I completely forgot that the First Lady of Canada, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, had coronavirus in March. She was part of that crazy infection cell on WE Day in the UK – so many people ended up testing positive shortly after that day, including Idris Elba. Canada locked down in March around the same time that the United States was doing a staggered, state-by-state lockdown. The US has an unhinged white supremacist idiot in charge, and it has never shown more than in our response to the pandemic. While other countries like Canada and most of the European Union successfully locked down and greatly minimized their infection rates over the course of four months, America has not. It’s really bad here and there are 50,000-plus people testing positive every day now. So… Justin Trudeau has some thoughts:
A month after Justin Trudeau went silent in his response to President Donald Trump’s handling of George Floyd protesters, the Canadian prime minister had some choice words for the White House’s approach to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We were able to control the virus better than many of our allies, particularly including our neighbor,” Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The 48-year-old leader held a press conference after declining the Trump administration’s invitation to come to Washington, D.C., to celebrate the start of a North American trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador attended, but Trudeau cited scheduling issues.
“We wish the United States and Mexico well at Wednesday’s meeting,” the prime minister’s office told CNN. “While there were recent discussions about the possible participation of Canada, the Prime Minister will be in Ottawa this week for scheduled Cabinet meetings and the long-planned sitting of Parliament.”
Trudeau’s critical comments come as the U.S. passed 3 million confirmed cases of the virus, according to a New York Times tracker following the available data. More than 131,000 people have died in the U.S. Canada — which has a fraction of the U.S.’ population — also has a fraction of its cases and deaths. Canada had 106,167 total confirmed cases of the COVID-19 respiratory illness and 8,711 deaths as of Wednesday, according to the Times.
“We’ve been focused on keeping you safe and getting you the support you need since the beginning of this pandemic, and this morning I’m giving an update on where we are and the road ahead,” Trudeau tweeted before he addressed reporters outside his Ottawa residence on Wednesday.
I feel the same way about this that I felt about countries banning American travelers: we deserve it. We deserve to be banned. We deserve to be criticized and mocked. We deserve all of the derision entirely. Other countries are debating staggered openings while Americans debate whether face masks are some kind of political conspiracy. It’s devastating to live in this stupid country. In fact, I have to thank Trudeau for not going harder on Canada’s crazy, methhead, coronavirus-ridden Southern neighbors.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Justin’s absolutely right. Also, I find him so hot.
@Darla
+100000000
I’m glad I’m not the only one perving over this hot man with his hot arse. I don’t want to be banned from this site, so I probably shouldn’t go into more detail as to what kind of near illegal thoughts I had, seeing that top picture.
Don’t worry. Canadian here and many of us perv all the time. He’s not perfect by any means (politics-wise) but I’d hit it in a hot second.
😻 I understand Ivankas quandary. Ahhhh I am so funky with this country right now that I’m liquidating stocks and if he wins again I’m going back to my homeland, England. I just cannot with any of this crap Trump has dumped on the whole world. It has to be better there? I haven’t been in ten years, I wonder how that would go, the only thing is the weather. I’m so spoiled with the weather in my current location and as I get older my achy bones….
This corona stuff is hard on everyone, and America is handling it ok considering everything (your president). We are post the 1st wave and it’s really a new normal, it feels like nothing will ever be the same.
Đoković happened in Zadar, what can I say.
As for Canada…
He is hotter than ever, I stand by my opinion.
@Laalaa
Standing right there with you
The first wave hasn’t ended. We’re not handling things okay. It’s a shit show.
I live in SoCal, and things are getting much worse here. People are approaching basic hygiene and safety along political lines, as some sort of stupid statement about their freedoms. I was in line for the pharmacy at Target on Tuesday, and an erratic (likely on narcotics, possibly homeless) man cut in the front of the line, started rearranging shelves, and when confronted, started coughing on people. He was wearing a very loose surgical mask on his mouth, but the way he was hacking was so awful and threatening. We kept backing up and he kept coming closer. I went and got a manager and don’t know what happened after. There were many people in the store without masks, but walking like they were inviting people to confront them. Given the more explicit MAGA/white supremacy presence in our community lately, I wouldn’t doubt that they were looking for a fight. Thankfully Conceal/Carry permits are not common in California, nor do we have the asinine “Stand Your Ground” laws, so people are slightly less likely to pull a gun in you if you challenge them. Slightly. Maybe not.
Noodle that’s horrible. This is all like something out of the Walking Dead isn’t it? I keep thinking these MAGAts are analogous to Zombies somehow. I can’t get it out of my head. I mean, this has become really really creepy.
@Darla, it is really disturbing. I just don’t know where we went from “Let’s protect each other, especially the most vulnerable among us”, to “I am going to listen to a frequent declarer-of-bankruptcy reality show star over actual scientists and those invested in public health”. I would hope that everyone, regardless of party affiliation, would want to protect their neighbors, their families, their children, for the sake of the common good. And I get it, I am bored out of my mind too. I work full-time and have three kids at home and I would love nothing more than to send them to camps and school and get a freaking break once in a while. But not at the cost of the health of others. I would never forgive myself if I caused someone else to get seriously ill and die. Never.
Agreeing with everybody here saying the U.S. is not handling this pandemic well on the whole. Living in AZ, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m amongst some of THE most ignorant people in the world. From our Trump-licking Governor, to the city councilman yelling, “I can’t breathe,” at an anti-mask rally in late June, to the blatantly unmasked woman at my post office on Monday taking video of other patrons wearing masks (finally mandated by the Gov.)… they are all selfish *sses. When I heard this woman telling the clerk, “God bless you,” I couldn’t help but say loudly, “God’s not going to save people from your germs lady.” The people ahead and behind of me nodded (as I bit my tongue). She waited for me outside but then scampered off when I exited. I’m glad, because I didn’t want to end up on the evening news and realize I should be more disciplined. Sigh. Their “freedom” to not mask ends when it puts others at risk. Simple to understand.
We’re not handling it okay. I’m afraid to go out to a store because I can’t count on my fellow Americans to help protect me in the way I’m protecting them. And people have made masks, hygiene, and working for the common good into a political issue. If a freaking pandemic can’t unite the country, nothing will.
Agree with all saying we’re not handling it well. I had to go to the other side of my state, the red side, for family matters. I miss my family and our Tribal gatherings. There are Native activities on this side, but we’re also all unique. But, I am lucky to have that community here too. Anyway, I don’t eat much fast food, but I was exhausted and hungry on the way home and went through a drive-through in a little town. The line was long and people without masks were going in and out, then in the line I could see the first cashier (getting money) didn’t wear a mask, nor the second one (giving out the food). I felt being brown if I just pulled out of line and drove away, I’d have the cops on me in a hot second – it’s happened to me a lot in that area for just driving by (another long story, but a white person completely drove through a stop sign in front of me and a cop already following turned on his siren and then pulled me over). So I got to the window and could see no one there, worker or customers, wore masks and I said I’d pay, but please don’t give me the food. She was mad, but then wouldn’t take the money. Combined with all the political signs around, including a hand-painted one saying watch F*x news only, for fair, balanced reporting (an involuntary laugh immediately came out of my mouth), I knew I wanted to be out of there. I had to search for the nearest gas a bit further along and went through another small town, still no one wearing masks, more offensive signs and a ranch arch that proudly had two nooses hanging up. After that I held everything until I could get toward the other side of the state. The glares I got and all the other indicators, including no precautions for not spreading the virus, made it clear I was not welcome. It’s a sh*t show out there. I still want safety for all people, though, and I wish they could understand it’s not a political matter.
I should add masks are mandated in our entire state and, no, I didn’t report the business.
@LIlly, that is heartbreaking. Your fear about being brown in the town, coupled with the complete lack of concern for others, is totally understandable, and just plain sad. I am sorry.
I’m not sure where you get your news from, but America is handling this like a toddler in the throes of a tantrum. Rates are going back up, dramatically in many areas. People refuse to wear masks. I’m in Miami and it’s ridiculous here, Florida’s rate of contact tracing is 17%. Canada should keep its borders closed to Americans, and I say this as a Canadian-born who desperately wants to go home and visit her mom but would also prefer that I and my family all survive this pandemic so I am staying home. Literally. I go to my dad’s house and I walk my dog. That’s it. I’m now almost six months overdue for a mammogram and too scared to go.
Does that sound OK to you?
We’re still in the first wave.
2 things and one is very much superficial I know so don’t come for me.
I wish WE had a real leader because what we have now is just…
I think Justin Trudeau is all kinds of swoon worthy. That grey in the beard !!!
That’s all I got
While the US has 10/x the population of Canada, the difference in the numbers is drastic. Canada had around 267 new cases yesterday while the US had over 61,000. I hope the US turns it around and I also hope as Canadians we continue to take it seriously and don’t get complacent. There’s a second wave coming and we need to be diligent…
Canada still has some of those anti-mask morons out there…also a lot of racist incidents towards Asians (videos are on-line to see). Canada also has one of the highest amounts of death due to Covid-19 in the world regarding Long Term Care facilities. It was a shit show. There are also huge outbreaks on farms here because foreign workers aren’t being protected. Canada is doing ok because of our smaller population but we can do a lot better.
Yep! We should and could have done better and neither Ontario or Quebec seem well organized for September and the start of the school year.
I work in Academia and while my university has done a really good job (I rarely praise them, but this time, they’re doing good), it’s really hard for us to plan anything when we get relevant info through press conferences because the Premier or Education Ministry doesn’t send us a memo before anything is announced on TV. And we still have it better than elementary and high schools, it’s a nightmare there. It was also annoying to be lied to on TV, early on when they were saying that we had enough PPE and reagents for testing while we had to donate gloves, masks and PCR reagents (even the expired stuff) to the hospitals while we were shutting down our labs. We did ok overall, but darn! We could have been better organized, we shouldn’t have had part-time aids working in multiple LTC facilities (give them a full-time position in one place!), we shouldn’t have so many agencies that don’t talk to one another… There are so many things that need to be improved and quickly
One thing I’ll say though, testing these days in Montreal is pretty efficient. I went to the walk-in clinic in Tuesday because I had a sore throat and a stuffy nose and wanted to make sure I rule out covid since we’ve re-opened the labs and I have to meet ppl: the wait was about 35min and I got my neg result back in less than 24hrs. I was impressed!
To all my fellow Canadian CBers: I know this is way off topic but I have been binge watching Canadian TV via the streaming Service ACORN TV since the lock-down began. I absolutely love Murdoch Mysteries and Frankie Drake.
I love your Prime Minster too.
US American = Yank
Canadian = ?????
@ME, are they not quarantining the farm workers as they come into the country? Here in BC, everyone gets quarantined for two weeks upon arrival. We had a smaller(?) outbreak at one of the orchards in the Okanagan, but it’s under control now. I’m not sure about the coastal blueberry farms.
@Lady D, they are “quarantining” the workers on the farms (not that they’re that much allowed to go out in regular times anyway), also, they can catch it after they arrive too… They live in fairly closed quarters and don’t always get good access to doctors if needed. I also doubt that sick individuals are truly separated from the others or that they don’t get penalized if they can’t work due to sickness so they might want to hide their symptoms in order to work… Their work conditions have always been tough even during normal times
fellow Canadian here
@Lady D – most of our foreign workers who were affected work in places like meat packing plants. They wanted to slow the work and move to rotating schedules but the owners were reluctant to implement social distancing measures, provide masks, or other basic requirements. Many of them carpool as well for affordability. They are the vulnerable minimum wage workers who have few rights and advocates.
We are using franchise restaurants (Tim Hortons and McDonalds) to hand out masks because it is more efficient than our postal system right now.
The thing that most people miss when talking about our lower population – about 90% of our population live within an hour of the border, so we aren’t spread out as much as the population/land mass suggests. Toronto/Detroit and Vancouver/Seattle are in close proximity and although the density rate is higher in the Canadian cities and the rate of infection is much lower.
@ Lady D
Yes they must isolate for 2 weeks once arriving in the country. It’s been reported the workers caught the virus here and didn’t bring it with them. They live in tiny bunk houses so if one person catches it they can spread it very easily. Last week the province stated the workers that test positive but have no symptoms were still allowed to work on the farms ! I couldn’t believe they were allowing this. They now changed their minds and aren’t allowing any positive cases to work. The issue is some migrant workers don’t want to get tested because they are afraid of deportation. There is a large number of them that are undocumented. These workers are treated like cattle. It’s disgusting. They have zero rights while here doing jobs us Canadians aren’t willing to do. It makes me sad. Yet Canada is acting so proud of itself. Please we should be ashamed.
Don’t get me started on what happened to the migrant workers. I grew up. Or too far from Leamington where the largest outbreaks happened. There has been a system of migrant farm workers coming from Mexico for the spring and summer and then returning home to Mexico for the winter. The federal government supports this and provides grants to the farmers and greenhouse owners who get to use the workers and not pay top dollar. The farmers are obligated to ensure that they have proper accommodations for the workers since they live there for months at a time.
Well as you can guess some of the owners have crap places for them to stay and they are often bunkhouses where a virus can spread like wildfire. Also they pressured the workers not to get tested because if they don’t show symptoms they can do the job. This only got notice when a young Mexican worker of about 24 died of Covid. He did not get tested or treatment soon enough. Then another 30 something died in the same area.
This caused that part of Essex county to be kept in the earlier lock down stages and finally the provincial government supported on site testing at the greenhouses and the local health unit doctor shut down a farm because over 150 workers tested positive in one day.
Special permission was given to these companies to permit these workers to come from outside of Canada and some of the greedy owners abused that privileged and did not put in proper social distancing practices for the workers or give them enough PPE.
The province could have shut down these farms way earlier, but they made the local doctor who is head of the health unit do that so he would face the recriminations by the owners of the farms and greenhouses.
Many of these greenhouses cultivate marijuana and make a killing. The security around these particular greenhouses are insane.
Anyway this is another case of the government letting the private sector profit on the bodies of the people with little social power, as you can imagine that migrant workers don’t have the same level of pull to get help.
Yeah, Americans don’t seem to understand that Canada is actually very urban – over 80 per cent of Canadians live in cities.
Also, when it comes to how we handled the pandemic, I think we did OK. Not great, not terrible. BUT I think our roll out of the economic safety net was EXCELLENT. That the relief benefits rolled out as quickly and effectively – when everyone involved was working at a distance – was a triumph of our civil service.
My husband tells me I shouldn’t say these things. But for 4 months up here in the NE we have been locked down, social distancing, required to wear masks and we got this virus under control. Most of us did what we had to do to contain the virust. We are all scared that this is now going to be messed up. And can you blame us?
This is exactly how I feel (in MD.) We’ve been social distancing, wearing masks (even in my very red county, I haven’t seen anyone in a store not wearing a mask), following the reopening protocols, and we’ve been doing pretty well (I’m pretty surprised, because our tourist spots are crowded) – but I don’t know what’s going to happen if numbers continue to rise in other states.
Totally agree! I am from Texas but have lived in the NE for nearly 20 years and am horrified by my home state. People in NE (at least where I am) have been so careful and conscientious. It’s not difficult to be considerate.
I wish travel between states could be banned. Or even travel between counties within states. Ridiculous that people in dumb states could go around spreading their germs in places that are working hard to contain the virus. And I speak from one of the dumb states. Here, Birmingham is number one by a wide margin and we in Mobile are battling it out with Montgomery for number two spot-we go back and forth. Other hot spots are the college towns. No reason we should devastate the smaller rural counties that don’t even have hospitals.
Totally agree. I live in NY and I am just so scared that everything we did to get our numbers down is just going to be all for naught thanks to people who just have to go to the south or just have to have a party.
We already had one outbreak thanks to some spoiled brat partying down in Florida and infecting her graduating class. I have a fear there will be many more.
When asked why he wasn’t going to the US to celebrate the start of a North American trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, Trudeau said, “Um… I’ve got to wash my hair.”
*snort*
Yes admittedly all levels of government in Canada have come together in a non partisan way to flatten the curve and control the spread.
Contrary to what many Americans think, there are still many US citizens getting across the border to Canada and not self isolating. I know many Canadians are disturbed by this as we know the second wave is very likely. We have seen a second wave in almost every European country.
While 90 percent of Canadians will wear a mask, there are still some who refuse and seem to enjoy making a spectacle of themselves on social media.
Yes that American student who came in from the U.S. and spread the virus in P.E.I. That province hadn’t had a case of Covid-19 for months, and then a long comes this American who thinks “hey I don’t need to quarantine, who will find out?”. F*cking moron.
Yeah that person is in Halifax. Apparently someone from PEI visited him in NS and then went home to PEI. I’ve been home in Halifax since March 19th. We went about 14 days with no cases and then bam we were hit again. BUT we are doing much better than the US. And yes there is racism here as well, and covidiots who won’t wear a mask. I despise wearing a mask but I wear one every time I go out of my house.
I live in a remote area of the BC west coast and in the last few weeks I have seen more US license plates on the road than Canadian. I am deeply concerned that the border is porous to those who feel their right to a vacation outweighs the community’s right to be safe.
Take down license plate numbers and report them to the RCMP. There is a loophole which allows US citizens to come into Canada if they say they are going to Alaska, but many are lying and vacationing in Alberta and BC. Authorities are advising Canadians to call the RCMP if they see this happening.
I think you can also report them to the #811. It’s a health line for Canadians. You can also email that info to reporters who get to question Dr. Henry. They might get the chance to ask her about it. I saw Dakota plates at the local pot shop last week.
I have read that some Americans are saying that they are heading to Alaska so they let them drive through. Maybe we need the Mounties to escort these fools out of the country.
@Nic919 – I’m on Vancouver Island and there’s no need to drive up island to get to Alaska, it would involve a long drive and one, if not more, ferry rides. And yet we are seeing Americans arriving here, many by boat, and coming into marinas, stores and restaurants without wearing masks or social distancing. They can do the “but mah rights!!!” BS all they want south of the border but here they must adhere to the province’s regulations. Most are not. It’s very depressing – Vancouver Island, by virtue of being an island, has had a very low infection/death rate and had gone for weeks without a new case. Just within the past week we’ve had a couple of new cases. I don’t mean to paint all Americans with the same brush, there are just as many who are taking adequate safety precautions, but people here are getting angry. This is a global issue and the whole planet needs to march to the beat of the same drum, and America should be leading the way.
I’m on Vancouver Island and there’s been a big uptick of US vehicles managing to get across the border so they can allegedly get to Alaska. Vancouver Island is in NO way a Point A to Point B part of the journey. I have no idea why Canadian Border Control isn’t (1) doing a better job screening at the border and (2) not screening vehicles in the ferry line ups. We have so few cases right now and need to get through the summer without these morons thinking it’s a great time to take a vacation up here. Go home. We don’t want you here.
Many people in Canada are still being twats. A woman was yelled at yesterday in the grocery store for coming in too close in line where it’s clearly marked and she barked back, the usual. there are still many people resisting regulations. Two Americans came to their vacay property near Thunder Bay and were caught not doing their 14 day quarantine. It’s reported that if they make any one ill or someone dies because of their actions it’s a $750,000 fine. Northern Ontario has done great, our GTA area has areas to improve. I wish everybody good health. My heart goes to Americans because I think the health and safety of your citizens is a national matter and Trump did you all dirty.
I just assumed that Americans couldn’t come to Canada unless they could prove a valid reason. There is a clearly a failure on the part of customs if they are on Vancouver island. I grew up near the Windsor Detroit border so unless you wanted to do an illegal crossing through the Great Lakes, you were going to have to face customs at some point.
Maybe place Tracer bracelets on Americans who come over here?
USA is a joke right now. People raging over wearing masks and No real leadership ,racism at its finest ..we fear for this country and where it’s headed , if it doesn’t get in control
Agree.It is hard because I have some extreme Republican friend’s and they are the sweetest people except for their views.They don’t want to wear mask’s and anti everything.They would rather believe in conspiracy theories then science and fact’s.I am scared for this country and what’s happening.There is some day’s I just wake up crying.And yes we have no leadership here right now.I can’t wait for November to vote Trump out.
Yeah Canada did better than us uk and maybe Italy? Not sure what he means by allies, is it relevant that we did a better job than Brazil because Brazil is an ally? Is India an ally? But I feel Canada is not one of the places that did the best. France Korea and Taiwan did much better, for example. I’m in Montreal and it was pretty scary here. One person in my workplace got it, five or more in my boyfriends workplace. Many bus drivers got it. There were some big super markets where enough people got it that it had to close for cleaning. It was quite worrisome and they should have put some easy rules in place right away, like masks at work and on busses. Like 4 months ago. Don’t know Why they didn’t.
I agree that Trudeau has a pretty great non confrontational style. Like with China, he will only confront when necessary . He cancelled extradition with HK after the recent law, that’s a matter of life and death. He never banned HUAWEI, but all of the big phone companies decided to use other not Chinese companies for their 5G. Maybe he talked to them in private. I don’t know how he could better handle trump, who is completely erratic. I’m very satisfied with his attitude to the US. Maybe he and Biden can actually get some great things done together next year.
See my full stand alone comment below. Canada has done extremely well. Not quite as good as South Korea and Australia. But exponentially better than the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden and especially the US. My province, British Columbia, has managed the outbreak better than any other jurisdiction in North America. It is amongst the best in the world, not the absolute best, that is probably South Korean, but close. Other provinces in Canada have not been as quite good as BC, particularly Quebec and Ontario. But those provinces are still much better than the UK, Europe and especially the US.
All hail Dr. Bonnie Henry. Where would we be without her? I bet she gets amazing job opportunities after this. I wonder if it’s true they want her as the next head of the Canadian CDC?
Dr. Bonnie Henry is the best. She’s so matter of fact and calm. She has handled this superbly. Props to the provincial government for letting her run the show and not interfering. Dr. Henry wouldn’t back down for the NFL when they wanted rules waived for them to consider Vancouver a hub city. I’m on Vancouver Island and we are so fortunate. We have gone weeks without any cases and now have 2 active cases that were not community transmission.
I’m from Ontario and I am so impressed with Dr. Henry. Her voice is so calm and soothing and exactly what you need during such a scary time. She has done such an amazing job for BC…wish she could do the same for all of Canada !
Dr. Bonnie Henry is a total rock star. She’s calm, collected, soft-spoken, humorous, and doesn’t proselytize or finger wag. There was a great article on her in the NY Times if you’re interested in reading it. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/world/canada/bonnie-henry-british-columbia-coronavirus.html
Dr. Bonnie Henry is the best! Dr. Deena Hinshaw is right up there, too. So is Dr. Theresa Tam.
[*Actually, the list goes on.*]
I mean, spot the lie.
This was a situation that required a uniform national response. I understand that it hit areas like New York and the NE in general (and the West Coast) sooner than it hit the mid west or the southern states, but with free travel between the states and the summer vacation season starting up, it was always inevitable that it would spread nationwide. There needed to be clear guidelines about what to shut down and when.
Its frustrating to be in a state that shut down in mid-March, with decent numbers and boatloads of available testing going on right now, and to be worried about people who vacation in Florida.
Don’t forget, if Trudeau had gone to the US he would have had to quarantine for 14 days upon return as all travellers from other countries do. He’s too busy for that crap.
That’s the benefit of electing an adult and not a toddler. Most of us Canadians feel bad for what Americans are going through. COVID-19 is bad enough but having a crazy stupid President in charge is the absolute worst.
It really is. Thank you for your sympathy, I personally can use it. 🙂
You have mine too, Darla. I personally base most of my opinions of Americans on the people I read on this site. Based on US commenters, I think the States are full of decent, generous, caring, honest and hardworking people, and it’s distressing to watch what you have to suffer. I know they also have Trump supporters, but overall a decent bunch who don’t deserve Trump.
Darla I too feel for you and all rational Americans who have to be in the middle of this shit-show. Most Americans are good, generous and respectful people but the Trump-humpers seem to all come from the same pool of nasty, racist and selfish bottom-feeders.
We have some crazies too that refuse to wear masks, but much fewer. And yes, we have been much better at controlling the spread compared to the US and other countries. Hopefully our border stays closed for the rest of the year (at minimum) so we can keep this contained.
On a side note: We don’t have a “first lady of Canada.” That’s not a thing. Sophie Gregoire is his wife sure, and she has been more front and centre than other spouses, but we don’t politicize a family like Americans do.
To bad as Sophie Gregoire would make an excellent First Lady.
Mmmm, not sure about that, she’s been clueless at times and not being in the spotlight means that we don’t witness it as much. I’m ok with the concept of electing a person and not their entire family (though I’m also ok with giving the spouse an office and some staff, it’s not like they can easily find work outside while their partner is PM). Prime ministers can be ejected at any time, unlike President so not getting the entire family involved is sound
She has generally been ok but her connection to WE may prove to be problematic because that charity has issues. She doesn’t run the charity but her association will be used by opposing parties, especially conservatives.
She’s made some, shall we say, errors in judgement and her involvement with the WE organization. It was formerly known as Free the Children, and is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. They had almost a billion dollars in public money and but it all fell apart mysteriously with Trudeau suddenly pulling out of the deal under a shadow. Nobody seems to know what disqualified the Kielburgers from the agreement, or moved the government to withdraw from it. I suppose information will gradually trickle out but it doesn’t look good.
The Canadian government may be handling COVID better, but they need to own up to their own legacy of White Supremacy. They also have a police brutality problem. And their treatment of their Indigenous People is on par with the states. Look up the Sixties Scoop and the generational damage. As well the Highway of Tears, where up to 80 Indigenous women have gone missing or have been found murdered.
I agree – we may look like a polite, happy, multicultural country but our treatment of First Nations peoples has been disgraceful.
“I feel the same way about this that I felt about countries banning American travelers: we deserve it. We deserve to be banned. We deserve to be criticized and mocked. We deserve all of the derision entirely.”
Completely agreed. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. When Trump was elected so many people were bummed but at the same time said, “But what’s the worst that could happen?” The worst that could happen: We have an idiotic leader who, in the middle of a pandemic, denounces science, tries to muzzle scientists from speaking, tries to send kids back to school, strips the requirement for insurance companies to make COVID testing free, doesn’t want to test at ALL to so we don’t “look bad,” wants the entire country to reopen, pulls us out of WHO, and discourages wearing masks. He’s literally killing us. I don’t know how much worse it could get, and I’m glad other countries are shaming us.
Once all of this is over I will very seriously consider moving to another country. I hope and pray (and I don’t pray!) that me and my family will survive this period, but I do not feel safe here.
Wishing you good luck in this fight Case – come to Canada!
I wish I could look at Justin Trudeau now, without seeing him in black face. That revelation just ruined him for me.
Yeah I mean he was an adult working as a teacher when he did this !
Meth-head? Why punch down? Drug addicts deserve compassion.
Canadian here! Just wanted to point out that it was WE Day in the UK and not in Canada where Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau and Idris Elba were exposed.
Justin’s government announced the cost of the pandemic response yesterday, and it was staggering. 10x the early projected amount. The investment paid off, however, as provinces are reopening without major spikes in cases. US spent a lot too, but Trump’s politicization of safety measures has basically undone all the gains. Trump’s an idiot.
Trudeau and other world leaders were expecting to work with the Woman.
I did and still believe that.
I live in British Columbia. This is the Canadian province with the best record of containing the virus of any jurisdiction in North America. It is amongst the best in the world, not the top but close. I feel very lucky to live here. Our provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, is a rock star in BC and Canada. Provincial health officers have broad authority to issue orders on lockdowns and then how to transition out of them. Dr. Bonnie and her staff have been so incredibly effective. And we the people of BC have mostly followed their advice to the letter. Lockdown, social distancing, masks, etc. However, there is one big problem. 80% of the deaths in Canada have been in long term care homes. It turns out that we have one of the worst rates of infection and death in such homes in the world. This is because the homes typically have 4 residents to a room, they share a bathroom, and there is a shower room for each ward. Plus, to make ends meet, staff often must work at two or three homes because they are not given enough hours at a single home. This is an ideal situation for the spread of a virus. Previously there were constant outbreaks of Norovirus, c. difficile and other illnesses. It is so bad that I think there should be a Royal Commission (big federal government process) to investigate the failings of these homes to protect their residents. Nonetheless, community spread is just not happening in Canada. It does seem to be mostly at care homes, some residential places that seasonal farm workers live, and the like. We are slowly, very slowly, opening up. But, we will be vigilant. If there is the slightest concern about community outbreaks in this current wave, or a second wave, we will be shut down like a shot. See what has happened in Melbourne, Australia. They had it under control even better than BC, and now they have an outbreak and they are shutting down again for another 6 weeks. This C19 is not going away and we have to learn to co-exist, most unfortunately, but that is the reality.
They have a new mandate on care home workers. There is no more switching homes/centres to collect a full paycheck. BC is hiring enough care aides to make sure they only work at one site now. I don’t know if this is forever or for the pandemic, but there is no more job sharing.
I found out Monday that it will be at least a year before I can go back to volunteering at the senior’s home. That was depressing news.
Yes, it is true that the BC provincial health authority belatedly put in place a rule that long term care home workers could only work in one facility at a time. After they realized how bad the C19 spread was/is between and within the homes. This will, I hope, be a permanent change. But there are many other changes that need to be made to made. Minister Dix and Dr. Bonnie just today highlighted many of those needs. Aging buildings, not enough staff, lack of training, sharing of rooms and bathrooms, etc. My grandmother was in a LTC home, where she contracted c. difficile, and ultimately died from this infectious disease. Given that the homes have always had frequent outbreaks of c. difficile and Norovirus, it was completely predictable that C19 would cut swath through the homes, killing and sickening residents and staff. It is a shame about your volunteer work at a seniors home. I don’t see why volunteers couldn’t do just what staff are doing to stay safe, only volunteer at one place, and all the PPE and disinfecting etc. People need to live, not just exist, at retirement and long term care homes.
Bonnie Henry learned from the SARS outbreak in Toronto since she was overseeing the operations back then and she learned well. It’s a shame that we did not set up a national plan after the 2003 outbreak. I know that health is a provincial jurisdiction and that every province has a different system but damn! This is when we’d need to have a centralized conduct.
Though community spread is happening in Canada, it’s now the major source of spreading now that the situation in long-term care facilities has been put mostly under control.
I live in Newfoundland Canada- we have been completely covid free for over 40 days as of yesterday- that said we only had 261 cases in our entire province! We have had a slow and cautious opening and things have been opening well. We just opened our provincial borders with the rest of Atlantic Canada….. a lot of us want the border to remain closed agains the rest of Canada… but we’ll see goes. A lot of us are nervous about the rest of Canada introducing the virus back into our province
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That said- I travel to the US a lot for business and pleasure- this breaks my heart and as soon as it’s safe to travel south- I will be heading down!❤️❤️❤️
Well you can pretty much count on people from other provinces visiting NF now more than ever. Be prepared for the influx of cases. People should just stay home this summer.
Love Newfoundland. Would love to visit again when it’s ok to do so in the future.
I live here too. I’m reluctant about the Atlantic bubble but the thoughts of opening up to Quebec and Ontario in a couple of weeks terrifies me.
As for the States, I feel horrible for you all suffering so needlessly. It should have been handled so much better.
Having said that, I hope the border stays shut until you get your sh!t together.
As a Canadian we all are legitimately worried for Americans…more so than ever. Everyone I talk to agree that border should stay shut for as long as necessary but none of us like it.
I still can’t figure out why you Canadians are so nice to us, but thank you! I had a trip to Quebec planned in August (hoping for poutine festival!) and was looking at where else we would visit, then the virus made that impossible. I can’t wait to come up someday. And I can’t wait to vote for Joe!
That is true. I worry about my many American friends. So far no one I know has been seriously ill, although one person did get COVID-19. And we don’t like the border closure. I live in Van and went to Seattle often. But it must stay closed for the time being. I don’t see the border re-opening for a year or more. Nobody likes this, but it is necessary.
I feel sorry for the many Americans that have followed recommendations and are not seeing the results ☹️. It’s so important to act together – I live in Toronto, and our conservative mayor and right wing premier have shown pretty good leadership in this area. We certainly haven’t been perfect, as outbreaks in nursing homes and groups of migrant workers will attest.
I remember when the PM isolated himself, it made the whole pandemic and the measures needed real to me. It was a huge turning point, I think. This criticism of America is less about insulting our neighbours, but more about maintaining the closed border.
@Jay – Feel free to insult USAmerica. Until we have a different President, the USA deserves to be insulted. Until we change our Presidential Electoral System we run the chance of being insulted many more times.
Almost a case of damned by faint praise – even the UK is controlling covid better than the US (i.e. Trump).
I feel for all you sane Americans having to deal with such a insane egomaniac. I hope the cases dwindle down soon 🙁 ugh
Sidenote: yes I would hit Trudeau SO HARD
Canada thrives on a) not being the worst and b) comparing ourselves to the United States. Its a really effective strategy for ensuring we don’t get anything done and maintain the status quo. So here, we don’t really collect any diversity information or info on health outcomes in Indigenous communities, which makes all our health and social equality information we share with the United Nations look better than things really are. Same is true for COVID sadly. I work in healthcare. Canada doesn’t have very large Black or Indigenous populations, but they’re dying of COVID at worse rates than mainstream groups-we keep on delaying collecting that kind of info-so we don’t have to deal with reality.
Handling the pandemic better than us is a low bar
So yes, we used to see Americans trying to bring their handguns into the country and having hissy fits at the border because – their rights. NOT in my country you don’t. And now they are coming across because they think we are too nice to be serious. RCMP is starting to levy fines. kick them out! We don’t need the US dysfunction to penetrate any more than it has. Canada is no way perfect but we have our own path and we are struggling to maintain it in the face of a deteriorating society to the south that has the attitude that we are just their playground and kicking boy.
Build a wall to keep us out?