2021-09

Thursday March 11, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 11, 2021

Vaccination passports: a long, tortuous road

Prepare for the next COVID-19 controversy: vaccine passports. The idea that vaccine, or immunity, passports will need to be developed and implemented manifests in two major ways. They can be loosely defined as domestic and international.

January 9, 2021

For the purpose of international travel, Canada won’t have much choice but to adopt vaccine passports. Countries around the world have already started down this road, including Israel and several European countries. Denmark and Sweden announced last month they are developing digital passports. President of the European Commissions Ursula von der Leyen tweeted March 1 that a proposed “Digital Green Pass” would help EU citizens move around safely. The pass will include a record of vaccination, or failing that of a negative COVID-19 test.

And Canadian airlines are already asking for the government to make vaccine passports part of the plan for reopening international travel.

September 19, 2020

So Canada needs to decide, and fairly soon, if it wants to be part of this worldwide movement. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed misgivings. He worries, as do many, about the potential of some people being unfairly and unintentionally targeted, such as people who cannot be vaccinated for reasons of immunosuppression. Others worry the passport may stigmatize those who, for whatever reason, choose not to get vaccinated. 

These are legitimate concerns, which is why this subject will only become more contentious over the coming weeks and months. Notwithstanding Trudeau’s concerns, Health Minister Patti Hajdu has said the government is having “very live” discussions with international partners. All things being equal, some form of international travel vaccine passport is pretty much inevitable, and those who don’t have one won’t be travelling. 

October 8, 2020

The contentiousness only gets thicker when you consider how this will apply domestically. Will provincial governments want proof of vaccination for interprovincial travel? That is relatively easy to police through airports, but what about land crossings? Given the Constitution guarantees Canadians freedom of movement, not just those vaccinated, how long until a legal challenge is launched? Might some provinces simply say you are not welcome unless you are vaccinated? (The likely answer is yes — look at the Maritime bubble.)

October 15, 2020

It’s not just about travel, either. Consider major events. Will those organizing football, hockey, basketball, concerts and graduations and the like want a virus-free environment? The only way to ensure that is through record of vaccination. So is someone who isn’t vaccinated precluded from attending?

Consider it at the individual level. If you are making a reservation with friends at your favourite restaurant, surely you are entitled to ask if the restaurant has restrictions for unvaccinated patrons. Even though you are protected, you could still carry the virus and pass it to unprotected people, such as your unvaccinated parents, friends and kids. 

Consider small to medium-sized businesses, already struggling through pandemic restrictions. At some, vaccinated patrons may demand proof of safe passage. If five per cent of the business’s customers refuse vaccination, will the business have to write off their business? Can they afford to do that given the financial pressure they are already under?

It’s headache-inducing. If everyone who can safely be vaccinated is, the problem will be dramatically reduced. But we know that isn’t likely to happen, that even with vaccine hesitancy reduced, a percentage of the population will stubbornly refuse. How the rest of us relate and interact with those people poses new and thorny challenges. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Wednesday March 10, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 10, 2021

Humans are using around 129 billion masks per month

We know that personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and face shields is important in protecting people against COVID-19.

April 22, 2020

But who’s protecting Mother Earth?

According to a study by the Environmental Science & Technology journal, humans around the globe are using approximately 129 billion disposable face masks and 65 billion plastic gloves every month.

And many of those masks have become litter in streets, beaches and oceans.

That waste is cause for concern for environmentalists like Rebecca Prince-Ruiz.

“There’s been an extraordinary rise in single-use plastics used in PPE,” said Prince-Ruiz, founder and executive director of Plastic Free Foundation, an organization aimed at limiting single-use plastics across the world.

“It’s the issue on top of everyone’s mind.”

Disposable masks are extremely important for front-line workers such as doctors and nurses.

Stopping their use isn’t an option.

But there are small things everyone can do to reduce waste, Prince-Ruiz said, such as wearing reusable masks.

Kids can also encourage adults to reduce their use of plastic gloves.

There are also companies finding creative solutions to this environmental issue. (Continued: CBC Kids) 

 

Tuesday March 9, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 9, 2021

Prince Harry clarifies that it was not Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip who commented on Archie’s skin color

During Sunday night’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey on CBS, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex revealed that there were discussions about “how dark” their baby’s skin color would be. On Monday morning, Oprah told “CBS This Morning” that neither Queen Elizabeth II nor Prince Phillip made the comments. 

January 22, 2020

After describing the conversations about how Archie would not be given the title of prince and how he wouldn’t have security, Meghan said there were discussions while she was pregnant about “how dark” Archie’s skin color would be.

“In those months when I was pregnant, all around the same time, so we have in tandem the conversation of, he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” Meghan said.

“What?” Oprah asked. “Who is having that conversation with you? What?”

January 13, 2020

Meghan said “so, um,” and Oprah said, “Hold up, there is a conversation?” Meghan replied, “There were several conversations.” 

“Potentially, and what that would mean and what that would look like,” Meghan said, adding that the conversations were with Harry. 

She wouldn’t reveal who it was who had the conversation with Harry, saying it “would be very damaging to them.”

May 19, 2018

“It was really hard to see those as compartmentalized conversations,” she added.

On Monday morning, Oprah told “CBS This Morning” that neither the queen nor her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was involved in that conversation. 

“[Harry] did not share the identity with me, but he wanted to make sure that I knew, and if I had the opportunity to share it, that it was not his grandmother or his grandfather that were part of those conversations,” Oprah told Gayle King. “I tried to get that answer on camera and off.”

Harry said he is “never going to share” more about the conversation about Archie’s skin tone, only saying it was “right at the beginning.”

The couple is now expecting their second child, a girl, due this summer.  (CBS) 

 

Saturday March 6, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 6, 2021

Payday lender lines of credit and instalment loans at 47% create debt traps, critics say

Patricia Edwards of Toronto wanted to help her two adult daughters when they fell behind on bill payments at the rented townhouse they share.  

October 18, 2006

She has few assets and a poor credit history, but she was employed at the time, so she went to a payday lender — not for a payday loan, but for an ongoing line of credit. 

“I was like, OK, let’s see if I qualify for the loan because I’m working.”

Edwards, 53, was able to borrow $1,500 early in 2019 from Cash Money. But then she lost her job, and in 2020 came the pandemic. She’s had to refinance the loan twice, and went to another lender, Money Mart, for an instalment loan that could be repaid over two years.

Now she’s close to $5,000 in debt, all in, paying nearly 47 per cent interest on both loans.

December 6, 2014

Her predicament, and that of many other Canadians like her, has a chorus of voices calling for industry reform. Activist groups, elected officials and even some smaller lending companies say financially vulnerable people are too often lured by payday lenders’ low bi-monthly payments on longer-term loans without realizing how the costs will add up.

“I’d love to get a bank loan,” said Edwards. “But I don’t have a car, I don’t have a home, I don’t have any assets. I don’t qualify.”

Payday lenders argue that’s exactly why their services are essential. They provide money to people in need who otherwise would be unable to borrow. 

December 11, 2015

In a statement to CBC News, the Canadian Consumer Finance Association, which represents close to 1,000 high-interest lenders across the country, said unsecured loans are expensive to provide, and that its members’ interest rates are government-approved. 

Acorn Canada, a national organization that advocates for low-income people, has taken aim at large payday lenders, organizing protests across the country and calling on the federal government to take action.

Donna Borden, vice-chair of Acorn’s East York chapter in Toronto, said the pandemic has forced more Canadians to turn to high-interest lenders.  

September 11, 2015

“A lot of people are using or taking these loans to buy food, to pay their rent,” she said. “And especially now with COVID, it’s even worse.” 

Instalment loans, where regular repayments are scheduled over a number of years, were the fastest growing segment of lending among payday companies, according to the results of a limited online survey conducted by Acorn in February. It found that the number of survey respondents who reported taking instalment loans had jumped from 11 per cent in 2016 to 45 per cent in 2020. 

Independent Sen. Pierrette Ringuette of New Brunswick has sponsored two bills to have the Criminal Code amended to lower the maximum interest rate that lenders can legally charge from 60 to 20 per cent plus the overnight bank rate. Neither bill moved forward due to prorogations and election calls, but Ringuette said she intends to sponsor another one.   

“Canada is like a gold mine to these institutions because of the current state of legislation we have in place,” she said. (CBC) 

 

Friday March 5, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 5, 2021

Pandemic Partisan Pile-ons

March 2, 2021

Only three months ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons and said that, when it came to vaccinations for COVID-19, Canada was in a superior position compared with its global peers. 

The government’s planning, he said, “resulted in us having the best portfolio of vaccines of any country in the world, with more doses per capita than any other country.”

But as of this week, Canada ranked behind more than 30 countries 

in vaccination rates. Its number of inoculated citizens stalled in February, hovering at about 5 per cent – while peer countries such as Britain and the United States, as well as poorer countries such as Chile and Morocco, have accelerated their rollout.

The government has assured Canadians the faltering start is now in the rearview mirror and a rapid increase in vaccine deliveries will see the country closing the gap.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trudeau said he was optimistic that Canada will be able to surpass his stated September deadline for getting shots to everyone. That end-of-summer deadline is in line with one set by Germany but behind Britain and the U.S.

How did the government go from proclaiming its performance was “the best” to fending off accusations that it had failed its citizens?

January 28, 2021

A Globe and Mail analysis has shown the Trudeau government’s lofty promises were never consistent with several hard realities: a severe lack of manufacturing capacity in a world obliged to vaccinate their own citizens first, as well as contracts with vaccine suppliers that appear to contain less-advantageous delivery schedules than those inked by Britain and the U.S.

What’s more, rather than prepare Canadians for an inevitable lag at the start of the vaccination schedule, the government relied on soaring rhetoric. It told Canadians it had hedged its bets and assured success by signing contracts with multiple international pharmaceutical giants. And although it’s certainly true that Ottawa placed wise bets on the vaccines first out of the clinical-trial gate – those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca – it didn’t properly explain to citizens that the global inoculation race had two distinct phases: first to purchase the vaccines and then to secure them.

“Canada, for some reason, was very quick to make purchases and really slow to invest in the manufacturing piece. I don’t know what went into those decisions,” said Andrea Taylor, a researcher with Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Centre, which has been tracking vaccine procurements around the world.

“They may have had more faith in the global supply chain than other countries.” (Globe & Mail) 

February 25, 2021

Meanwhile, Shipments are ramping up, more COVID-19 vaccines are getting approved, and expert advice to stretch the gap between doses means millions of Canadians could get the protection of a first dose sooner than expected. 

Taken together, those changes represent a significant shift from the delays and consternation that marked Canada’s national vaccine campaign in recent weeks.

But they have also left Ontario scrambling to keep up with the pace. 

Facing criticism over failing to prepare for the long-foreseen surge of doses that Ottawa ordered from overseas, Premier Doug Ford’s government is now set to table an updated vaccination schedule on Friday. 

The plan comes after a week that saw existing timelines — which were widely criticized as too vague and too slow — suddenly in flux. (Toronto Star)