marcus

Just to fight against the generalizations that seem to happen in these political discussions, I have repeated several times that I believe the Trudeau government's initial response was terrible and should be scrutinized. Also, I am not a supporter of Trudeau. I only support what I think are good policies.

Find the link. Share what you are basing your comments on, instead of just your feelings. That is the wrong way of dealing with situations. Viruses do not understand borders. In order to make the right decision, one should be informed and should look at how it is effecting other countries. This is why Trudeau has been critiqued. Instead of reacting sooner to the virus and close the flights into Canada sooner or imposing a stricter health checkup at the port of entry (airport/land border), he waited to see what WHO advised. The spread into Canada could have, potentially, been slowed down and controlled if Canada had made their own decision in relation to what had happened in Asia and Europe.

I'm keeping it real and refuse to enter your absolute world. If all you want to do is to slam Trudeau, while praising Trump, then I will respond to your dishonesty. But then again, unfortunately, you have put yourself at a different level than those people. You are denying there is even a pandemic. Why are their numbers are suddenly going up? Because that's how a heavily contagious virus works. It spikes rather quickly, which we saw happen in parts of Canada as well. People get together, people pass on the virus. It's quite simple how it works. Sweden experimented with relaxed social rules, and from what is being shared, the relaxed social distancing measures have not worked out the way they had hoped. However, it remains to be seen how their approach will compare to countries who have imposed strict rules. I ask you to stop responding to comments and information that is being shared with outright rejection, because you don't trust anything, and instead, read what is being shared and inform yourself first. Sweden's Public Health Agency said it had recorded a total of 11,445 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 1,033 deaths. And it warned that because not all deaths had yet been reported over the four-day Easter weekend, the true number might be higher. Source I am not going to go into a hospital to count the number of deaths. Are you doing that? Are you going to reject every information that comes from the government and come to a conclusion only based on your full on rejection of government information all over the world? Have you done your own head count? Nobody has said they know exactly how things will turn out. Obviously, this is the first time we have come across something so contagious in our lifetime, under the current healthcare system. What do you know that others don't? Where do you get your information? Why are you so sure that the numbers from the government are lies and misinformation? How do you come to your absolute conclusions without any information or data? Just on your pure 'instincts'? What is the other story? You have not shared with anyone about how you're coming to your conclusions. All you have done is to reject all governments and all media's information based on your feelings that they are a hoax. How are you so sure? What do you base your conclusions on?

Seriously? If the words they share can't convince you and if the numbers can't convince you. What will?

I have and I acknowledge that the numbers, per capita, are nowhere close to the U.S. I also acknowledge that the federal and provincial leaders are doing a better job than the U.S' leaders. When will you? You seem to be stuck on this false sense of equivalency.

Looks like you're trying to make excuses for Trump again. What Trump says and does, as the leader of the country, has a huge impact on what the country does. If Trump is downplaying the urgency of the coronavirus, without a doubt, the people in the country will downplay it. Especially in locations where Trump is most popular. Just look at the rate of infection, per capita, in states outside of NY. Source

Not really. According to data, Sweden, with a population double of Denmark's has 3 times ore deaths and they still have a big spike coming. While Denmark, who went into a full lockdown, is planning a gradual loosening of the rules. Since the start of the outbreak in the country, Sweden, with a population of 10 million, registered 919 deaths as of April 13, while neighbouring Denmark, with 5.8 million people, has 273 deaths. Mr Tegnell said that Swedes should expect to see a further jump in cases and fatalities on Tuesday as official statistics catch up with the situation in the country’s hospitals. The daily rate of deaths in Sweden from Covid-19 is believed to be higher than current figures suggest because of under-reporting over the Easter holiday. Proportionally, for weeks Sweden and Denmark remained similar in terms of Covid-19 cases and fatalities. Now, however, Sweden’s mortality rate reached more than 88 dead per million, compared with about 47 dead per million in Denmark. Link

What about his message from the beginning? From "this is nothing" to "We'll be back to work in 2 weeks" to "We have magic pills." to "Sure, my health officials says it's good to wear masks, but I won't" to "We'll be back to work in a couple of more weeks" to "We're winning" to "I've handled all of this so well!" to "Why are you being so negative". As the leader of a country, he has failed with his communication to his country.

You can't compare the two. U.S. has failed miserably from the president to the governors, to the mayors. Canada had failures at the beginning, but they pulled it together. This is the reality:

Can you list some things Trump has done wrong? Give me at least 5 things.

Total failure! It should be so easy to get this money out! It's been WEEKS! OMG! No need to go through a process to see who is applying! You get thousands of dollars! And you get thousands of dollars! Everyone gets thousands of dollars!

You keep hanging onto the travel ban that Trump ordered for the Chinese coming in. Atta boy! Trump did nothing wrong! He has done everything right! It was them. It wasn't him. So what if Trump said that this is nothing. So what if Trump said that people should continue working. So what if Trump said that people will get back to work within a few weeks. So what if Trump continues to go against his own administration's health authorities' recommendations. Trump did nothing wrong! He has done everything right!

Not looking good for Sweden. Their numbers, per capita, are double that of Denmark and they still have not come close to the peak yet.

Sweden has decided to not shut things down. Let's see how they fair.

I agree. The Canadian government moved too slowly. WHO, probably under political pressure from China, moved slowly in their warnings. The Trudeau government's mistake was to not take the lead and make their own decision based on what was happening. In hindsight, they should have closed the borders, especially to China, sooner, like a few other countries did. Instead, Canada elected to listen to WHO's recommendations. This shows weakness. Yes, they should have moved sooner. I would say, however, since then, the government has looked better. I don't think they should get a pass for the mistakes they've made, but at the same time, I believe they've taken the right steps since then. Trudeau has looked better and has managed to say the right things. It's not difficult to notice this with the shit show down south. Not quite. Canada closed its borders (except to the U.S.) on March 20th. Australia closed its borders (with a few exceptions) on March 24th.

It is the lack of balance. The West, for the most part, allows foreign entities to purchase land and businesses and operate under very similar laws to the local companies and population. But when you look at most countries in Asia, including China, they rarely allow foreign ownership. It's an imbalance of power that should be confronted. I remember when China and the U.S. negotiated for Chinese credit card companies to operate in the U.S. and in turn, U.S. credit companies would be allowed to operate in China. China is operating in U.S. and Canada, the American card companies are not operating in China. Not that I'm a fan of credit card companies, but that's just an example of the type of relationship China has with the West. Protectionism may be the only way to battle the take over of assets belonging to our 1%. I guess we prefer that the assets remain with our 1%, instead of their 1%. . . . We need a revolution. We need to own ourselves and our data. We should be able to deal with anyone we want, for however much we believe it is worth and do transactions however way we want. Blockchain is our revolution.

Would the Libs (Dems) or Cons (GOP) move away from the system? Of course not. Do other parties have a chance? It doesn't look that way. The reality is that human rights violations are on only a small percentage of the population's radar. How many people think about where their product is made when they add it to their Amazon cart? This whole experience has shocked the system and has made some people to look at the system from a different perspective and perhaps even question it. That's good. However, the push right now is to go back to the way we were. Then we'll be consumed with the same old again. Would it take a bigger shock to change that? Unfortunately, I believe, that's the only way.

What is the threshold? Our biggest trade partner would not get a pass if we look at their connections to human rights violations. Heck, we wouldn't get a pass.

I agree. It's greed. Milking the system for every last cent is the issue. Manufacturers set-up shop in China and other countries with cheap labour, just so they can make more money for the shareholders. We do need to be more self-reliant. But how do you do it? Create a protectionist system where we charge extra taxes on foreign goods coming in? Doesn't that go against the free market? Is there a balance?

3 points in response to that: 1) One thing to keep in mind is that those with weak immune systems, who have COVID-19 have a much higher chance of needing to go to the hospital to receive care. Our healthcare system cannot handle that. This is the biggest problem around the world. 2) Also, an average patient with COVID-19 stays at the hospital for almost 2 weeks. A common flu patient who goes to the hospital stays for just a 3 days. Again, this shows the strain on the healthcare system. 3) Another point: The rate of death increases dramatically within a short period of time. So it may be 1 or 2 on February 15th and then it jumps to over 100 close to its peak. It doesn't stay constant. So the five people per day average does not reflect the reality of how harmful this virus is.

I was responding to Shady's anti-immigration comment.

Singapore is a multi-ethnic society and they have a cohesive culture where they respect each other and the rule of law.

Because of how your brain functions, you see any criticism of Trump as words coming from the enemy. Like everything is black and white. You're either with us or against us. It doesn't matter that I have critiqued Trudeau several times about his handling of the situation. Trump dropped the ball on the virus. Now that it's too late and we're seeing the results, he is finally admitting the enormity of the situation. He is contradicting what you are saying. So if you're not going to take the words of doctors and scientists, maybe you should listen to Trump. Yes. I have done research. Enough of it to know that hospitals are not able to handle the number of sick people, who have been hit by the coronavirus. You think that ALL hospitals, doctors, nurses, media, mayors, premiers, and country leaders are LYING? That they are part of some conspiracy to take over your freedom? C'mon. They are adding the seasonal flu to the list? WHERE do you get this information? How do you come up with these? No. I am responding to your ridiculous conspiracy theories.

It's also highly contagious. Anyone with low immunity could end up very sick and possibly die.

There are thousands more that need to be hospitalized. Our healthcare system cannot handle that. In Italy, they have gotten to the point where they had to choose between who to treat and keep alive and who to not due to lack of workers, facilities, beds, ventilators and other supplies.