Getting colder

Tags

Alberta, bubble, burst, Canada, covid, life, Maritimes, PEI

The Winter wind has started and is blowing on average at about 70K on a good day, plenty of fresh air, the humidity is also fairly high at 70% or more which makes for bone chilling.

Well the Atlantic bubble which had been working for us for 5 months has burst, with surging cases of Covid 19 in Nova Scotia in the region of Halifax and in New Brunswick in the region of Moncton and St-John our bridge to the mainland has been closed since early this morning. The wind also played its part gusting upwards of 90Km. Long lines of trucks bringing essential goods are stopped at the foot of the bridge on the New Brunswick side until the wind dies down tonight. It would be far too dangerous to try to cross the 12Km over the Strait to the Island. So it looks like life is going to be a lot quieter now here on Charlottetown. Many people work from home so less people in town.

We still have only 2 mild cases of Covid 19 on the Island and both are at home. To keep our situation under control we need to shut off the Island and now must also wear face masks in all buildings, shops, malls etc inside. So far everyone obeys the rule which is remarkable.

Our worst case is the Province of Alberta who has more per capita cases of Covid every single day than any other provinces including Quebec and Ontario despite having only fraction of their population. The Premier of Alberta is Jason Kenney, a Trump wanna-be, his reasoning businesses and oil companies come well before peoples lives.

Despite the announcement of 3 possible vaccines in the works against Covid 19, the reality is that in Canada we are not likely to see any of it before March 2021. The reason being that in the last 40 years all our research and medical producing facilities have moved abroad. This was allowed in a series of mergers with foreign companies and a Federal Government and politicians asleep at the switch, an unfortunate situation but it is what it is.

Some Canadians are leaving for southern climes and the Foreign Minister warned them that because of the Pandemic it would far better to stay home. There will be no special flights to bring people back if they leave the country and find themselves stranded abroad. Still enough fools think it does not apply to them.

One terrible lesson from this pandemic and one I have come to understand; Governments have clearly made a decision to put efforts in saving businesses instead of people. The other lesson is that if you are over 55 your government sees you as an expensive burden, this explains why so little has been done to help save elderly in assisted care homes, why so many have been left to die. We see it all over Canada with the notable exception of PEI where no one got sick or died. Since such centres are private and run by companies for profit, it has been know for the last 40 years that they are often understaffed and provide only the most basic of services. Staff is on minimum wage and poorly trained, despite this situation and major scandals politicians look the other way.

On the other hand the news of the transition to the President Elect Joe Biden having now officially started and his presentation of his new Cabinet is very encouraging. A return to professionalism and a clean broom of the nonsense of the last 4 years. The news also of a possible vaccine to solve this crisis is encouraging, we can only hope that 2021 which will dawn in just 5 weeks will bring a new beginning.

Oh well as I write this I am having a glass of Champagne, can’t be all that bad.

Pensée du Jour

Tags

Alberta, Covid 19, Oil, PEI, society, Tar sands

The misunderstanding of the present grows fatally from our ignorance of the past.

Marc Bloch 1886-1944

Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch was a French historian. A founding member of the Annales School of French social history.

Given the very troubled time we live in at the moment, I find this quotation by Bloch apt. I see on social media whining and complaining about not getting enough money from all the financial support announcements both at the Federal and Provincial Level of Government. It is never enough everyone wants more. Others blame the current situation on those who are sick. There is also a growing fear of the other or the foreigner. A profound hatred of Public Servants in general. We can do without the Government is the refrain. All of it, petulant, the cry of the spoiled child. In Alberta today, the Premier Jason Kenny fired 25,000 educators and school support staff, reasoning that since schools are closed we do not need these people, who he portrays as indulged, lazy and useless. His supporters comment that Alberta would be so much better if part of the USA under President Trump. Premier Kenny is also denying medical service to anyone living in Alberta who do not have a Health Card, they can pay out of  pocket, this would be vulnerable people. Again his supporters chant make Canada pay, we hate Canada and Canadians. Much of the hysteria in Alberta is due to the fact that the Canadian Barrel of Oil, (Western Canadian Select) is now at $5 USD. this means that the Tar Sands exploitation will shut down completely.  If only Alberta had 30 years ago diversified its economy and impose a modest sales tax. If only!

PEI is also facing many economic difficulties in the Fisheries sector, the lobster market to China has collapsed, Tourism for 2020 is nil, many tourist sites will not open and now the collapse of the AIR B&B market. Charlottetown has 825 such units in the old downtown alone which has a permanent population of 2500. I can see a total collapse of this segment of the market but we will see a return to long term rental leases and many houses coming on the real estate market cheap, which is urgently needed.

I can understand, I should say, I can see the anxiety and the fear in the comments of people. I went for a walk today, it was sunny and mild, Spring like conditions. People are mindful of the 2 meters or 6 feet rule on the street and in the parks. In general people are self-isolating but many still don’t. No one talks, in a society known for being chatty. It is all sad, but a new normal, at least until this passes. Yes I know some will have extreme reactions to this situation and despair.

Like all things this will pass, life will become normal again. Our world will be changed and many will have died or suffered economically. We are still in shock and cannot quite believe how our humdrum world has been upended. We should remember that we are still living in a peaceful country and that access to Social Services and Health care is here for all. Many people have offered to help neighbours with shopping, hot meals, or any kind of help they may require. There are lots of good people here in PEI and elsewhere in Canada. If only people could remember how life was 90 years ago and ponder.

Display made by a neighbour on our current situation, the ducks are named after her children and grand children.

The Residence of the Lieutenant Governor of PEI on the Fanningbank Estate.

 

 

 

 

 

Change in Alberta

Tags

Alberta, Canada., NDP, Notley

Alberta is named after Prince Albert husband of Queen Victoria it’s that Western Province of Canada which has more oil and tar than Saudi Arabia and a population of about 4 million people in a territory the size of Europe. The oil wealth until recently gave the Province a lot of clout, it’s population for its territorial size is about that of the City of Montreal and smaller than Toronto. Now that the price of oil is around $55 dllrs a barrel, Alberta is bankrupt, its government having spent just about everything it could on various projects.

In the last 44 years it was governed by a right wing Conservative government, think Tea Party with a strong fringe of extremists, gun lovers, white supremacists etc…. We think of Alberta as the Texas-Alabama of Canada, not a pretty picture.

In the last 20 years Alberta though was changing in terms of population mix, immigration from the Middle East and Asia changed the make-up of its cities Calgary and Edmonton, though some of the rural enclaves where still very White red-neck. The Conservative government had been in power for such a long time with a weak opposition that it had taken the population’s support for granted and had become very arrogant.

Last night all that changed, the polls had predicted a sweep by the New Democratic Party (NDP) but that seemed almost impossible given the history of the Province. However recent political/financial scandals with Premier Allison Redford and the dramatic fall of oil prices, rapidly rising unemployment and all the social problems that come with it created the perfect political storm. This morning Canada woke up to discover the Conservative Party of Alberta gone, it is leaderless, Jim Prentice, a former acolyte of Prime Minister Harper, resigned in the face of defeat and the 70 seat Conservative majority in the Legislature reduced to 10. The majority is held by the NDP and the new Premier is Rachel Notley whose father was the NDP leader many years ago.

Ms. Notley now has a strong majority and a four year mandate to make Alberta a normal Province more in tune with the rest of Canada. It also spells the end of all the pipeline talk XL and others, Oil companies will start paying their share of taxes and royalties. This is a severe blow to PM Harper and a very sharp warning of things to come in the Fall has we enter the Federal Election Campaign. Today Wednesday is Caucus day in the Federal Parliament in Ottawa, the Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and his party who form the Official Opposition in the House were Jubilant over the victory of the Alberta Provincial NDP. In the room down the corridor where the Conservatives of the Harper Regime met the atmosphere was described as a morgue. Coming out of the room at the end of Caucus, Stephen Harper simply told the Press Corps that he really had nothing to do with the Conservative Party in Alberta and really these results had nothing to do with him, no relations, as he described it. Funny how Harper ditches old friends and colleagues when the wind turns, but then again this has been his way of doing things all along.

This is quite a shift in Canadian politics and for many of us, we are still in disbelief but at the same time happy for the change this will bring. It is somewhat like if the GOP had disappeared from Congress and the Senate in the USA and the Koch Brothers had died and gone to Hell. We got rid of Rob Ford in Toronto, now the Conservatives in Alberta and all that is left is Harper and his corrupt government in Ottawa. If this election says one thing it is that Right Wing Conservatives should never be so arrogant as to take the electorate for granted. Canada is and remains a Centrist political country and Alberta like the Prodigal Son has rejoined the Canadian Family.

Rachel Notley, Premier of Alberta