Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Justin Ling writes that the third wave of COVID currently swamping conservative-run provinces can be traced back directly to our leaders' refusal to acknowledge and act on scientific realities. Nora Loreto discusses the super-spreader events in workplaces which governments have consistently covered up and enabled. The Canadian Medical Association calls for extraordinary measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, while Bruce Arthur writes about the alarmed response from Ontario's health care workers in the wake of Doug Ford's decision to impose a police state rather than doing anything to rein in the spread of COVID-19. Ellen Mauro talks to some of the public health experts whose warnings have been ignored for months, while Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Rosa Saba highlight the obvious options to provide paid sick leave and shut down non-essential work. And Laura Woodward reports on some of the Saskatchewan experts similarly trying to get through to a wilfully-ignorant government. 

- Linda McQuaig writes about the need for our own, publicly-owned biotech manufacturer to ensure Canada doesn't face the type of supply delays and risks it's run into with coronavirus vaccines. Crawford Kilian points out that while vaccines sit unused over trumped-up fears about blood clotting, even that single symptom is more likely as a result of COVID itself than any vaccine, while Elizabeth Renzetti offers the sound evaluation of risk that it's more dangerous to drive to a vaccination centre than to receive any of the ones now available. And Jen Gerson comments on the dangers of treating vaccines as a consumer product which allows for arbitrary personal whims, rather than a social good whose distribution needs to be maximized for everybody's safety.

- Andrew Jackson makes the case for higher corporate tax rates on an international scale based on our lived experiences with the false promise of trickle-down economics. Darren Shore points out that Chrystia Freeland's writing about plutocrats should put her in an ideal position to ensure they pay their fair share - at least unless her goal is primarily to serve them rather than the public interest. And for those looking for new models to ensure a fair tax system, Emmanuel Saez and Gabrien Zucman examine the opportunities in taxing corporations' stock shares (PDF) and billionaires' unrealized capital gains (PDF).

- Finally, Nick Falvo examines the federal role in housing policy - including its far larger investments in propping up the prices of detached houses than in ensuring that homes are available for everybody.