Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Murray Mandryk discusses how COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated existing inequality in Saskatchewan. And Aaron Wherry points out that Canada shouldn't treat its privileged position in securing early access to vaccines as cause to ignore the pandemic which will continue to rage around the globe even if we're lucky enough to achieve herd immunity. 

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera reports on the exemption which sent COVID-infected staff back to work early at Extendicare Parkside - where hundreds were infected and dozens of residents died of the coronavirus. And

- Julie Lalonde writes that the shutdown of Greyhound's bus service is taking away lifelines from residents of isolated communities who counted on them. But David Moscrop notes that with private bus operators proving beyond doubt that profit won't provide a sufficient incentive to develop adequate transportation infrastructure, the time is now to start working on public services to focus on people's needs. 

- Christopher Curtis writes about Quebec's grossly inadequate shelter system - which is seeing homeless people forced to ration their own access to shelters as hundreds die of diseases and overdoses.

- Nav Persaud et al. study the effect of freely available prescription drugs on compliance, finding to nobody's surprise that cost is a barrier to people receiving needed medication - and that making medication freely available reduces overall health care costs.

- Finally, Jeremy Appel offers a reminder as to how Canada is profiting from death and destruction by supplying military equipment to regimes using them to target civilians.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Rachel Gilmore reports on polling showing that Canadians recognize (contrary to the spin of right-wing politicians looking to deflect blame) that there's no realistic prospect of a COVID vaccine being approved and distributed quickly enough to avert the need for public health measures in the meantime. And CBC News reports on the foreseeable delay in vaccinating children in particular due to a lack of testing to this point. 

- Meanwhile, Steven Wilson and Charles Wiysonge point out how social medial misinformation is fuelling anti-vaxxer sentiment - raising the risk that enough people will refuse to accept vaccines to sustain the unnecessary spread of COVID-19. And Leandro Herrero offers some rules to encourage people to adopt behaviours which help stop viral transmission.

- Brian Pfefferle calls for police enforcement of Saskatchewan's public health orders in order to ensure that the calculations behind them actually reflect reality. 

- Kyle Benning reports on Second Street's research finding that hundreds of people were dying while waiting for surgical procedures in Saskatchewan - even before the Moe government allowed COVID to overwhelm our health care system.

- Peter Apps writes about the UK's Grenfell Tower inquiry - which is predictably finding that multiple corporations downplayed known risks about the cladding whose blaze resulted in 72 deaths.

- Finally, Julie Lalonde writes about the need to recognize and call out misogyny as the source of violence against women.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Ernest Canning writes about the importance of treating corporatism as a specific and extreme position, rather than allowing it to define the political centre. And Norm McKee rightly argues that Canada's federal election campaign needs to include a focus on ensuring the rich pay their fair share - though he inexplicably fails to mention the NDP's plan to do just that.

- Christopher Leonard reports on Koch Industries' alarming track record of worker injuries and deaths at Georgia Pacific as it has sought to wring ever more production out of fewer and fewer exhausted employees - and the Koch brothers' determination to keep extracting immediate and unsustainable profits at the expense of workers.

- Julie Lalonde discusses the importance of working on improving our health care system to ensure Canadians receive the care we need, rather than merely being satisfied with it being less costly and dysfunctional than the U.S.'. And Eric Topal highlights the role organizing within the medical profession can play in pushing for policies which improve social health.

- The Rocky Mountain Outlook writes that the UCP's reckless combination of immediate corporate slashing and calculated uncertainty for all public services is only making life worse for Alberta's most vulnerable residents. And Tahirih Foroozan and Sarah Rieger examine Jason Kenney's choice to leave libraries in particular with doubts about their ability to operate.

- Finally, Brian Feldman observes that the apparent death of the headphone jack represents another worrisome step toward technology being proprietary rather than connected.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Chrystia Freeland writes about the dangers of increased concentration of wealth - particularly when it bears at best a passing relationship to any worthwhile contribution to society at large. And CBC's report on Peter Sabourin's investment fraud highlights the fact that the tax havens which have allowed for extreme accumulation of wealth have also facilitated crime against anybody aspiring to join the elite.

- Toby Sanger provides a handy list of 12 problems with the Cons' anti-union legislation.

- Pat Atkinson questions the Cons' complete failure to ensure that Canadians can trust that their food is safe. Murray Mandryk sees no justification for the Sask Party's creation of a corporate right to privacy. Readers of my column won't be surprised that I concur on both counts.

- Finally, Julie Lalonde recognizes that the only change involved in the Cons' new prohibition against anonymous protesting is one for the worse:

It is important to remember that the mass arrests made in Toronto highlighted several incidents of police officers removing their identification and concealing their identity. When complaints were filed, officers argued that they violated Chief Bill Blair’s rules because they feared retaliation from the public and wanted to protect their privacy.

What about the rights of public servants who want to attend demonstrations while concealing their identity to protect their jobs? What about pro-choice advocates who fear being the targets of anti-abortion violence if their identities are revealed? Are they not entitled to the same protections as police officers?
...

Bill C-309 was not about hockey riots. There are existing measures to address those. It was about a government afraid of the power of collectivity. It is about the efficiency of the Quebec student protests and the frightening law and order agenda exposed during the G8/G20 arrests.

Conservative MP Blake Richards said his bill would make communities safer, but he couldn’t be further from the truth. This new law will make us vulnerable to the biggest threat of all: fear. If every activist is guilty until proven innocent, we will see fewer willing to take the risk of arrest and detainment. As a result, our collective rights suffer.

Bill C-309 is a canary in the mine. As an activist, I may have nothing to hide but I have everything to lose.