I share your opinion of Paul Wells. On a long ago video he said something like .. "Big government, small government? I don't care - I want _smart_ government." His work reflects that.
I am a subscriber to Paul Wells' Substack, and happily so. I was quite taken with his views on the possibility of an enquiry; I was taken in both positive and negative senses, often simultaneously. In other words, I understood his various points and largely agreed with his views but typically thought through a series of "Yeah, but what abouts?" to his points, again, both positive and negative. In short, it is and was a terrifically complicated subject and, as always, Paul Wells did a terrific job in his commentary.
For myself, while I would like an enquiry that would crucify the stupidity on all sides, I recognize that such a goal is pointless and, above all, stupid on my part. It is simply my vanity wanting to blame someone who is not me for EVERYTHING.
Now, having said that, I do have some basic thoughts on what an enquiry might cover:
- Why did we get such conflicting messaging from the government? Masks bad / masks good; no virus from China / virus started in China; two weeks to stop the spread / keep the faith and don't worry that we are 100 years into lockdown; international travel is fine / international travel is bad; and so on and so forth. In other words, why the reversals in so many areas without any commentary about the first position, the second position, consequent positions, etc.?
- In the event that those reversals were because of "better scientific understanding" and even if that excuse is not used, why did the government and their media acolytes criticize mercilessly, deplatform, fire from employment, etc., etc. those who questioned the various "recommended" measures when questioning is an integral part of the scientific method and we were all told that the measures were "following the science?"
- Oh, I have other things that I would like an enquiry to deal with but those two "minor" points are a good start.
The “Government” (my loose term to cover the myriad of departments and Cabinet) made some strange decisions at the onset of the pandemic, some of which appear to be politically motivated and brings to mind our recurring and strange obsession with China. I would like a public inquiry to:
-explain how our national inventory of PPE was allowed to dwindle into low stock levels including inventory of best before outdated equipment? Did anyone walk the plank for that? Something special emanating from China was flagged in December 2019, but it would seem that efforts to restock critical health care supplies languished until it was too late.
-explain why a generous donation of our scarce supplies of PPE was sent to China, instead of being held for domestic distribution? Whose idea was that, and why? Did anyone walk the plank for that and was there a quid pro quo expected from China? Was the favour returned?
-why did the Government enter into a business relationship with China to develop a vaccine when there were other investment opportunities with reputable companies? When the business deal tanked, leaving Canada to shop in the vaccine marketplace at the eleventh hour, what was the investment lost on the Chinese deal and what was the premium price paid to jump up near the front of the line to obtain vaccines?
Readers also need to scrutinize the terrible messaging that Health Canada forwarded regarding masks. At first, they were a waste for anyone except health care providers. Suddenly Health Canada reversed course and everyone needed to have a mask, including little kids in school. What’s that all about? Was the original “no mask” decree based upon scientific data or political data that accounted for the scarcity of a national supply? Perhaps all ordinary people couldn’t have one because of hoarding risks?
I think these are reasonable questions and Canadians should expect answers from our government regarding them. The PPE inventory debacle started our pandemic in an own goal, starting from behind mess. If you think that’s a partisan shot, ask healthcare providers who were expected to show up at work with rationed masks, gloves and gowns in a situation that was fluid and unpredictable. The national nursing shortages all across Canada can be attributed directly back to this abuse of staff and once the hospitals filled with really sick people, the stress and anxiety only got worse.
This topic is a perfect example of "the devil is in the details". Who does what and will pay for what is an endless source of bickering between the feds and the province. We had the SARS outbreak here in Ontario less than 18 years before Covid. There was supposed to be a program in place to allow the health care system to react to a pandemic. Yet there was massive failure. The people in charge were obviously out of their depth. The fact that we had to call in the military to help staff LTC facilities should be considered a national disgrace. What is even worse is that in some facilities, the staff just walked out and the elderly were left to die. IMHO, there won't be an inquiry because it would show how incompetent all levels of government were, and that drastic improvement is needed.
I think what Wells misses- as does the BMJ - is that Canada's COVID policies are irretrievably tainted now by the anti-vaccine pro-"freedum" Convoy nonsense that has overtaken most of the Conservative party federally and provincially. The Rouleau inquiry barely escaped being overwhelmed by Convoy politics, in spite of its limited scope and its iron control of witnesses and testimony. A broader COVID inquiry would be completely derailed and politicized.
Cathie. Did you read Wells' column? He wrote .. "That’s why I’m not calling for a public inquiry under the Inquiries Act, with witnesses and Judge Rouleau and an organized right of rebuttal for the counsel for the Canadian Association of There Never Was a COVID." What do you think that refers to ?
I share your opinion of Paul Wells. On a long ago video he said something like .. "Big government, small government? I don't care - I want _smart_ government." His work reflects that.
I am a subscriber to Paul Wells' Substack, and happily so. I was quite taken with his views on the possibility of an enquiry; I was taken in both positive and negative senses, often simultaneously. In other words, I understood his various points and largely agreed with his views but typically thought through a series of "Yeah, but what abouts?" to his points, again, both positive and negative. In short, it is and was a terrifically complicated subject and, as always, Paul Wells did a terrific job in his commentary.
For myself, while I would like an enquiry that would crucify the stupidity on all sides, I recognize that such a goal is pointless and, above all, stupid on my part. It is simply my vanity wanting to blame someone who is not me for EVERYTHING.
Now, having said that, I do have some basic thoughts on what an enquiry might cover:
- Why did we get such conflicting messaging from the government? Masks bad / masks good; no virus from China / virus started in China; two weeks to stop the spread / keep the faith and don't worry that we are 100 years into lockdown; international travel is fine / international travel is bad; and so on and so forth. In other words, why the reversals in so many areas without any commentary about the first position, the second position, consequent positions, etc.?
- In the event that those reversals were because of "better scientific understanding" and even if that excuse is not used, why did the government and their media acolytes criticize mercilessly, deplatform, fire from employment, etc., etc. those who questioned the various "recommended" measures when questioning is an integral part of the scientific method and we were all told that the measures were "following the science?"
- Oh, I have other things that I would like an enquiry to deal with but those two "minor" points are a good start.
The “Government” (my loose term to cover the myriad of departments and Cabinet) made some strange decisions at the onset of the pandemic, some of which appear to be politically motivated and brings to mind our recurring and strange obsession with China. I would like a public inquiry to:
-explain how our national inventory of PPE was allowed to dwindle into low stock levels including inventory of best before outdated equipment? Did anyone walk the plank for that? Something special emanating from China was flagged in December 2019, but it would seem that efforts to restock critical health care supplies languished until it was too late.
-explain why a generous donation of our scarce supplies of PPE was sent to China, instead of being held for domestic distribution? Whose idea was that, and why? Did anyone walk the plank for that and was there a quid pro quo expected from China? Was the favour returned?
-why did the Government enter into a business relationship with China to develop a vaccine when there were other investment opportunities with reputable companies? When the business deal tanked, leaving Canada to shop in the vaccine marketplace at the eleventh hour, what was the investment lost on the Chinese deal and what was the premium price paid to jump up near the front of the line to obtain vaccines?
Readers also need to scrutinize the terrible messaging that Health Canada forwarded regarding masks. At first, they were a waste for anyone except health care providers. Suddenly Health Canada reversed course and everyone needed to have a mask, including little kids in school. What’s that all about? Was the original “no mask” decree based upon scientific data or political data that accounted for the scarcity of a national supply? Perhaps all ordinary people couldn’t have one because of hoarding risks?
I think these are reasonable questions and Canadians should expect answers from our government regarding them. The PPE inventory debacle started our pandemic in an own goal, starting from behind mess. If you think that’s a partisan shot, ask healthcare providers who were expected to show up at work with rationed masks, gloves and gowns in a situation that was fluid and unpredictable. The national nursing shortages all across Canada can be attributed directly back to this abuse of staff and once the hospitals filled with really sick people, the stress and anxiety only got worse.
This topic is a perfect example of "the devil is in the details". Who does what and will pay for what is an endless source of bickering between the feds and the province. We had the SARS outbreak here in Ontario less than 18 years before Covid. There was supposed to be a program in place to allow the health care system to react to a pandemic. Yet there was massive failure. The people in charge were obviously out of their depth. The fact that we had to call in the military to help staff LTC facilities should be considered a national disgrace. What is even worse is that in some facilities, the staff just walked out and the elderly were left to die. IMHO, there won't be an inquiry because it would show how incompetent all levels of government were, and that drastic improvement is needed.
I think what Wells misses- as does the BMJ - is that Canada's COVID policies are irretrievably tainted now by the anti-vaccine pro-"freedum" Convoy nonsense that has overtaken most of the Conservative party federally and provincially. The Rouleau inquiry barely escaped being overwhelmed by Convoy politics, in spite of its limited scope and its iron control of witnesses and testimony. A broader COVID inquiry would be completely derailed and politicized.
Cathie. Did you read Wells' column? He wrote .. "That’s why I’m not calling for a public inquiry under the Inquiries Act, with witnesses and Judge Rouleau and an organized right of rebuttal for the counsel for the Canadian Association of There Never Was a COVID." What do you think that refers to ?