Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Alex Fulton discusses the lessons we should be learning from the response to COVID-19 in preparing for the next pandemic. Richard Payerchin highlights how physicians recognize the need to diagnose and treat long COVID as it afflicts an increasing proportion of the population, but largely lack the means to do so.  And Milos Ajcevic et al. find a connection between cognitive impairment associated with long COVID, and dysfunction in cerebral blood flow observable through MRIs.

- Josh Gabbatiss writes about new research which projects that we're entering an age of decline for fossil fuels. Emily Chung points out what Canada can learn from Sweden's success in replacing oil heating with electric heat pumps. Joe Fassler argues that the disproportionate carbon pollution spewed by the ultra-rich can only be seen as a theft from everybody else. And Kevin Timoney writes about the multiple problems with tar sands tailings ponds - including but not limited to the toxic leaks into drinking water sources which have been concealed by the UCP government and operators alike. 

- John Michael McGrath highlights how the Ford PCs' supposed housing strategy figures to do far more to cause sprawl than to make homes available. Helena Horton writes that a road-building spree is utterly incompatible with any responsible climate strategy. And Matt Gurney notes that Ford's complete lack of credibility in funding promised transit infrastructure makes it impossible to take him seriously on transportation matters generally. 

- The Angus Reid Institute examines how Canadians are responding to additional cost pressures piled on what have long been precarious personal finances. Erin Weir points out that the list of windfall profits which should be tapped into to help the working class includes those emanating from grocery inputs. And Wayne Simpson makes the case to make the grocery rebate permanent to provide predictable support for people living on lower incomes. 

- Finally, Gillian Steward writes that Danielle Smith has chosen to present herself as the face of anti-science quackery and violent bigotry. And Stephen Magusiak reports on the Take Back Alberta group (which appears to be in full control of the UCP) which has been based on organizing exactly those malignant forces.