solidarity when politicians make it clear they don't think they're included in admonitions that we're all part of the effort to control a deadly disease, while Shree Paradkar highlights how they should be named and shamed. And in a prime example of corporations valuing business revenue over public health, Ashley Burke reports on the lobbying by airlines to delay any testing requirements for people flying back to Canada.

- Guy Quenneville reports on the reality that unnecessary delay in setting rules and half-hearted messaging from the Moe government have resulted in Saskatchewan at best plateauing in trying to limit the spread of COVID-19. John Ivison warns that an even worse third wave may not be far away if provincial governments continue to ignore what's worked based on the implausible hope that they can get away with continuing what hasn't. Bruce Arthur calls out Doug Ford's pitiful incrementalism in the face of a crisis which demands an all-out response. And Adam Miller points out how and why Canada is behind many international counterparts in distributing the first round of vaccines, while Andre Picard rightly questions the lack of urgency.

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera reports on the damage the pandemic has done (and will continue to do) to people's mental health in Saskatchewan. And Lee Berthiaume reports on the danger that a prolonged pandemic will fuel violent right-wing extremism.

- Hannah Seo writes about the ongoing environmental damage caused by abandoned offshore oil and gas wells. And Matt McGrath examines Christian Aid's research into the loss of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars extreme weather events in 2020 (as just one of the prices of failing to combat a climate breakdown).

- Finally, Bob Berwyn takes a look at some new developments in climate science over the past year - including some reason for hope that a rapid transition may be able to stop climate feedback effects faster than previously assumed.