4570 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

When the MSM is bought and paid for by the government, I am not sure we can expect anything better.

[Victoria Watcher]

CityNews Vancouver:

 

 

 

Statistics Canada says the Canadian economy held steady in May, with real gross domestic product remaining unchanged from April. The federal agency's preliminary estimate for second quarter real GDP points to 1.1 per cent growth, outpacing growth in the first quarter.

[dasmo]

Our health systems in British Columbia are in a precarious state, yet our government officials believe valuable staff are expendable in a time of staffing crisis. Mandates still prevent BC health care professionals from providing care in their communities, while other provinces have already welcomed back their dismissed staff.

Check out our video to know more about the state of BC’s healthcare system and how you can help hire back our heroes

https://www.freedomt...ack-our-heroes/

[Mike K.]

Long COVID was overblown:

Newer research suggests long COVID is occurring at a much lower rate than estimates from early in the pandemic, before widespread vaccination. PHAC is now working to better understand the true number of cases — while acknowledging their data is outdated.

"Long COVID is real. There are a lot of people suffering from it," said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

"But you don't serve those people by pretending that 40 per cent of the population is in that boat. In my view, it's actually a bit disrespectful to the people who are genuinely suffering from long COVID to pretend that that is the case."

- https://www.cbc.ca/n...anada-1.6536194

[Victoria Watcher]

Deaths with unknown causes now Alberta's top killer: province

 

 

 

Alberta is reporting an unprecedented increase in ill-defined and unknown causes of death in 2021. 

 

That category is leading the way over dementia, which has been in the top spot since 2016, and COVID-19, which began adding to the death tally in the province in a big way in 2020. 

 

In 2021, ill-defined and unknown causes of death snagged the first spot with 3,362, up from 1,464 in 2020 and 522 the year before that, according to statistics from the Government of Alberta. 

 

The unknown causes of death category only began appearing on the list in 2019 — there is no record of it ranking before then, dating back to 2001. 

 

https://calgary.ctvn...big way in 2020.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 August 2022 - 11:42 AM.

[Ismo07]

Long COVID was overblown:


- https://www.cbc.ca/n...anada-1.6536194

 

It's a tough one to count as anyone can just say they are experiencing some minor form and not have to work...

 

Economically inactive Britons with long Covid have ‘doubled’ in a year | UK unemployment and employment statistics | The Guardian

[Victoria Watcher]

Canada loses jobs for 2nd straight month, unemployment rate remains at historic low

 

Canada recorded its second straight month of job losses as the unemployment rate remained at a historic low, according to the latest labour force survey from Statistics Canada.

 

The unemployment rate holds at a record-low 4.9 per cent with the country down 30,600 jobs in July.

 

 

 

 

•  

  US economy adds 528,000 jobs in July, surging past expectations

   

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 August 2022 - 04:56 AM.

[dasmo]

“ The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is recommending Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine carry a warning of the possibility of two types of heart inflammation, an added burden for a shot that has so far failed to win wide uptake.

The heart conditions - myocarditis and pericarditis - should be listed as new side effects in the product information for the vaccine, Nuvaxovid”

https://www.reuters....ing-2022-08-03/

[Victoria Watcher]

Many federal government employees balking at returning to offices

Employees complaining about risk of COVID-19, bad offices and confusion over back-to-office plans


One comment by a Health Canada manager urging employees to return to the office, in part, to provide employees at a nearby Subway restaurant with more hours, blew up into a series of sarcastic memes online.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-work-1.6543860

Public service unions say that while some employees want to return to working in government offices or are happy with a hybrid arrangement, a majority want to keep working from home as Canada experiences a seventh wave of COVID-19.

________________

"I would say that our inbox is now 90 per cent about return to the office, how people are not feeling comfortable, how they have questions about masking requirements, about the need and the necessity to come into the office when they can work in the safety of their own home and do the work efficiently."

_________________

Greg Phillips, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), which has called for a suspension of the return to the office, said his members have long favoured hybrid work. They feel the return to the office is being rushed and that their concerns aren't being addressed, he said.

____________

They say the wide range of policies is also resulting in some departments trying to poach the best and the brightest talent from other departments by offering more work from home flexibility and employees seeking transfers to departments more open to working from home.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 August 2022 - 02:13 AM.

[spanky123]

I suspect that many of the 30% of Government workers who can’t work from home ( but are ‘working’ from home regardless) have taken another job and don’t want to lose the second income if they are forced to return to the office!

[Victoria Watcher]

I suspect that many of the 30% of Government workers who can’t work from home ( but are ‘working’ from home regardless) have taken another job and don’t want to lose the second income if they are forced to return to the office!

 

Indeed.  

 

 

 

Are you curious about what other people have been doing while working from home during the pandemic? It's always interesting to find out about how people really spent their time—and not what they tell their bosses, family and friends. 

 

At the early onset of the outbreak, we learned that there was a lot of alcohol consumption, eating, pot smoking and watching **rn, while quarantined. 

 

About a year later, a study showed that people working from home are having sex, taking naps, dating, shopping online and doing side hustles on company time. Around 50% of the respondents to the survey said that they’ve worked for another company, while on the clock with their employer. 

 

 

 

https://www.forbes.c...sh=3413f31017f3

 

 

 

I guess I'm of two minds. 

 

If the work is getting done, should we be concerned that the worker is also caring for children, doing housework, out shopping, or whatever, spending 4 days a week at the cottage, as long as the work gets done daily (even if the work is being done outside of 9-5)?

 

But I also suspect that there never has been a great system in place to track productivity in government.  As long as collectively the work is being done, and there is no impact the the department budget year over year, workplaces just move along year after year.   Everybody working towards their pension years. 

 

In the case of the federal workers here, they have really let the horse out of the barn for much too long. 

 

  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 August 2022 - 04:30 AM.

[spanky123]

^ The ‘work getting done’ argument is used by employees to justify their activities and I would agree that in some cases (ie sales, customer service) which are mostly individual, measurable roles that can be the cases.

I think the problem with many other roles is that they require collaboration and if someone is working odd hours they are not available to give/receive help if needed and therefore productivity is lower and overall performance harder to measure. Google is experiencing this which is why they are pressing for return to work.

What I think will happen in this recession (and we are starting to see this in tech now) is that companies will use the slowdown as an excuse to cut groups of employees they feel are not fully on the team.

[dasmo]

Like how Grace Lore is getting the work done? I say fire the lot, convert the space into missing middle housing.

Edited by dasmo, 07 August 2022 - 05:39 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

COVID benefits too generous with Canadian businesses, stringent with workers: experts

 

https://www.ctvnews....perts-1.6016826

[dasmo]

Experts warn ArriveCAN app could be violating constitutionally protected rights

"This is troubling to some data and privacy experts who say the app may be violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects the right to move freely.

There’s also a debate among experts about whether ordering people to remain in their homes for two weeks without justification is a form of unlawful detention.

“It creates direct harm for people who are receiving this incorrect notification and following it,” said Matt Malone, a law professor at Thompson River University in Kamloops, B.C., who specializes in trade secrets and confidential information.

“The government hasn’t provided sufficient transparency about why that happened. And there needs to be better accountability practices in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

 

I'm not sure if I should say I told you so or thanks truckers.... 

[lanforod]

Some 'expert' saying that isn't the same as the SCC saying that. Wake me up with that decision happens, if ever.

[dasmo]

Some 'expert' saying that isn't the same as the SCC saying that. Wake me up with that decision happens, if ever.

If you aren't awake by now I'm not sure a decision from the SCC will do anything. 

[dasmo]

But you answered my dilemma. I’ll save the I told you so for after the SCC ruling.

Thanks Truckers!

[lanforod]

My point isn't that I need waking up. My point is that someone saying that isn't enforceable on our government; the SCC saying that would be.

[dasmo]

My point isn't that I need waking up. My point is that someone saying that isn't enforceable on our government; the SCC saying that would be.

But the last two years has been based experts saying things. We haven't had a single vote in parliament, any debate or a ruling from the SCC on implementing any of this. I personally haven't needed anyone to say anything for me to understand when I am being violated but it's important for others so I am hopeful the SSC rules in favour of the rule of law. And the Charter is supposed to be the supreme law of Canada. 

 

This is probably the most key case to watch. 

 

The Honourable A. Brian Peckford. Mr. Peckford is the only surviving drafter and signatory to the 1982 Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In his sworn affidavit, Mr. Peckford states: “What I find perhaps the most disturbing is that the federal government has mandated a two-tiered society where one group of people has benefits while another group is disadvantaged. As a person who has chosen not to receive the new medical treatment, I am all of a sudden treated as an outcast, labelled a “racist” and “misogynist”, and as an undesirable person not fit to be seated with vaccinated people on an airplane … The Covid-19 vaccinated are allowed to travel by airplane and to see their families and the unvaccinated are not. This is not the Canada I know and love, and this type of segregation causes me utmost sadness.”

“Canadians cannot live in a country which will not permit them to freely leave for business, for necessary medical care, to see loved ones abroad, to vacation, or simply to move away. Any country that makes receipt of a drug or medical treatment a condition to departing the country has lost all semblance of freedom and respect for human dignity,” states Ms. Chipiuk.

 

“Canada was one of the few countries in the world that had a travel ban on unvaccinated citizens flying within the country and to different provinces. This travel ban has not been cancelled, only suspended, and so court action must continue,” notes Ms. Chipiuk.

 

Schedule of the Travel Ban lawsuit:

August 10: Service and filing of Applicants’ Records and Response to the Respondent’s Mootness Application (Mootness means the government will argue that with the suspension of travel ban, the legal action is now pointless.)
September 21: One day in-person Mootness Hearing
September 30: Service and filing of Respondent’s Record
October 31 – November 4: Hearing