CDN/US Covid-related political discussion

[Jarnhamar]

Liberals retreat on sweeping bill to allow them to tax and spend without Parliament’s approval

The Liberal government announced late Monday that it has agreed to change draft legislation that proposed to grant itself wide-reaching new powers to tax and spend without parliamentary approval until Dec. 31, 2021, through an emergency spending bill.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-emergency-spending-bill-gives-cabinet-sweeping-powers-to-tax-and-spend/

Nice try Liberals.



Moved: Post better suited to politics than the covid thread.

 

[CBH99]

Liberals apologize after hiding $183K in contracts awarded to environmental group

The Liberal government has been forced to apologize after coming clean about concealing nearly $200,000 in contracts awarded to an environmental group.

https://torontosun.com/news/national/liberals-apologize-after-hiding-183k-in-contracts-awarded-to-environmental-group#click=https://t.co/p0EhvQCiOd


Oh Seamus lol

“deeply sorry”

That's it.  Screw it.  I'm going back to school or taking some courses in small business, and I'm going to learn me these skills of how to get government grants.

$25,000 a pop for consultations?  $1.7 million in grants?


Going to spend my isolation time researching these processes & requirements.  Hopefully the bill is on me for the next Army.ca Meet & Greet 

 

[Jarnhamar]

;D

 

[PuckChaser]

Unbelievable but not surprising that the Liberals would try to sneak this language in AFTER negotiating the content of the bill with the Opposition. It was never going to pass, they need unanimous House consent to pass it, but it was a trial balloon to see if they could avoid confidence motions for well after COVID-19 is not an issue anymore. Can you imagine the literal implosion of Twitter if Harper had tried to do this during the 2008 Recession?

 

[Cloud Cover]

This is a must read. Scott Reid, Ontario Conservative MP, gives his reasons for his disobedience of  party whip and attending Parliament today to oppose government planned legislation. Read with an open mind. https://scottreid.ca/why-i-am-in-the-house-today/

 

[ModlrMike]

I guess "Just watch me." has more than one application.

 

[Jarnhamar]

This is a must read. Scott Reid, Ontario Conservative MP, gives his reasons for his disobedience of  party whip and attending Parliament today to oppose government planned legislation. Read with an open mind. https://scottreid.ca/why-i-am-in-the-house-today/

That was an amazing read thanks for posting that.

 

[garb811]

For those on the board who are advocating for the "no restrictions" approach to responding, we just might see that theory in action South of the border...

Trump says he wants the U.S. 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter'

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants the nation "opened up and just raring to go by Easter," a date just more than two weeks away that few health experts believe will be sufficient in containing the spread of coronavirus.

Speaking during a Fox News town hall, Trump reiterated he was eager to see the nation return to normal, even as doctors warn the nation will see a massive spike in cases if Americans return to crowded workplaces or events.

"I give it two weeks," Trump said earlier in the town hall, suggesting he was ready to phase out his 15-day self-isolating guidelines when they expire. "I guess by Monday or Tuesday, it's about two weeks. We will assess at that time and give it more time if we need a little more time. We have to open this country up."
...
More at link

 

[mariomike]

For those on the board who are advocating for the "no restrictions" approach to responding, we just might see that theory in action South of the boarder...

Hopefully, their politicians and media personalities will heed the advice of medical experts.

Or, the lesson Toronto had to learn the hard way during SARS 2.

 

[Altair]

So the USA,  at the executive level, is prepared to sacrifice up to 2.5 percent of their population,  8 million people, for the sake of their econony,  the same executive that says they are pro life.

Ironic really.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

So the USA,  at the executive level, is prepared to sacrifice up to 2.5 percent of their population,  8 million people, for the sake of their econony,  the same executive that says they are pro life.

Ironic really.

The same equation is done with Vaccines, no matter how beneficial, a small percentage will react badly to them. That all good as long as you and your loved one are not in that small percentage, then it's everything. Once you get to the Public Health Level, it's no longer a issue about the individual, but about the population as a whole. My sister inlaw is at that level in the Malaysian government and I seen it in ours. If the economy tanks for to long, then you see a spike in deaths from other causes. Sometimes there is no win, only a lesser bad.

 

[FJAG]

... Why is Italy being so hard hit compared to other countries in the region?    :dunno:

Italy has a large Chinese population and I expect, that considering the time of year (Chinese New Year), there was a fair bit of travel back to China and then back again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_people_in_Italy

:cheers:

 

[Eaglelord17]

Well not to be alarmist but when this is all done an do economy starts to recover I predict that the government will be forced to make cuts like it or not.  It might start with class B cuts, hiring freezes and cutting students and contractors.  It may go deeper after that.  Reserve units and regular force battalions may have to merge etc etc. 

Teachers might be cut after all provincially. 


But who knows.

One thing is for certain, expect nurses and doctors to get hired for a while.

Don't worry, our debt will once this is all over be too large to ever seek to control again. I suspect the solution shall just to be to run up the debt for a couple more decades of excess, followed by defaulting when we finally can no longer service it.

 

[Altair]

The same equation is done with Vaccines, no matter how beneficial, a small percentage will react badly to them. That all good as long as you and your loved one are not in that small percentage, then it's everything. Once you get to the Public Health Level, it's no longer a issue about the individual, but about the population as a whole. My sister inlaw is at that level in the Malaysian government and I seen it in ours. If the economy tanks for to long, then you see a spike in deaths from other causes. Sometimes there is no win, only a lesser bad.

Yes,  of course.

The only problem here is that with that 2.5 percent death rate from the virus itself,  there is the collapse of the health care system.

Every car crash victim, cardiac arrest, medical complication, gun shot victim,  that can no longer be treated because a covid 19 patient is taking up medical staff and ventilators,  staff that are getting sick themselves and ventilators that the west doesn't have.

The danger lies more in the collapse of health care system than the virus itself.

 

[stellarpanther]

For those on the board who are advocating for the "no restrictions" approach to responding, we just might see that theory in action South of the border...

Trump says he wants the U.S. 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter'

It would be nice but I haven't heard many say its reasonable, the peak in New York isn't expected for 2-3 more weeks.  It's pipe dream in my opinion.

 

[Altair]

Don't worry, our debt will once this is all over be too large to ever seek to control again. I suspect the solution shall just to be to run up the debt for a couple more decades of excess, followed by defaulting when we finally can no longer service it.

If Canada and the west(US about to dump 2 trillion in stimulus) could survive the spending that went along with 6 years it took to defeat Hitler,  then they can survive a year of this

 

[BeyondTheNow]

Folks,

As was inevitable, there’s simply too many tangents to discuss inclusive of “All things Covid.”

I’m going to start this thread for the sole purpose of discussing heavily politically-leaning aspects of the Covid crisis.

Please continue with covid-related political comments in this thread.

Thank you,
Staff

 

[Brad Sallows]

>Trump says he wants the U.S. 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter'

The power to re-open stuff resides with those who closed stuff, mostly with the states and municipalities.  But everyone does need to start thinking about how and when to move in that direction - shutdowns can't be used to buy an indefinite amount of time, and there is no time to simply relax and not plan ahead.  A couple of articles I read suggested that each day, planners need to look at where they expect to be in 3 weeks.

 

[OceanBonfire]

For those on the board who are advocating for the "no restrictions" approach to responding, we just might see that theory in action South of the border...

Trump says he wants the U.S. 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter'

Unsurprisingly, most say it's a bad idea:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/president-trump-pushes-to-reopen-u-s-economy-state-governors-push-back-idUSKBN21B1EC

 

[Altair]

>Trump says he wants the U.S. 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter'

The power to re-open stuff resides with those who closed stuff, mostly with the states and municipalities.  But everyone does need to start thinking about how and when to move in that direction - shutdowns can't be used to buy an indefinite amount of time, and there is no time to simply relax and not plan ahead.  A couple of articles I read suggested that each day, planners need to look at where they expect to be in 3 weeks.

Which is impossible to tell without mass testing.

As long as there arare asymptomatic people out there spreading it this thing will continue to double every few days.