Hello,
Canada’s major political parties faced sharp criticism on Monday from Conservative leadership candidates and the Bloc Québécois for using the emergency wage subsidy to help cover party staffing costs.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet condemned other political parties – particularly the Liberals and Conservatives – for accessing the taxpayer-funded wage subsidy program aimed at supporting workers and businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic.
At a news conference in Ottawa, Mr. Blanchet pointed out that the Liberals and the Conservatives both raised millions of dollars in political donations during the first three months of 2020 and should not be using the program.
On Friday, staff for the federal Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Greens confirmed to The Globe and Mail that they have all applied for a taxpayer-funded wage subsidy while citing financial challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The subsidy announced by the federal government is designed to help keep employees on the payroll and covers 75 per cent of wages for employees of eligible employers, including non-profit organizations and registered charities.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, usually written by Chris Hannay. Kristy Kirkup is filling in today. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’ll push the provinces to give workers 10 days of paid sick leave a year as the country deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.
A key federal benefit for Canadians who are out of work, or seeing large drops in their earnings, in the COVID-19 pandemic has paid out over $40 billion in emergency aid.
An ad-hoc transparency group is calling on governments to make crucial records related to the COVID-19 pandemic open by default as a measure of accountability to Canadians.
The Globe and Mail editorial board on why Canada, and the world, must stand up to China’s latest attack on Hong Kong: “China claims that this is about protecting the people of Hong Kong from overseas threats, such as the imaginary foreign agents the Communist Party portrays as behind last summer’s pro-democracy, anti-Beijing protests. The real reason is that Beijing is consistently embarrassed by the territory’s freedoms, most recently by reports in Hong Kong media about its attempts to cover up the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.”
Jaason Geerts for The Globe and Mail on why the current approach to COVID-19 won’t work as well for a second wave: “This combination of lower fear and higher pressure exposes us to the potential for deadly super-spread events and will make it harder for leaders to motivate people to comply with strict measures again once they’ve been lifted.”
Kelly McParland for The National Post on why airlines should give people their money back: “The future for mass air transportation is bleak, to say the least. And it’s getting very little sympathy from its customers, who would prefer to have their money back, thank you very much.”
The Brandon Sun on why anti-media rhetoric is a symptom of COVID-19: “Sadly, anti-media rhetoric has accompanied COVID-19 coverage, not only locally, where just about every story is met with claims the pandemic is some sort of fear-mongering hoax, but most notable in the United States, where protecting one’s self and others against illness is seen as a partisan decision.”
Andrew Coyne and Robyn Urback on the performance of the federal government, premiers, and the opposition parties in the face of a pandemic. Listen to an archived recording of Politics in the time of pandemic: “Could Canada have done a better job managing the pandemic if we had instead followed the lead of nations like Taiwan and New Zealand? Is it time for a post-mortem on the early response to COVID-19? What future impact will the pandemic have on government policy, its priorities, and how will this ultimately shape our nation’s recovery strategy?”
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
Kristy Kirkup