Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Tracy Fuller talks to Emily Oster about the process people can follow in minimizing COVID risks in the absence of full information. And Sarah Zhang writes about the impending period of vaccine purgatory as a limited number of people begin to be protected.

- Mickey Djuric compares the current coronavirus response plans of the prairie provinces - though none offers an overall plan and result deserving of much credit. Nicholas Frew reports on the spread of the virus in Saskatchewan through multiple hockey and curling events. And Joel Dryden reports on the importance of regular testing to protect residents of long-term care homes.

- J. Edward Les points out the social and health implications of COVID-19 patients who need to rely on an already-strained health care system for treatment. 

- Achal Prabhala, Arjun Jayadev and Dean Baker discuss how relaxed intellectual property rules would facilitate the development and distribution of vaccines. And Ronald Labonte and Mira Johri call out Canada's role in prioritizing intellectual property barriers over the control and treatment of COVID-19 - particularly in less-wealthy countries.

- Jane Lytvynenko discusses how decades of misinformation have destroyed the U.S.' ability to respond to COVID-19 and other crises by undermining both institutions and social trust.

- Finally, Claire Porter Robbins writes about Jason Kenney's selective interest in Charter rights as he seeks to protect anti-maskers and COVID cranks while attacking activists seeking to protect our planet and the people who inhabit it.

Musical interlude

 Tracey Thorn - Sister

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Carl Meyer writes about Denmark's move to finally and fully shut down oil and gas production as part of a transition to clean energy. And Abacus finds strong public support for Canada to also be a world leader in that process - even as the Libs drag their heels and the Cons demand total fealty to a dying oil sector. 

- Brandi Morin rightly questions the Trudeau Libs' willingness to throw billions at oil pipelines, while breaking promises to spend far less bringing potable water to First Nations. 

- Kyle Bakx reports that after spending years demanding that the federal government foot the bill for abandoned oil well sites and finally getting their way in the name of COVID relief, Alberta hasn't bothered to spent the vast majority of the money promised. 

- Meanwhile, as existing environmental damage remains unaddressed, Kyle Anderson reports on the Kenney UCP's plan to divert already-strained water resources in order to use it for coal mining. And Stephanie Wood reports on the CCPA's research showing how British Columbia has subsidized coal mines which threaten endangered caribou while producing minimal economic impact. 

- Carla Shynkaruk discusses how Saskatchewan stands to face disproportionately severe effects from continued climate deterioration.

- Finally, the Star Phoenix reports on FSIN's call for the provincial government to stop selling off Crown land without consulting with First Nations. And Doug Cuthand writes about the continued impact of a colonial mindset on Indigenous children.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Umair Haque discusses the tragic mistake governments in Europe and North America have made in refusing to make plans sufficient to wipe out COVID-19 altogether, rather than assuming a substantial level of spread could be controlled. Sarah Rieger talks to Stephen Duckett about the effect of Australia's lockdown which has now allowed much of that country to return to a relatively normal state. And Graham Thomson writes about Jason Kenney's sorely-belated recognition that he can't bluster and deny his way out of a public health disaster.

- Tom Parkin writes that the Trudeau Libs shouldn't be seen as having successfully dealt with COVID-19 merely because they've cleared the bar of being less destructive than the Trump administration. Nicole Thompson reports on the Canadians seeking student loan relief who have been unable to reach an overwhelmed National Student Loans Service Centre. And Peter Zimonjic and Catherine Cullen report on the shock to people who applied for the CERB based on the simple threshold of having $5,000 in income in the previous 12 months, only to be facing repayment demands based on the theory that qualification had to be based on net income from 2019 alone.

- Meanwhile, Kamyar Razavi and Mike Le Couteur report on the success of the CERB in demonstrating the value of an unconditional basic income - making the later retrenchment all the more frustrating.

- Shikha Gupta and Mary Ann McColl discuss how Canadians are forced to ration and underuse prescribed medicine for lack of pharmacare to cover the cost of prescriptions.

- Finally, the Star's editorial board calls out Erin O'Toole and the Cons for effectively endorsing anti-vaxx scaremongering.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Marco Ranaldi and Branko Milanovic study the relationship between inequality of inputs and inequality of outcomes - finding in particular that countries with relatively equal sources of income reliably produce comparatively fair income levels as well. And they also note that it's possible to achieve greater equality by ensuring the regular redistribution of concentrated wealth - reflecting Matt Elliott's case for Toronto to follow through on a vacant residence tax. 

- But Juliana Kaplan and Dominic-Madori Davis remind us that charity on the part of people who retain extreme wealth and power shouldn't be treated as a substitute for structural equalization.

- Marc Lee and Seth Klein discuss the need for oil and gas royalty regimes to account for an industry on the wane. And Roger Harabin reports on new research showing how the UK can eliminate the vast majority of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 based on an eminently affordable investment - though sadly the Trudeau Libs are falling far short of even their own unambitious promises to build a greener energy system. 

- Of course, any transition to clean energy also has to reckon with the fossil fuel industry's propaganda machine. On that front, Naomi Klein calls out Jason Kenney's latest conspiracy-mongering around any effort to plan a clean energy transition. And David Lapp Jost writes about the culture of death it has deliberately fostered in the U.S. to devalue the lives of drivers, pedestrians and people affected by pollution in order to keep the emissions spewing.

- Finally, Taylor Balfour asks how many more Saskatchewan people will die of the opioid epidemic (as her sister did). And Sarath Peiris implores Scott Moe to finally start listening to public health experts rather than letting short-sighted business lobbyists condemn his constituents to death as a result of COVID-19.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Feline festivities. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Adam Miller writes that it's more important than ever to protect frontline workers as the prospect of a COVID-19 vaccine approaches. Pat Armstrong and Marcy Cohen discuss what the pandemic has exposed about the need for improved standards in long-term care facilities. And Keenan Sorokan reports on the growing calls to release people from incarceration rather than confining them in outbreak zones.

- Bruce Campbell discusses how the Libs' fiscal update falls far short of what we should expect in responding to inequality and climate change. And David McKie, Declan Keogh, Charlie Buckley and Robert Cribb write about the effect a climate breakdown in progress is having on the mental health of young people.

- Anne Casselman and Michelle Theodore make the case for a universal affordable child care system - particularly as a pandemic has exposed the consequences of failing to ensure care is available.

- James Wilt interviews Mike Bagamery about Brian Pallister's attack on Indigenous sovereignty by suppressing peaceful public action.

- And finally, Anna Silman points out that the defeat of Donald Trump can't be expected to produce a return to normalcy when countless Americans have become radicalized to hate their fellow citizens.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Elaine Godfrey writes about Iowa's disastrous COVID-19 spread as a prime example of what happens when a government chooses to do nothing about a collective action problem. David Climenhaga compares Australia's successful strategy of containment and clear direction to Alberta's calamitous reliance on personal responsibility to paper over a refusal to take action. And Adam Hunter contrasts Scott Moe's insistence on pitching the relaxation of public health standards against the alarming reality of Saskatchewan's second wave. 

- BBC News reports on Argentina's wealth tax which has been passed to ensure that COVID benefits are funded by those who can most afford to pitch in. Christo Aivalis writes that the Libs, Cons and Bloc have shown who they work for by voting down the NDP's modest wealth tax proposal - even as Luke Savage points out that Canada's wealthiest few are accumulating all the more wealth by profiteering off a pandemic.

- Oliver Moore and Shane Dingman report that Toronto is the next Canadian city examining a vacant house tax to ensure that housing is used proportionately more to meet human needs, and less as an investment vehicle. But Douglas Todd writes about the role of hidden foreign money in inflating the gap between Vancouver's incomes and housing prices. And Tim Kiladze notes that apartment buildings are the next targets for capital in seeking to turn needed homes into fully-exploited profit centres.

- Finally, Andrew Leach discusses how Alberta's reliance on regular oil booms looks to be sorely out of date.

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 Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Thomson Reuters reports on the latest UN research showing that planned fossil fuel production far exceeds what we can afford if we want to avoid catastrophic climate change. And the Canadian Press reports on a study by the Institute for Climate Choices documenting Canada's failure to prepare for the harmful effects of a climate breakdown. 

- Bruce Campbell discusses how corporate obstructionism has contributed to the gap between what we need to do and what's currently on offer. And Evan Dyer reports on the back-door agreement struck by the Libs with the Trump administration to evade an international treaty on plastic waste.

- And in case there was any doubt what we stand to gain by pushing back against the self-serving statements of corporate actors, Binnu Jeyakumar highlights how contrary to the spin of fossil fuel lobbyists, Alberta is set to reach the goal of a coal-free electrical grid years ahead of schedule and at a cost savings to the public.

- Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman offer a reminder of the need for a wealth tax as the most effective way to reduce the dangerous concentration of money and power. And Brett Wilkins points out the US.' strong public support for taxes targeted at the 1%.

- Finally, Louise Champoux-Paillé, Anne-Marie Croteau and Steven Appelbaum discuss the need for more women leaders - as borne out by the pattern of effective responses to COVID-19. And Scott Payne writes about Alberta's choice between responsible government, and the exact opposite under the UCP.

Musical interlude

Whale and the Wold - Midnight Riot

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jim Stanford examines how a national child-care program would boost Canada's post-COVID recovery and rebuilding. And Michael Roberts points out the value of being able to manufacture vaccines and vital goods for ourselves, rather than depending on foreign corporations for public health necessities.

- Nick Falvo discusses how our current social programs are set up to be grossly insufficient for single people. And Max Fawcett writes about the future of any middle class in Canada - including the need to define its well-being in terms of quality of life rather than material ownership (particularly where that's financed by debt).

- Matthew Remski offers a warning as to what to expect as Qanon and related conspiracy theories spread in Canada. And tcnorris discusses the connection between systematic errors in U.S. polling and the fomenting of distrust in institutions by Donald Trump and his followers. 

- The remarxist examines the ongoing grift that is the manufactured culture of western alienation - which is of course creating a fertile breeding ground for the most dangerous kinds of wingnuttery. And Mitchell Anderson discusses how Jason Kenney's obsession with oil interests and right-wing identity politics over people's well-being has proven disastrous for Alberta in a pandemic. 

- Finally, Patricia Treble discusses the community buy-in which has enabled the Atlantic provinces to suppress COVID-19 - and thus regain some social and economic normalcy. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Max Fawcett writes that equivocal posturing about personal responsibility (from Jason Kenney among others) has offered no resistance to the spread of the coronavirus. And Rebecca Haines-Sah calls out Kenney's choice to treat lives as disposable in the face of COVID-19 as long as people have any additional health condition, while Haiqa Cheema addresses Kenney's racist scapegoating as another attempt to distract from his own glaring failures.

- Pete Evans discusses how the Libs' fiscal update does effectively nothing to address the disparate gender impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, while Rita Trichur is exasperated at the Trudeau government's continued delays in acting on child care (rather than continuing to offer rhetoric unsupported by real-world results). And Robert Hiltz points out that frontline workers - and particularly renters - are being left to weather a devastating second wave without government supports. 

- Luke Savage highlights how Canada's richest few are getting even richer over the course of a pandemic which has seen most people plunged into even more precarious circumstances. Shawn Langlois points out the same phenomenon at a global level as the sheer size of a capital pool leads to larger returns. Fred Hahn writes that Doug Ford has been deliberately reinforcing that trend by using COVID-19 as a distraction while pushing through favours to the already-privileged few. And Toby Sanger and Erika Beauchesne make the case (PDF) for progressive taxes to rein in extreme wealth inequality.

- Finally, Linda McQuaig reminds us that Canada has been a leader in pharmaceutical and vaccine research and production through a Crown corporation before - and can be again if we value public health over big pharma's profits.

Juxtaposition

The Saskatchewan Party government's public health expectations for the mid-pandemic jet set willing to shell out for private testing:

"It's been challenging to provide timely results for asymptomatic travelers, especially within the tight timelines required by airlines and international destinations," Howey said in part. 

"[Quantum Genetix] have the technology to provide PCR COVID-19 testing for anyone requiring proof of a negative COVID-19 test before travelling."

Their expectations for everybody else:

Shahab discouraging inter provincial travel over Christmas says Sask. people should stick to its household and limit indoor private gatherings to 5. #covid19sk

— Adam Hunter (@AHiddyCBC) December 2, 2020

The price of negligence

In case there was any doubt that COVID testing serves as the ultimate microcosm of the Saskatchewan Party's mismanagement of health care, we've seen the endgame released today.

Remember that it was just a few months ago that Scott Moe was trumpeting a plan to massively increase public capacity, while saving for the fine print the fact that he was relying on federal money to achieve it. 

It didn't take long for word to leak out that nobody had bothered to do the work needed to meet them in time. And that hasn't been a matter of merely taking too long to ramp up, but of systemic failure to do what Moe promised.

Which leads us where we are now. Thanks to Moe's mismanagement, Saskatchewan's testing and tracing system is collapsing under the weight of gross negligence in managing the spread of a deadly disease. Which has led to...pay-for-play for-profit testing to allow the rich to cut to the front of the line (featuring provincial officials talking up the need to help those lucky and irresponsible enough to go travelling in the midst of the pandemic), and a do-it-yourself tracing system for everybody else.

To be clear, none of this should represent any surprise to anybody paying attention to the Sask Party's track record or campaign messages. But it does provide a vivid example for current action and future reference - and hopefully a lasting reminder that Moe and his party lack can only be counted on to enrich the well-connected few at the expense of the health and welfare of the many.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Steven Lewis writes about the Sask Party government's catastrophic refusal to act on the evidence that Saskatchewan needs to sharply curb the spread of COVID-19. Julia Peterson reports on the Saskatchewan doctors making it clear that we can't afford to let up over the holiday season. And Murray Mandryk notes that a throne speech focused on platform baubles and outdated talking points fell far short of meeting an increasingly dire current reality - though it should hardly come as a surprise that someone anointed by the media for re-election while campaigning on a theme of "no lockdowns!" has concluded he can get away with trading lives for corporate favour.

- Thiemo Fetzer and Thomas Graeber study (PDF) the damage done by a lack of contact tracing - even as any effort to test and trace falls apart across the prairie provinces. And Lucas Edmond discusses how Brian Pallister's austerity and corporatism in the midst of a pandemic is killing Manitobans. 

- Andre Picard rightly asks why we're seeing another wave of outbreaks in long-term care homes after having the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the spring. And Madeleine Ritts writes about the crisis of privatized, for-profit health care in Ontario.

- Finally, David Wastell reports on a push by economists to stop the media from reporting on the economy in terms of false analogies to household finances and credit card debts. And Alex Himelfarb highlights how spending during a pandemic and recovery period is absolutely necessary to build for what comes next:

For several months, as Canada’s governments were first taking on the pandemic and the economic shocks emanating from it, we witnessed something of a fiscal truce. Gone were the calls for restrained spending, small government, balanced budgets. Across the political spectrum governments were spending borrowed money. And across the political spectrum, observers of government—including many who had been lambasting the federal government for its pre-pandemic deficits and its lack of plan to get to balance—were for this brief moment welcoming or at least tolerating active government, deficit spending and increases to the public debt. 

...

Predictably, the deficit hawks have started to hover. Most headlines following the fiscal snapshot asked just how worried we should be about deficits and debt—and many pundits concluded plenty worried. “No way to put a shine on this,” said one; “Dire” said others; “Time to start winding down” said a few. And, following the age-old principles of “Misery loves company” and “What’s better than a race to the bottom?” some are calling for cuts to the public service and public service wages. Let the market do its thing as soon as possible, they’re saying, and start scaling government back down again. 

...

Disagreements about deficits and debt reflect more than differences among economists (of which there are aplenty); they highlight deeper ideological disagreements about what kind of country we want and the role of government in getting there. It’s important, then, to sort through the politics of deficits and debt. We need to explode the myths that have for decades stunted our political imagination, making us doubt whether we can afford what needs doing and convincing us that austerity, cutting spending and reining in government, is our only option. Austerity means squeezing essential services such as healthcare, education and welfare and foregoing or delaying public investment when all the evidence tells us that this is exactly the wrong way to go. 

...

We can expect—in fact we ought to have—serious debates about the shape of the post-pandemic recovery, about the future we want, about the role of government in building that future. We have an opportunity to learn from this pandemic, to address the inequities and cracks it revealed, to better prepare for the next crises. Important proposals for a feminist response, a “green new deal” and renewal consistent with reconciliation and Indigenous rights and racial justice show us what our future could be. We cannot afford to have those debates short-circuited by paranoia over deficits and debt. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

 Leveled cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- David MacDonald, Lindsay McLaren, Katherine Scott and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood each examine the Libs' fiscal update and find that headlines about progressive priorities mask the lack of much that's specific or new.

- Shamshad Ahktar, Kevin Gallagher and Ulrich Volz discuss the G20's modest moratorium on debt servicing charges, while highlighting the need for far deeper and wider debt relief.

- Andre Picard points out the need for planning to turn the promise of effective vaccines into an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. And Ronald Labonte and Mira Johri point out how intellectual property barriers will make it difficult to get vaccines and medications to the people who need them - or allow big pharma to extract exorbitant prices in exchange for a necessary public health measures. 

- PressProgress reports that rather than being held responsible for causing some of Canada's worst COVID outbreaks, private long-term care home operators are seizing the opportunity to lobby Doug Ford to provide even less protection for residents and workers. And Jessica Smith Cross highlights how Ford's government is stonewalling the commission which is supposed to be investigating the tragic spread of COVID-19 in care homes.

- Finally, Sharon Polsky examines the Kenney UCP's plans to sacrifice individual privacy in order to help private auto insurers extract more money.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Daniela Gabor writes that there's no reason to treat the spending needed to allow people to survive a pandemic-induced recession as an excuse for avoidable austerity.

- Seth Klein comments on the need to treat climate change as an emergency rather than a remote possibility. And Fiona Koza, Naolo Charles, Jennifer Beeman, Ingrid Waldron, Dayna Scott, Kristian Ferreira and Peter Wood discuss the opportunity for Canada to finally overcome a history of environmental racism. But Don Pittis points out how our climate breakdown has been pushed out of the centre of our current policy discussions - even as an inclusive Green New Deal represents the most sensible COVID-19 recovery plan. And Emily Atkin writes about the dangers of expecting solutions from the same systems and individuals who have failed to deal with the climate crisis before.

- Aaron Wherry examines the more glaring holes in the Cons' attempt to turn "great reset" into a sinister plot rather than the Libs' latest attempt at spin over substance, while the Star's editorial board highlights how it represents an attempt to normalize far-right conspiracy theories. And Tom Parkin notes that the Cons' failure to offer anything of value to voters looking for empathy and action is being reflected in their standing in the polls.

- Sean Frankling responds somewhat with evidence refuting an ugly attempt to use the need to work from home as an excuse to treat workers as dishonest. And the Economist goes further by charting how people are in fact working more hours during the pandemic.

- Finally, Jill Croteau reports on the glaring lack of action to apply the Westray Bill to hold employers responsible for causing the deaths of their workers.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- In the absence of leaders at any level of government willing to act on the scale needed to stop the coronavirus pandemic in much of Canada, Amir Attaran helpfully provides some minimum standards which could be applied across the country. And Nathaniel Dove and Anna McMillan report on a call from health sector workers for targeted shutdowns to meaningfully bend the curve in Saskatchewan, while Stephanie Taylor reports on the prospect that we could be facing massive increases in our case load by the first week of December.

- Andrew MacLean discusses the need for medical health officers to be able to speak openly and honestly to the citizens they serve, rather than having their messages and recommendations distorted by political considerations. And Gary Mason highlights what the recordings of Alberta meetings showed about the glaring gap between public health recommendations and the UCP's choices and orders.

- Meanwhile, the Progress Report exposes how Jason Kenney's government slipped $4 million to the NHL in a secret, sole-source contract while skimping on relief for Albertans.

- Natalie Kalata reports on the burnout being faced by frontline workers dealing with COVID-19, while Rosa Saba traces the difficulties in part to a lack of basic employment and labour protections. And Gabriela Panda-Beltrani notes that Saskatchewan's contact tracers are facing both understaffing in their workplaces, and deliberate abuse from the people they're trying to contact.

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk warns us against assuming that a vaccine will immediately put an end to the work that needs to be done in protecting against the continued spread of COVID-19.