Month: April 2020

First, what does “credible” mean?

Second, how will our border agents concretely assess the “credibility of travellers’ quarantine plan”?

Third, what if our travellers do not speak English? Only French and the agents are not perfectly bilingual? Or the opposite, although less probable?

What if some travellers do not speak neither French nor English? Will a translator be present at all airports, with all the staff reduction related to the pandemic?

Will we be screening those travellers finally (e.g. temperature checking? Testing at the airport?)?

Will we be providing them with masks? OR do we have enough masks in the country to distribute to them at airports?

Do we have a concrete plan of coordination with a nearby hotel to quarantine travellers there until their results come back negative (if we will test them?)… OR even just in case “they do not explain credible quarantine plan”, to use Mr. Trudeau’s own words?

How are we going to ensure that asymptomatic (or symptomatic?) travellers are executing their “credible” quarantine plan? Perhaps by coordinating with provincial or territorial’s jurisdictions?

Well, If such key collaboration did not occur when it was absolutely critical (early on!), can we trust that it would it take place now? And, even if it does, will it make any difference at this stage, now that the virus has been spreading in Canada?

In other terms, isn’t it TOO late, Mr. Trudeau?

“Coronavirus: Scotland’s chief medical officer resigns after breaking lockdown rules” , as written in the Euronews article below (April 6, 2020):

https://www.euronews.com/2020/04/06/coronavirus-scotland-s-chief-medical-officer-resigns-after-breaking-lockdown-rules#spotim-launcher-widget

According to C News (French article), Dr. Catherine Calderwood has been photographed near her cottage (or chalet) with her spouse and kids:

https://www.cnews.fr/monde/2020-04-06/la-conseillere-sante-du-gouvernement-ecossais-demissionne-apres-avoir-contourne-le

The funny irony here is that, in Canada, we have our PM’s own spouse who posts their family pictures at the cottage (or chalet) on social media :).

Just to be clear, this is a cottage in a different province. Both Ontario and Québec are in a state of emergency (i.e., lock down), if Bambi understands well. So, regular Canadians cannot cross from Ottawa to Gatineau (vice versa?), if it is not for essential business.

Mmm… where are the Canadian citizens and more English-speaking media (surely not CBC :)) to complain, like in Scotland?

Dr. Calderwood had the courage to assume her hypocritical behaviour and listened to the public. She even apologized whilst resigning.

Some of our Canadian media pointed out to other politicians who shared an airplane, on their way home to the Parliament, which seems to “dilute” the PM cottage story, more than anything else. This being said, this post is not about that famous airplane or those other politicians (who knows? it could become the topic of another post :)).

Seriously, to come back to Mr. Trudeau, luckily a couple of journalists, like the two below, as well as a TV show from Québec today (with Mr. Mario Dumont) are chatting about this story.

Please make no mistake, Bambi is not saying that Mr. Trudeau should resign over this… and in the middle of a pandemic on top of that. In her non-expert citizen opinion, perhaps he should have not been re-elected in the first place 🙂 :). More seriously, it is the apathy of the Canadian population that is the contrast here with what happened in Scotland. This is what attracted Bambi’s attention today. Hence this post.

May everyone be safe. May we all be “coviwise”… OK, “covicongruent” too :).

LILLEY: Trudeau’s cottage visit mocks us and the rules he sets

Ms. Sophie Durocher: “Is Trudeau making fun of us?” [“Est-ce que Trudeau se moque de nous?”]

Today is April 13, 2020.

It is the anniversary of the Lebanese civil war.

Just like today, 45 years ago, a sad chapter of the recent Lebanese history began.

Luckily, life stressors end, even when they last for fifteen years or more!

Every year, Lebanese people remember this sad day.

Forgetting about this tragic anniversary may risk bringing back the ghost of war. Didn’t George Santayana say: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it“?

Today, an apolitical and non- confessional Lebanese peace NGO called “Offre Joie” (established since 1985) invited all the confined population to get out on their balconies at 7 PM to sing the Lebanese anthem with them. Bambi thanks her sister (hi Rania!) for sharing the moving link. Bambi would like to share it with you, even if she could not find a more accessible link to it (she is not on FB).

Bambi was moved to see a physically handicapped guy (from war maybe?) along with two other talented persons singing acapella (of course, whilst respecting social distancing). It was moving to see an elderly man paying tribute to Lebanon from his balcony (a beautiful salute). People applauded at the end:

https://www.facebook.com/offrejoie/

Below is a song that became the symbol of war in the mind of so many people…. Including Bambi. It is by Fayrouz, a Lebanese diva who does not need any introduction. The song is about two kids, a boy called Chadi and his female friend (the singer). They used to play together where one day a battle started. War separated them… forever. Yes, Chadi died. His friend survived. As the song goes, “twenty snow seasons came and went by, but Chadi did not grow up with me. He remained that little boy playing with snow”. Anyhow, although moving, the song is SO beautiful. The version below is sub-titled in English. Sorry if it will bring moving memories to some of you… It is a Fayrouz masterpiece after all.

To ask for your forgiveness, if that song was moving in pandemic times, here is the Lebanese anthem, meant for kids, sub-titled in English ?:

Enjoy!

To conclude this post, today happens to be a very joyful day as well. Of course, it is Bambi’s childhood friend’s birthday (hi Rita!). Plus, this past weekend it was Aline’s birthday. Here is Happy Birthday to both both posted with love. It is strictly in Arabic just to make you smile, and with some chance, dance too ?!

First, here is Ms. Durocher’s article published today in the Journal de Montréal:

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/04/13/est-ce-que-trudeau-se-moque-de-nous

Second, here is a translation of her article:

“We are told to stay home, except for essential travel.

We are told especially not to go to a second home.

We are told not to change regions, and a fortiori, NOT to change provinces.

Where was Prime Minister Trudeau yesterday to celebrate Easter?

At the PM chalet, at Lake Harrington… in Québec.

We also imagine that he did not leave alone in his car. In other terms, a convoy of personnel (security and everything) moved from Ottawa to Harrington Lake.

In total violation of EVERYTHING the government has told us since the start of containment.

Justin Trudeau does the opposite of what he tells us to do.

That he is at the chalet is one thing.

But let his wife Sophie boast about it on Instagram, showing us photos of the smiling little family hunting for Easter coconuts, while our elders are bathed in brown matter that has nothing to do with the chocolate, it tastes a little indecent.

Why don’t we show a little restraint in public? [in French-Canadian, it reads as ” on se garde une petite gêne.” By the way, the article continues after the picture, taken from Ms. Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau’s social media]

While the average citizen gets traffic tickets if he plays ball with his child in his yard, the PM can cross borders to go and stick to the Easter Bunny.

Isn’t he supposed to lead by example?

And when Sophie tells us that she spends time doing “a bit of housework/cooking and cleaning”, is she laughing at us? Do you really think the PM’s wife is scrubbing toilet bowls?

On the social media, the rage does not rebound. “PM’s wife decides to taunt Canadians in confinement, some of whom mourn the death of a loved one, while showing everyone that she is above the law.”

Conservative Dave Blackburn is absolutely right to write on Facebook:

“DO WHAT I SAY, NOT WHAT I DO … Justin Trudeau shows us, once again, that he thinks he is above everyone by going from Ottawa in Ontario to Chelsea in Quebec to go to his “chalet” …

While the people are confined in their houses/apartments, without having the right to move between regions, Justin Trudeau crosses from one province to another without any problem.

As far as I know, there is nothing “essential” about going to relax at Lac Mousseau in Gatineau Park.

He seems not to understand the sentence he has been saying to us every day for 1 month: Stay at home!

So, Justin Trudeau, it should apply too! # leadershipfailure “

You will tell me that Justin Trudeau has not seen his children since March 30, when Sophie and the children left for the chalet? But how many Canadians have not seen their families, their own children since the start of confinement? How many health care workers have not seen their own children?

And you, how long has it been since you took your mother, father, son, daughter, or spouse in your arms”?”

The article below entitled “Canadian armed forces requires all personnel to stop using gendered pronouns”, shows the new policy:

https://www.thepostmillennial.com/canadian-armed-forces-requires-all-personnel-to-stop-using-gendered-pronouns

“Based on a recent CAF cultural and normative shift to promote gender diversity and associated inclusiveness, CFPAS [Canadian Forces Personnel Appraisal System] writing policy and guide will also reflect this new reality where sex, gender identity, and gender expression are prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Forthwith the use of gender pronouns such as quote he/his and she/her unquote are not to be used when drafting pers. [sic.] Members will be referred to by rank and name or by using gender-neutral pronouns such as they/their.”

Three questions come to Bambi’s mind:

First, why?

Second, is this linguistic political correctness the top priority of our army? Bambi thought it would be to defend our beloved country rather. If so, will such practices end up distracting our men and women from their mission of serving their country?

Third, if all the official documents/reports are going to change now, as per the new policy above, how would our government, or Canadian researchers, be able to apply a gender-based analysis to any data generated by the army about its staff? For instance, such gender-based analysis is currently being conducted by our own government to its Covid-19 response (https://www.abbynews.com/news/broader-gender-focus-needed-for-covid-19-response-advocates-say/). It has also been imposed earlier to environmental and impact assessments (https://www.canada.ca/en/impact-assessment-agency/services/policy-guidance/practitioners-guide-impact-assessment-act/gender-based-analysis-plus.html)?

In Québec:

In Ontario:

Thank you, Mr. Blanchet (Bloc Québécois leader), for raising this issue today.

In the article below, we can read:

Coronavirus quarantine rules for temporary foreign workers inadequate: Blanchet

“Before more temporary foreign workers arrive at Dorval airport in Montreal, can steps be taken so that these people are quarantined at customs before they are released to go elsewhere in the country in the interests of all Canadians?”

Blanchet charged that the federal government is passing the buck of responsibility of overseeing this quarantine period and placing it onto the shoulders of farm owners”.

End of the quote.

Why is our federal government so careless with public heath?

For the safety of our Dear temporary migrant workers as well as the safety of the farmers and communities across Canada, wouldn’t it make sense to do like Lebanon is doing with its repatriated citizens: testing everyone and offering one night quarantined at hotels until a negative COVID-19 test? If not, quarantined longer.

Had Canada done this, it would help both farmers and workers, as they can start their job earlier.

To conclude this post, Bambi’s own second cousin is currently quarantined at a hotel upon her arrival to Beirut from Dubai.

If tiny bankrupt Lebanon is able to be that thorough, why can’t Canada do a better job?

In a CBC article entitled “Chris Hall: Hajdu says on COVID-19 Ottawa acted on ‘the best advice possible at the time”, we can hear an interview with our federal health Minister:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chris-hall-hajdu-says-on-covid-19-ottawa-acted-on-the-best-advice-possible-at-the-time-1.5529340

She said that “our first case that came from Iran, if you remember was a game-changer because in fact Iran was not even declaring any cases whatsoever…, etc.” (2:48 to 3:29).

When she talked about “our first case coming from Iran” and “Iran was not declaring its cases” (as reported verbatim above), we cannot help not to wonder the following:

First, according to a CBC article on the coronavirus timeline, our first Canadian case was from Wuhan, China (not Iran). That was on January 25, 2020, according to CBC!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-coronavirus-timeline-1.5482310

Who seems to be saying false claims here, Ms. Hajdu or the earlier CBC article?

Second, let’s assume it was Iran and not China. Had she read the international media well, she would have known that Lebanon declared its first case of coronavirus on February 21, 2020. It was a woman coming from Iran actually!

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-lebanon-minister/lebanon-confirms-first-case-of-coronavirus-two-more-suspected-idUSKBN20F225

https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1207366/le-liban-a-son-premier-cas-de-coronavirus-une-femme-venue-diran.html

Third, the last time Bambi checked, Iran was still an Islamic dictatorship. Since when can we trust dictatorships? Ms. Hajdu should know better.

Why does she appear to be changing the coronavirus timeline facts after the facts? Perhaps Bambi misunderstood all this.

However, Minister Hajdu said that she has “confidence on those public health officials working so closely on this issue since late December-Early January”.

Whose public health officials is she talking about?

The Chinese (or Iranian?), those from the WHO, or the federal Canadian ones ??

If any of the above, they have failed the Canadian public big time… Is she saying this, so we can eventually (post-pandemic) blame our public health experts only, and not her?

If she meant our provincial experts, they should be commended from Day 1, as they seemed to have done what needs to be done!

Yes, mistakes may or did happen but at least they took this problem MUCH more seriously than our federal government, MUCH faster, and a more CONGRUENT way (e.g., our federal government tells us one thing about airports and the reality on the ground is another thing completely; Bambi has two-three posts on the topic).

When they said they will lock-down long-term nursing homes, they truly did so.

When they said they have a plan to do testing in those nursing homes, they seemed to have done so.

When they said, they will send their own public health officials to airports when Mr. Trudeau was refusing to close the borders, they truly did. Even NS did it (with a Liberal government on top of that!). Even Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante did it too, hand in hand with Québec government (she is usually close politically and ideologically speaking to Mr. Trudeau and Ms. Hajdu who used the term “global citizens” in her interview above).

Will or did mistakes happen? Yes, sure/sadly… but this is only human. It is bound to happen, despite any best efforts.

However, our provincial officials seem to be for real. They work and they adjust and re-adjust. They do not rely on a media machinery (propaganda) to convince us of their efficacy. They just do their job. Thank you.

Bambi wishes our current federal government would put the same time and energy on their actual work than on their PR efforts, with the complicity of some journalists (especially those who lost their last drop of critical sense, perhaps to keep their pay or sanity).

Anyhow, what Ms. Hajdu is saying at the beginning of the interview to justify Canada’s response does not make any sense, at least to Bambi: “I can tell you we took the best advice possible at the time. Certainly we know countries that did other things and had worse outcomes. And other countries did yet other things with different outcomes“.

We do not have to be a political genius to notice the pattern of how the virus has spread in other countries (even if the advice she said she was getting from epidemiology at the time said otherwise. What epidemiologists is she talking about, by the way? Who advises her, we would like to know, as citizens?).

Canada had several weeks to learn: (1) From Europe (France, Italy, etc.) and other countries (Iran, South Korea, Taiwan, even from Lebanon, at least with citizen repatriating operations, much better than what Canada is doing/not doing!); and (2) closer to home, from the United States’ tragedy.

Canada does not have any excuse.

The reality is that the Canadian response sucked, especially at the beginning (and perhaps still now).

Sometimes, Mr. Trudeau et al. seem to repeat wise words or words about actions said/done by provinces or territories. He/they appear clever and they take credit for this wisdom.

Perhaps some specific Minister or public servants are working hard and efficiently, thanks to them. However, Ms. Hajdu does not seem to be one of them.

All this being said thus far, Bambi stopped listening at the tape at 3:36 minutes since its start. It is a waste of her time. If you have time to kill during the pandemic and want to open your own eyes, please help yourself.

As far as Bambi is concerned, how can she trust the judgment of a politician who spent 1.1 million to build/renovate her office, when she was a Minister of Status of Women:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/status-of-women-minister-spent-1-1m-on-new-office-despite-internal-warning-1.3207174

Or when she heard her declare at a union meeting that “Mr. Trudeau is a great leader” (that was funny to hear/watch). Does she truly believe it ??

https://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/headline-politics/episodes/64857393/episode-still-from-media-server-38092/

How can we take our politicians seriously when they say things that are so far away from the reality?

On which planet do they live… or they think we do?

Bambi is not a political expert. However, she has some common and critical sense left in her.

According to her, Mr. Trudeau is not only a bad leader. He may be the worst PM Canada has ever had, but that’s her own opinion and you do not have to agree.

This does not mean that the official opposition is any better necessarily.

What bothers her in life is pretentious folks. We can be pretentious, if we are competent. It may be slightly disturbing to her but not as much as the following scenario: When we have been incompetent, we should perhaps learn to become a bit more modest in life.

Sadly, what helps Mr. Trudeau’s team perpetuating this narrative in the media is that Canadians are passive by nature AND our media is far from being financially (and thus, intellectually) independent.

We do not find many journalists or the citizens who push our governments for action, as they do in other places (Bambi will name Lebanon). They do not revolt or do not force their governments to act faster to protect them. Lebanon is doing an excellent job in its fight against the coronavirus. However, they have been a bit slow at first, also for political or ideological reasons like Mr. Trudeau (Iran to Hezbollah is a bit like what China or Globalism is to Trudeau, if she may draw an analogy).

Even the Hezbollah opened its eyes and changed even its ideology faster/more efficiently than Mr. Trudeau et al. Let’s give them the following credit, even if Bambi dislikes them.

Unless she has missed this in the news, they did not change the facts after the facts. They took responsibility for the criticisms of the population. They seem to have moved on to focus on fighting Covid-19.

So, no, Ms. Hajdu and your boss Mr. Trudeau, you do not have any excuse but to stop the political blahblahblah and focus on keeping us safe ONLY!

Bambi has dreamed that this pandemic may be an opportunity for collaborations between nations in conflicts or between countries in endless wars and injustice.

The irony here is that those Palestinians arrested by Hamas were likely talking to leftwing Israeli activists, as per the Naharnet article below. As we know from Canada, some of those Israeli leftwing activists tend to be sometimes more “woke” than the Palestinians themselves:

Hamas arrests Palestinians in Gaza for Zoom video chat with Israelis

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/270963-hamas-says-it-arrested-gazan-after-zoom-call-with-israelis

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/hamas-arrests-gaza-peace-activists-for-zoom-chat-with-israelis