Molto Grazie/Thank you Mr. Andrea Bocelli for your musical gift of hope on Easter!
Author: Bambi
Canadian private nursing home tragedies: Where was the inspection before the coronavirus?
In Québec:
In Ontario:
Another Canadian federal stupidity
Thank you, Mr. Blanchet (Bloc Québécois leader), for raising this issue today.
In the article below, we can read:
“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?
Why is Ms. Hajdu changing the coronavirus timeline facts now?
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:
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!
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:
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 ??
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!
How sad to remain narrow-minded in a pandemic uniting people in illness, fear, and economic misery
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:
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/270963-hamas-says-it-arrested-gazan-after-zoom-call-with-israelis
Laughter is the best medicine… especially in pandemics
In general, English Canadians seem to want to prove to themselves (OK to the rest of the world too) that they are culturally different from their neighbours, the Americans.
Specifically in this pandemic, Mr. Trudeau’s answers to journalists (e.g. about testing, etc.) always seem to want to show us how much we are better than the Americans. Why can’t we just be good? No need to always compare us to the USA. They are larger and richer. Some things they do are better. We are also better at other things.
For instance, today, Mr. Trudeau said that Canada has tested significantly more folks in total than the USA.
Maybe he meant to say “proportionally more”, rather than “more testing in total”? Could it be?
Anyhow, we learned today that Mr. Trudeau will not be addressing the nation on Sunday and Monday. That was the best news of the day, according to Bambi (no, that was not a joke :)). This being said, she wishes Mr. Trudeau a Happy Easter!
Bsharri, hometown of Gibran Khalil Gibran, will be isolated to contain the coronavirus
Lebanon has now 27 new coronavirus cases, which raises its total to 609 (as of today).
It seems that the village of Bsharri will be isolated by the army, as of tomorrow, to try to contain the outbreak. Good luck!
In the short video above, you can see the charm of Bsharri.
Bambi was lucky to visit this region three years ago, thanks to her parents. She cannot describe the beauty of those mountains filled with snow until June sometimes. The air is pure. Nature is filled with spirituality… not surprising that the valley surrounding Bsharri is called “Kadisha Valley” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadisha_Valley). Kadisha means “holy” in Aramaic. The latter is the language Jesus spoke.
Talking about Aramaic, well here is “Our Father” in Aramaic, intepreted by a great Lebanese singer called Majida (Majida El Roumy). Enjoy!
CTV News: “Trudeau suggested he’s willing to put his Easter plans on hold this weekend to get the bill passed”
First, sad to see those federal politicians arguing to the extent of getting in the way of helping entrepreneurs. Not very impressive, to say the least:
Second, there is a pandemic, for God’s sake. So, Mr. Trudeau, you are not the only one putting something important on hold here. The whole planet is!
Some are putting their daily lives and jobs on hold.
Others are putting their security or lives on hold… for ever.
Some are not able to see their beloved parents and/or grand parents. Some do not know if they will be able to see them in months, year(s), or ever.
Some do not know if the last time they managed to see them was their last one ever… at least physically, on earth.
To come back to your Easter plans, some are putting both Easter and Passover on hold now. Others will be putting Ramadan on hold too. So, no, you are not the only one.
Bambi is saying this, and she feels for your lovely spouse and cute kids. It would be nice for your family to be re-united.
However, please remember that we should not cross borders between provinces or go to cottages, doing back and forth between regions… at least, this is what Bambi understood from your own advice and the advice of other politicians and public health experts.
Perhaps you can teach Canadians to adhere to confinement measures by leading by example?
If statistical projection is “imperfect” for two weeks of a pandemic, imagine how much it would be noisy for the next 10-15 years when it comes to climate change?
In the article below, Dr. Tam. talked about “imperfect” projections (for the next 2 weeks) during a pandemic:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid19-modelling-projections-1.5527365
In the CBC article above, we can read the following:
“Tam has cautioned that models that try to predict how many people could become infected and die from the coronavirus are not “crystal balls,” and that it’s important to focus on data on what is happening in real time.
How projections actually play out depends largely on actions taken by individuals and governments, she said”.
Mmm… It is hard to perform statistical projections for two weeks of a pandemic. This is normal because estimated models can be random. Why? Simply because there are many variables (the latter would/could vary, by definition). If that is the case of the next two weeks, imagine how it would be then to project climate change projections (i.e., CO2) for the next 10-15 years :)!
Yet illuminated people and governments around the Western world, including Mr. Trudeau et al., have been telling us, over and over, that the climate science is settled, that if we do not believe it, we are deniers, that this justifies increased taxes, etc.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-throne-speech-climate-change-1.5386274
Isn’t that ironic, Bambi cannot help not to wonder to herself :)?
A statement by a traveller repatriated to Beirut from Paris
A friend from Moncton (thanks Mary :)) forwarded this letter to Bambi. She must have received it from someone from Beirut, Lebanon.
What an interesting statement… Of course Bambi cannot verify the authenticity of the letter (+ does not have the time to do so!). However, from the TV news documentaries and testimonies of people she has talked to in Beirut, all this seems to be 100 percent accurate.
Remember, we are talking about a bankrupt country, which citizens have revolted against its corruption (with a good reason :(!). So imagine, if those same citizens are saying what they are saying now about the performance of the government, the official health authorities, and all those who generously collaborated with in this operation (from MEA airlines’ staff to hotel staff, etc.). Bravo Lebanon!
Before sharing the letter, Bambi is not surprised… During civil war, MEA airline has literally done miracles to save passengers (including Bambi and her family). Once, an airplane had to fly to Cyprus at lower altitude, door unlocked, as the shelling started suddenly (Cyprus is just 20-25 minutes away by airplane). This story is real, told by a retired flight attendant to Bambi. The spouse of this person was not as lucky as her to survive a 15-year-long war. He was kidnapped at one point. His body was never found.
Anyhow, here is the letter below. Enjoy!
“Roger Bejjani:
Statement made by my brother Gaby who arrived to Beirut from Paris yesterday Tuesday April 7, 2020.
Dear All. I left Paris for Beirut on Tuesday April 7, 2020. I just arrived home (April 8, 2020 @ 4 pm) after a unique frightening experience. I have to congratulate the Lebanese government and the concerned ministries for their professionalism and the logistics they have deployed from the departure in Paris via the Lebanese embassy, the MEA and its devoted staff, the interior redesigning of the plane to cope with the threat of contamination between passengers. The flight attendants were wearing astronaute kind of protective and insulating gear, the delegates from the Lebanese interior and general security and the ones from the health ministry were also properly protected. We were provided by the Lebanese authority masks and gloves, whilst France did not have any masks available in the pharmacies and even in some hospitals. They segregated us with different colors: a green color to the ones who had a previous recent negative test which was a minority, yellow color for those who said having no Symptoms, blue for those who declared they had diabetes, blood pressure, excess weight, cardio vascular and cancer, finally red for who was showing Corona symptoms. During the flight, a doctor was permanently contolling the temperature of all passengers.
I shall not forget the energy and discipline shown at Beirut airport in maintaining the distancing in a calm and respectful way and in asking the passengers the standard questions before being tested by an excellent team of medical experts. Once the process completed at Beirut airport, each nine of the plane passengers were allocated a bus and luggages sanitized prior to charging them on the bus. Even the clothes worn by the passengers were sanitized. At the hotel where we had to wait for the tests results, every three passengers were received by a health specialist who explained the necessary process for those who will be eventually tested positive and for those who will hopefully test negative. At 7.30pm I went to my room with a sea view, i showered and tried to relax and ultimately slept. No one was allowed to go to the lobby or eat @ the hotel’s restaurant or certainely [sic.] to go out. The police was surrounding the hotel. Obviously I did not feel at all as eating and was worried about the test results. As you know 30% or even more of the positive worldwide population has no Symptoms [sic.]. I started remembering all the people I met in Paris during my three weeks of confinement to reboost my moral. I woke up today trying to give myself comfort whilst waiting for the sanction. Paradise would be to be 15 days confined in my room at home and hell to be confined as much or even more in a governmental hospital. Every door knocking or every phone ringing was for me a big moment of self control trying to courageously face the verdict.
I had to fill new forms confirming my acceptance of the confinement either way. Then they asked me who will drive you home; I saw that as a good sign but unfortunately it was a simple administrative question as results were not yet out. My daughter Céline read to me over the phone the Orient le Jour info confirming that 4 positive cases out of the Paris plane were already sent to Hariri hospital. My brother Roger said to me that this needs to be confirmed as info is not always very accurate. I contacted the receptionist who said that they were still waiting for the results. Every five minutes the good news was transformed into neutral news and time was running. I called Best assistance CEO George Abdel Massih who sent me a link confirming Orient’s statement.The deliverance came at 2.30pm when they called me asking me to check out. I immediately called Celine who arrived with her mask surrounded by security forces. I have to really praise here the Lebanese government. We owe them at least a sincere recognition, as they behaved better than many other advanced and much richer countries. For a government facing huge financial challenges, they acted and are still acting in a very honorable way to fight this Pandemic [sic.].
Yes this time , I am proud to be Lebanese and they should be encouraged in this priority mission safeguarding the health of our population. “
