I’ve never actually heard that there’s a ghost in the Premier’s Office at the Alberta Legislative Building, but apparently there’s a dusty old speech that was left in a drawer by some forgotten premier in the distant past, Peter Lougheed, probably. The late premier of Alberta, Peter Lougheed (Photo: Government
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Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – David Wallace-Wells discusses how the U.S. is woefully unprepared to deal with the real prospect of another pandemic (particularly on top of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which is the subject of a policy of denial). – Peter Frankopan writes that climate is a crucial
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Richard Smith highlights how there’s no general connection between the cost of health care and patient incomes across different models of funding and delivery, but an obvious connection between profit motives and increased expenses which don’t produce improved outcomes. – Meanwhile, K.J. Aiello
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Maggie Mills discusses how an antisocial public health policy in the midst of an ongoing pandemic is producing a disastrous human cost (particularly for vulnerable people), while Pamela Heaven reports on CIBC research showing that even the economy to which people are being
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Elisabeth McClymont et al. study the risks COVID-19 creates for maternal and perinatal outcomes, while Jessica Widdifield et al. find that vaccines are particularly effective at reducing the severity of COVID for people with immune disorders. Jacquie Miller reports on the calls
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Renee Graham writes that the elimination of masking protections as a matter of privileged people’s comfort in the midst of a pandemic that endangers everybody shows how painfully cruel and selfish much of the U.S. (like Canada) has become. – Phil Tank is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Nadine Yousif writes about the growing frustration people are experiencing as they’re told to manage their own risks in the midst of a pandemic with obvious social dimensions, and all while being denied the information needed to do so. Dylan Scott similarly laments
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Zak Vescera exposes how the Saskatchewan Health Authority warned Scott Moe’s government that it was extending a COVID wave, endangering lives and exceeding the capacity of the health care system by eliminating public health protections, only to have Moe barge ahead with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jeff Zuk writes that there are plenty of reasons why COVID-19 case loads still matter – making it a sign of gross negligence that so many governments have decided to stop counting and/or reporting them. Bryann Aguilar discusses the obvious links between Ontario’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – The Associated Press reports on the continued disparity in COVID-19 vaccinations between countries which is exacerbating the risk of new and more severe variants for everybody. – David Moore and Donald Shaw report on the threat of industrial chemicals at risk of being
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Elian Peltier reports that Denmark’s message that the COVID pandemic is over has predictably given rise to a new – and particularly dangerous – wave as people abandon even the most elementary care to avoid community transmission. And Brittany Gervais reports on the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Doug Saunders writes that Europe’s devastating new wave of COVID – like those elsewhere – can be traced directly to politicians pandering to antivaxxers rather than making responsible decisions to protect public health. Yushi Nomura et al. study the retention of antibodies
Continue readingScripturient: Our Council’s Reprehensible Greed
Our council’s sense of entitlement again came to light this week. A report from a consultant tabled in the Nov.1 meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee recommends that the mayor receive a 9.5% increase, while councillors get a 5% increase (page five of the report). Nine-point-five percent? Who gets
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Karl Nerenberg notes that taxes on the wealthy represent an excellent starting point in ensuring that it’s possible to pass progressive policy in a minority Parliament. And Katrina Miller, Toby Sanger and Alex Hemingway point out the role the provinces can play in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – The Globe and Mail’s editorial board recognizes that any responsible government would be continuing to apply public health rules to prevent a fourth wave of COVID, rather than hyping partial vaccination as a cure-all. Zeynep Tufecki discusses how the U.S.’ political dysfunction
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Emma Paling discusses the reasons why repeated warnings about Canada’s third wave of the coronavirus went largely unanswered. And Rachel Bergen reports on another national call among doctors for a COVID-19 circuit breaker, this time with a focus on stopping the spread of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Evening Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Aaron Wherry discusses how the pandemic response across far too much of Canada has been (increasingly) marked by political calculation and triangulation rather than decisions aimed at fighting a deadly disease in the public interest. And Philip Preville writes about the added
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – John Michael McGrath discusses how Ontario (like so many other jurisdictions) has walked directly into a third wave, resulting in people dying for no reason other than government negligence. Matt Gurney likewise notes that there are no longer any excuses for insufficient action
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Michael Atkinson and Haizhen Mou discuss their new polling showing that Canadians are particularly concerned with climate change and good jobs as part of our recovery from the pandemic – making a Green New Deal an obvious win-win. And Seth Klein writes
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Steven Lewis writes that the Saskatchewan Party’s mealy-mouthed messaging around the coronavirus looks to be a calculated political choice which is having devastating public health consequences: There has been a pattern in Saskatchewan’s communication about COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. The language is
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