The COVID-19 pandemic

[Rainrider22]

A bigger question I have is why we are still holding this foreign national for the US. They should either be sent to the US, or to China, we shouldn't be acting as jailor for the US, not under Biden, and certainly not under Trump.  This whole thing is bizarre, and been going on far far too long.

Because we have an extradition treaty with the United States and because under Canadian law an accused person arrested on behalf of another government has a right to contest the arrest before being extradited. It is possible that the arrest warrant was issued for political reasons, but we are a nation that follows the rule of law.

And extraditions take a long time....  I have done two, and let me tell you, the amount of work is monumental....

[tomh009]

We're getting more info as to why Canada is lagging behind all of the other countries when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine.

"Lagging behind all other countries" is very much hyperbole. If you look at the bigger countries, we don't look so bad at vaccination rates per 100,000:

• UK: 10.97 -- The only major country to approve the (locally-made) AstraZeneca vaccine; others have yet to approve due to insufficient or poor quality data from the trials. 
  
• US: 7.45 -- Used its clout to secure priority on locally-manufactured supplies of Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines.
  
• Canada: 2.31 -- Currently supply-constrained due to Pfizer manufacturing upgrade.
  
• Switzerland: 2.31 -- In spite of a big domestic pharma industry.
  
• EU: 2.19 -- Some EU countries have secured additional supplies independently.
  
• Norway -- 1.49
  
• Russia -- 0.55
  

Both Moderna and Pfizer execs have previously confirmed that Canadian orders are very close to the front of the line. Apart from US and UK (and a few special cases with Israel and the UAE) the Canadian vaccination rates are very similar to the rest of the developed world.

And our vaccine orders cover 3.3x of the population ... more than any other country.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid...tribution/

[tomh009]

China isn't my first choice, but the EU also clearly has protectionist aspects. Ultimately, we should have planned local production capability, along with a licensing scheme.

And that's what the SinoCan project was about. It didn't work out, but they were trying to secure local manufacturing capability.

[KevinL]

I wonder what we could do to get in the good graces of the new US Democrat administration - certainly our Liberals share many ideological parallels with them. I know there are issues we are opposed on - like Keystone XL - but many more should find common ground.

[ac3r]

President Biden has zero interest in helping Canada out

Where did you hear this? On Friday, Biden and Trudeau had a phone call and they discussed vaccine sharing. We're hoping to get some from the production plant in Michigan. Ford has also been pleading to the new administration to share some of their vaccine. Now that there is a new administration, I don't think they're just going to tell us "no sorry" and let us fend for ourselves, they are going to try and salvage the relationship between our two countries.

Also, as tomh009 pointed out, we're not doing that bad. The biggest issue right now is Pfizer temporarily slowing down production.

[tomh009]

WEDNESDAY 2021-01-27

Waterloo Region reported 72 new cases today (10.3% of the active cases) and three more for yesterday for a total of 69; 590 new cases for the week (-3), averaging 10.4% of active cases. 653 active cases, -205 in the last seven days.

Next testing report on Friday.

Ontario reported 1,670 new cases today with a seven-day average of 2,191 (-141). 2,725 recoveries and 49 deaths translated to a drop of 1,104 active cases and a new total of 21,932. -4,637 active cases for the week and 390 deaths (56 per day). 55,191 tests for a positivity rate of 3.03%, the lowest since early December. The positivity rate is averaging 4.30% for the past seven days, compared to 5.08% for the preceding seven.

377 patients in ICU (-6 today, -18 for the week), and 1,382 total hospital beds in use (-216 for the week).

• 128 cases in Niagara: 28.6 per 100K
  
• 342 cases in Peel: 24.7 per 100K
  
• 171 cases in York: 15.4 per 100K
  
• 450 cases in Toronto: 15.4 per 100K
  
• 84 cases in Hamilton: 14.5 per 100K
  
• 15 cases in Chatham-Kent: 14.2 per 100K
  
• 28 cases in Eastern Ontario: 13.8 per 100K
  
• 75 cases in Waterloo: 12.1 per 100K (based on provincial reporting)
  
• 15 cases in Brant: 11.0 per 100K
  
• 63 cases in Durham: 9.8 per 100K
  
• 37 cases in Windsor-Essex: 9.5 per 100K
  
• 14 cases in Thunder Bay: 9.3 per 100K
  
• 36 cases in Middlesex-London: 8.9 per 100K
  
• 48 cases in Halton: 8.8 per 100K
  
• 82 cases in Ottawa: 8.2 per 100K
  
• 6 cases in Huron Perth: 6.1 per 100K
  
• 21 cases in Simcoe-Muskoka: 3.9 per 100K
  
• 10 cases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 3.7 per 100K
  

[danbrotherston]

I wonder what we could do to get in the good graces of the new US Democrat administration - certainly our Liberals share many ideological parallels with them. I know there are issues we are opposed on - like Keystone XL - but many more should find common ground.

This isn't about getting in the good graces of the US Democrat administration (nor do I think "getting in the good graces" should necessarily be a goal of the country). Ultimately, the US is increasingly protectionist and nationalistic. We align in the areas where we are not inconflict with those.

As for being "opposed" on Keystone XL...some of our provinces, and our federal government (for some bizarre reason) are in conflict with the US administration, but just under half of Canadians support Keystone XL...it's not a particularly popular project in Canada (hence why it is bizarre our federal government is so in love with it).

[Acitta]

I wonder what we could do to get in the good graces of the new US Democrat administration - certainly our Liberals share many ideological parallels with them. I know there are issues we are opposed on - like Keystone XL - but many more should find common ground.

This isn't about getting in the good graces of the US Democrat administration (nor do I think "getting in the good graces" should necessarily be a goal of the country). Ultimately, the US is increasingly protectionist and nationalistic. We align in the areas where we are not inconflict with those.

As for being "opposed" on Keystone XL...some of our provinces, and our federal government (for some bizarre reason) are in conflict with the US administration, but just under half of Canadians support Keystone XL...it's not a particularly popular project in Canada (hence why it is bizarre our federal government is so in love with it).

It is not that the federal government is in love with it, it is that a large portion of Albertans are in love with it and any political party that wants to get votes in that province better take an interest in their interests. Resource extraction has provided a lot of high paying jobs in Canada and the west in particular which is why the conflict between the environment and the economy continues to be a difficult problem for governments.

[ijmorlan]

Because we have an extradition treaty with the United States and because under Canadian law an accused person arrested on behalf of another government has a right to contest the arrest before being extradited. It is possible that the arrest warrant was issued for political reasons, but we are a nation that follows the rule of law.

And extraditions take a long time....  I have done two, and let me tell you, the amount of work is monumental....

I think the real question is why extraditions take so long. Although I have a vague memory that maybe a lot of the delay is due to legal maneuvering by the defendant? But in any case it simply shouldn’t take this long to figure out if we are or are not going to do the extradition, regardless of how much the defendant wants to delay.

I mean, a few months I can understand, but she was arrested 2018-12-01, over 2 years ago.

[danbrotherston]

This isn't about getting in the good graces of the US Democrat administration (nor do I think "getting in the good graces" should necessarily be a goal of the country). Ultimately, the US is increasingly protectionist and nationalistic. We align in the areas where we are not inconflict with those.

As for being "opposed" on Keystone XL...some of our provinces, and our federal government (for some bizarre reason) are in conflict with the US administration, but just under half of Canadians support Keystone XL...it's not a particularly popular project in Canada (hence why it is bizarre our federal government is so in love with it).

It is not that the federal government is in love with it, it is that a large portion of Albertans are in love with it and any political party that wants to get votes in that province better take an interest in their interests. Resource extraction has provided a lot of high paying jobs in Canada and the west in particular which is why the conflict between the environment and the economy continues to be a difficult problem for governments.

Uhh...yeah, that's my point...Trudeau won't ever get votes in Alberta, which is why it makes no sense that he's pushing so hard on pipelines. I mean, politically, it appears to be idiotic, he's pandering to people who hate him...and I don't mean, disagree with him, I mean HAAATE him ... never in a million years would vote for him.

And he is doing so to the detriment of his base. The rest of Canada the pipeline is fairly unpopular, but even if it was neutral, that's money that isn't spent on things that ARE popular in the rest of Canada.

Now I'm not suggesting that a good politician shouldn't implement unpopular policies, or seek to represent those who didn't vote for them, but they should do so by implementing good policy, not by pandering with bad policy. It's utterly bizarre to me.

[Acitta]

It is not that the federal government is in love with it, it is that a large portion of Albertans are in love with it and any political party that wants to get votes in that province better take an interest in their interests. Resource extraction has provided a lot of high paying jobs in Canada and the west in particular which is why the conflict between the environment and the economy continues to be a difficult problem for governments.

Uhh...yeah, that's my point...Trudeau won't ever get votes in Alberta, which is why it makes no sense that he's pushing so hard on pipelines. I mean, politically, it appears to be idiotic, he's pandering to people who hate him...and I don't mean, disagree with him, I mean HAAATE him ... never in a million years would vote for him.

And he is doing so to the detriment of his base. The rest of Canada the pipeline is fairly unpopular, but even if it was neutral, that's money that isn't spent on things that ARE popular in the rest of Canada.

Now I'm not suggesting that a good politician shouldn't implement unpopular policies, or seek to represent those who didn't vote for them, but they should do so by implementing good policy, not by pandering with bad policy.  It's utterly bizarre to me.

Ya, but the Liberals are always trying to please everybody and end up pleasing nobody.

[danbrotherston]

Uhh...yeah, that's my point...Trudeau won't ever get votes in Alberta, which is why it makes no sense that he's pushing so hard on pipelines. I mean, politically, it appears to be idiotic, he's pandering to people who hate him...and I don't mean, disagree with him, I mean HAAATE him ... never in a million years would vote for him.

And he is doing so to the detriment of his base. The rest of Canada the pipeline is fairly unpopular, but even if it was neutral, that's money that isn't spent on things that ARE popular in the rest of Canada.

Now I'm not suggesting that a good politician shouldn't implement unpopular policies, or seek to represent those who didn't vote for them, but they should do so by implementing good policy, not by pandering with bad policy.  It's utterly bizarre to me.

Ya, but the Liberals are always trying to please everybody and end up pleasing nobody.

Well, I haven't seen them pleasing me, which is why I did not vote for them last election. The fact that they have bought a pipeline but didn't do electoral reform...well, it takes a lot to make me disappointed in one of the two major parties.

[tomh009]

It seems that they are waiting for a decision on how to deal with the contempt of court order in this case.

Sure.

But my point was if they were not white (sorry for having to spell this out), something different would have occurred. That's just fact. Unfortunately.

The chapel was found to be in contempt of court this morning. Sentencing will not be until next month, though. Charges for individual church leaders are still pending.
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...court.html

In related news, the police union supports the police chief's decision to not attempt to disperse the gathering, given hundreds of unmasked people inside the building.
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...ering.html

[Rainrider22]

And extraditions take a long time....  I have done two, and let me tell you, the amount of work is monumental....

I think the real question is why extraditions take so long. Although I have a vague memory that maybe a lot of the delay is due to legal maneuvering by the defendant? But in any case it simply shouldn’t take this long to figure out if we are or are not going to do the extradition, regardless of how much the defendant wants to delay.

I mean, a few months I can understand, but she was arrested 2018-12-01, over 2 years ago.

There are a great number of involved agencies both within Canada and within the other involved country (in this case the US).  Within each agency, they need to review the orders as written, then put their own language into it.  In some cases it is a job justification....  I have done both Mexico and Costa Rica,  fun times...

[danbrotherston]

I think the real question is why extraditions take so long. Although I have a vague memory that maybe a lot of the delay is due to legal maneuvering by the defendant? But in any case it simply shouldn’t take this long to figure out if we are or are not going to do the extradition, regardless of how much the defendant wants to delay.

I mean, a few months I can understand, but she was arrested 2018-12-01, over 2 years ago.

There are a great number of involved agencies both within Canada and within the other involved country (in this case the US).  Within each agency, they need to review the orders as written, then put their own language into it.  In some cases it is a job justification....  I have done both Mexico and Costa Rica,  fun times...

But these things can largely happen in parallel.

It just seems there is no urgency to resolving this situation, even though it continues to cause harm to our relationship with China.

The one thing that the corrupt former Senate Majority Leader Mitch ... who cares what his name is...has taught us, is that when properly motivated, whether that motivation is to improve your country or to try to steal and corrupt branches of government for your own parties benefit, even a world famous do nothing organization can do things very quickly.