This and that for your Thursday reading. – Bruce Arthur calls out Doug Ford for choosing (like other conservative premiers) to prioritize the “freedom” of uninformed anti-vaxxers to endanger everybody over the health of the population at large. The Economist charts how vaccinated people have not only been better protected
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – The Canadian Medical Association calls for Scott Moe to finally reinstate public health rules to prevent Saskatchewan’s already-catastrophic fourth wave of COVID-19 from completely collapsing our health care system. And Phil Tank reports on Saskatoon’s lonely efforts to start applying necessary measures at the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Evening Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Doug Cuthand highlights how we can’t afford to let our guard down against the dangers of COVID-19, while Allysha Howse notes that a full-on lockdown may be approaching if Ontario (and other provinces) can’t change course in a hurry. The Leader-Post and Star
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #Elxn44 Roundup
The latest from Canada’s federal election campaign. – The Maple examines how the timing and format of the campaign chosen by Justin Trudeau could hardly have been designed for lower expected turnout. – PressProgress looks into the background of Lib candidate Mary-Jane Bennett as both a cheerleader for privatization, and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Maria Sarrhou talks to doctors about their frustrations treating COVID-19 in patients who chose not to be vaccinated. And Daniel Villareal reports on the hundreds of COVID cases spread through a single Texas church camp. – Bob Henson and Jeff Masters point
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Apoora Mandavilli warns about the looming prospect that the U.S. will be unable to reach herd immunity through vaccination due to right-wing cultural resistance to public health. Andrew Nikiforuk writes that Alberta’s place as the COVID hotspot of North America is the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Duncan Cameron writes about the fundamental choice between austerity and full employment in developing the 2021 federal budget. And Noah Smith points out that while pipeline cancellations signal the imminent end of fossil fuels, they don’t need to have any impact on job
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Bruce Arthur calls out Doug Ford’s choice to blame his constituents rather than himself and his government for a gross lack of leadership in trying to limit the damage from COVID-19. John Michael McGrath discusses the reality that no level of restrictions will
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: 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
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren and Michael Stepner study a myriad of issues about COVID-19 and its public reaction – with a focus on how social insurance relieving against the effect of closures has accomplished far more (both for well-being and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Are We Serious About Human Health? The Rhetoric and Gestures Say Yes, But The Evidence Says No
The government pretends to care deeply and profoundly about human health, using police state measures in a time of crisis, justified by their supposed great concern for health. Yet, the federal government has repeatedly slashed health care funding for the past 40 years. The blatant and extreme hypocrisy and deceit
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Don’t Panic: Debt Can Build a Better World
This is an updated version of an article that first appeared in Alberta Views (December issue). COVID-19, this microscopic bug, seems to have upended just about everything. History provides no perfect analogy for what has turned out to be a global health, social and economic catastrophe. Not since the Depression
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Kelly Grant and Andrea Woo write that soaring infection numbers show how Canada’s response to COVID-19 has fallen far short of the mark. Andre Picard makes the point – which seems obvious to everybody other than right-wing premiers – that loosening restrictions on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Antoine Genest-Grégoire, Luc Godbout and Jean-Herman Guay highlight how people are willing to pay more in taxes if they see the benefit to be derived from the revenue. But Laura Kruse notes that Jason Kenney is just one of the anti-social ideologues instead
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On uninspired choices
Following up on this post about Regina’s city council elections, the range of possible outcomes in the race for mayor looks far more limited. Once again, Jim Elliott is on the ballot as the candidate with the strongest policies on paper. But it’s hard to hold out much hope for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Resource Movement offers a handy primer on wealth taxes (and the value of applying them). – Jean-Benoit Legault reports on new research showing that pregnant Inuit women are exposed to significantly more contaminants than their counterparts elsewhere. – David Climenhaga discusses how generations
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Randy Robinson writes that Doug Ford’s gratuitous austerity will have severe costs in both jobs and lives. And James Downie comments on the desperate need for a Biden administration to make major investments in an equitable and sustainable U.S. economy. – Justin
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday #skvotes Links
News and notes on election eve in Saskatchewan. – Julia Peterson reports on a record number of new COVID-19 cases in the province yesterday, while CKOM reports that Saskatoon’s Lighthouse shelter has joined the lengthening list of outbreak sites. But Stephanie Taylor reports that Scott Moe’s closing message includes the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Death by a thousand cuts
With the choice for many voters in Saskatchewan’s election coming down to the question of whether the Saskatchewan Party’s claim not to have cuts or fee hikes in the works can be believed, it’s worth noting that it hasn’t managed to live up to that standard even within the campaign
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Agustin Carstens discusses the need for our recovery from the coronavirus pandemic to include meaningful planning for the economy to come, not only an attempt to shovel money at existing businesses regardless of their future prospects. And Chris Giles writes that this may
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