The Globe and Mail - 09.03.2020

A10 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| MONDAY,MARCH9,

EDITORIAL

PHILLIPCRAWLEY

PUBLISHERANDCEO

DAVIDWALMSLEY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

F

ederal Finance Minister Bill Morneau did his best to

calmCanadianslastweekwhenhesaidOttawahasthe

“fiscal firepower” to respond to any economic fallout

from the coronavirus crisis.

That was a useful message to deliver. Along with the fact

the Bank of Canada lowered interest rates by 50 points last

week, and that the Trudeau government has created a cabi-

net committee focused on the disease, there are positive

signs that ourgovernment is being pro-active.

But Ottawa needs to do more. While it’s good to know that

the federalgovernment is prepared to stimulate the econo-

my if needed, an even more important message is that it will

do whatever is required, right now, to limit the damage of an

epidemic in the first place.

That means spending money on preparations. Prime Min-

isterJustinTrudeausaidlastweekthatOttawawon’tresortto

“knee-jerk reactions.” Fair enough. But no one is asking any-

onetooverreact.WhatCanadianswantistobereassuredthat

the country isn’t underprepared.

AtthesametimeasMr.Trudeauandhiscabinetareletting

the business world know that the Treasury is locked and

loaded and ready to fire should the economy suffer, Ottawa

should also be asking the provinces, major cities and other

stakeholdersh “How much money do you need to be ready if

the worst happensÌ”

Consider it an insurance policy. Ottawa can spend a few

hundred million dollars on a premium now – the equivalent

of a rounding error on a federal budget of $355-billion – that

could well prevent it from having to spend a lot more later.

The coronavirus is not, at its root, an economic issue. It’s a

public-health issue, which, if not dealt with, will deliver haz-

ardouseconomicsideeffects.Theconcernfortheeconomyis

notmisplaced,buttheeconomywillonlyneedarescuepack-

age if we fail to stop the spread of the disease.

Canadaknowswhatisneededbetterthanothercountries.

The silver lining of having been one of the epicentres of the

2003 SARS epidemic is that Canada got to study where and

why its health system failed.

Out of that tragedy came better preparations for the next,

inevitablepandemic.ThatincludesthecreationofthePublic

Health Agency of Canada, which has 2,400 employees and is

at the forefront of the fight to contain the spread of the coro-

navirus, and better disease-control protocols in hospitals,

better training for health-care workers and better communi-

cations between those on the front lines.

But those advances, which will save lives this time, were

responses to the circumstances of the SARS epidemic. That

crisis was mostly confined to China, caught Toronto un-

aware, spread more slowly and, though it appears to have

beenmoredeadly,inCanadawaslargelyconfinedtotwohos-

pitals.

The coronavirus is different. It is already far more wide-

spread than SARS and has killed more people, but it also ap-

pears to be much less deadly. This is a virus that seems des-

tined to infect many more people than SARS. And we know

it’s already here in Canada.

So while Ottawa has no reason to hit the panic button, it

should let it be known that it has the money to ensure the

country isn’t underprepared for what may be coming.

In the United States, Congress quickly passed a US$8.3-bil-

lion coronavirus funding package that President Donald

Trump signed on Friday. It willhelp local and stategovern-

ments test for the disease and prepare for an epidemic.

The move, with Congress appropriating the money in re-

cord time, sends a more concrete message than Mr. Mor-

neau’s assurances that he will set aside a larger-than-usual

amountforunforeseencontingenciesintheupcomingfeder-

albudget–adocumentwhosedropdateislikelyweeksaway.

Mr. Morneau is signalling a readiness to tackle future eco-

nomic contingencies, but is Canada prepared, right now, for

the health consequences that may be comingÌ

If the number of suspected infections jumps, can enough

people be tested for the virus quicklyÌ Do hospitals currently

have enough staff and protective gearÌ Are there enough

beds and facilities availableÌ At this point, that’s not clear.

The federalgovernment is right to worry about the eco-

nomic fallout of the coronavirus. But the best way to avoid

being hit with high economic costs tomorrow is to have ev-

erything on hand to successfully tackle the disease today.

No one ever regretted being overprepared for a disaster.

Preparingfor

theworstis

forthebest

ONEFORALL

Re Conservative Conundrum

(Letters, March 6)h I believe a let-

ter writer is mistaken in saying

that returning the federal carbon

tax as a per-capita dividend

makes the policy ineffective.

Some people have no low-cost

ways to reduce emissionsÝ they

can’t trade in for a more fuel-effi-

cient vehicle, take transit or cut

marginal trips. Because high-in-

come households spend more on

fossil fuels (being less sensitive to

gas prices) and thus pay a dispro-

portionateshareofthetax,there-

sult of returning that amount

equallyisthatabout70percentof

households come out ahead,

even if they can’t cut emissions at

all. For people who can, their in-

centive is to collect the dividend

and save money by continuing to

reduce their fuel consumption.

This should lower Canada’s total

output.

The question is whether the

Conservatives will accept this, or

continue trying to change the

subject.

RussilWvongVancouver

PEITOQUEBEC

Re The Politics Of Voting In 6ue-

bec(Editorial,March6)hSpeaking

from painful experience after

three failed provincial referen-

dums or plebiscites on electoral

reform, allow me to make a few

suggestions to Frandois Legault.

First, stipulate from the outset

astrongthresholdforacceptance,

and stay away from 50 per cent

plus one.

Second, pick a single model,

such as mixed-member propor-

tional, and make it a simple yes-

or-no proposition.

Third, introduce a multi-

pronged public-education cam-

paignnolessthanoneyearbefore

the referendum.

Fourth, spell out how party-list

candidates will be chosenÝ avoid

the use of suspect committees to

explore both yes and no posi-

tionsÝencouragethemediatoen-

gage in spirited debate.

Fifth, reassure rural communi-

ties that their electoral weight

(and voice) will not be dimin-

ished.

Lastly, and most importanth If

not all mainline parties agree on

the need for reform, it is probably

besttoshelvetheideauntilacon-

sensus is reached.

In the absence of these recom-

mendations,atleastonPrinceEd-

ward Island, the whole process

tends to descend into little more

than a political gong show.

PeterMcKennaProfessorof

politicalscience,UniversityofPrince

EdwardIsland;Charlottetown

ATAXUPONYOU

ReAnAlbertaBudgetStillBetting

On Oil (Editorial, March 5)h The

UCP government astounds me. It

will balance Alberta’s debt with

cutstoeducation,healthcareand

parks while offering tax incen-

tives to large companies. Has it

considered all options to balance

the coffersÌ

Why not propose a sales taxÌ

God forbid we consider this, an

Albertan might shudder. But Ja-

son Kenney would be the first to

takeaswipeatotherpremiers,In-

digenous leaders and the Prime

Minister about their perceived

lack of interest in the well-being

of Albertans. I think he should

standupanddemonstrateleader-

ship in these challenging times.

CatherineMooreCanmore,Alta.

WhenwillAlbertaturnitsfocusto

diversifyingtheprovincialecono-

myÌ It might be politically easier

than bringing in a sales tax.

SusanMorrisonKelowna,B.C.

VIRUSPOLICIES

Re Experts Criticize Ontario Virus

Policy (March 4)h The article re-

fers to mounting evidence that

shows COVID-19 spreads through

droplets. However, the Public

Health Agency of Canada has

statedthat“significantadditional

information is still required { to

fully understand how the disease

is transmitted.” It is precisely be-

cause we do not yet fully under-

standhowthediseaseistransmit-

ted that the United States, Eu-

ropean Union and Britain recom-

mend health-care workers use

airborne precautions when car-

ingforpatientswhomayhaveCO-

VID-19. This means they should

wear, at minimum, a fit-tested

N-95 respirator. This is what Chi-

nesehealth-careworkersarenow

wearing, according to the World

Health Organization.

I believe Ontario and other in-

ternational jurisdictions are cor-

rectly following the precaution-

ary principle. This holds that

whenthereisscientificuncertain-

ty about the transmission and se-

verityofavirus,oneshoulderron

the side of safety. PHAC should

follow Ontario’s lead to avoid

needless risk to workers and the

public.

LindaSilas

President,CanadianFederationof

NursesUnions;Ottawa

NOMORE

Re Ontario Won’t Renew Extra

Funding For Sexual-assault Cen-

tres, Advocates Say (March 5)h

The failure of Ontario to renew

extra funding for sexual-assault

centres seems nothing more and

nothinglessthantherevictimiza-

tion of the vulnerable. I find it be-

yond tragic thatthe government

has no appreciation for the life-

time of pain mostly women will

endure.

Togofromvictimtosurvivoris

difficult enough without cutting

off a potential lifeline.

MarvinZukerToronto

HIGHTIME

Re Ontario Providing $20-million

Boost For Psychotherapy Access

(March2)andAsCannabisStocks

Cool, Will Psychedelic Drugs Be

The Next Market FrenzyÌ (Report

onBusiness,March3)hThereisre-

search from the United States,

Canada, Israel and beyond that

suggestsastrongrecoveryratefor

PTSD sufferers when psychother-

apy is combined with the guided

use of the psychoactive material

MDMA.

Psilocybinisalsobeingstudied

thus. I find it too bad the Ontario

government could not offer a

combination of psychotherapy

with MDMA or psilocybin for

more positive effects.

Wellknowninpsychedelicsup-

port circles is that one

well-guided trip with MDMA or

psilocybin may affect inner heal-

ing that psychotherapy alone

does not. For me, one guided trip

withlegalayahuascabroughtpro-

found inner healing unaddressed

in 15 years of psychotherapy.

Our laws, which criminalize

these psychoactive substances,

should be changed to make such

deeper entheogenic healing legal

and possible.

KatherineKimbell

Foundingmember,Ottawa

PsychedelicEducationNetwork

THISISHOWWEDOIT

Re The CRA Should Do Our Taxes

For Us (Report on Business,

March 6)h We would need to have

alotoftrusttoletthegovernment

do our taxes, and columnist Rita

Trichur has reason to complain

about the complexity of the or-

deal.

A few changes this year further

complicate the procedureh Pro-

vincial tax papers are no longer

pink, so one is forced to shuffle

through all the forms to find in-

formation. Also, line 150, which

used to be total income, is now

line 15000. Isthe government

planning to complicate this proc-

ess by a factor of 100Ì

I am a senior, and every year I

sit down with pencil and calcula-

tor to work on my husband’s and

my taxes. I refuse to buy a pro-

gram or online service because it

shouldn’t be necessary to pay to

do taxes. It should be much sim-

pler.

Mymainreasonfordoingtaxes

the old-fashioned way is to know

howthesystemworks.Thereisno

waytotrulyfindoutotherthanto

sit down with that pencil and cal-

culator, and search through all

those darned forms.

LeslieMartelMississauga

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