{"id":34917,"date":"2020-05-29T03:54:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T10:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=34917"},"modified":"2020-05-28T20:28:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T03:28:18","slug":"politics-in-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/05\/29\/politics-in-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics in the pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clockwise from the top left are Amanda Blitz, Kathleen Monk, Amanda Alvaro and Chad Rogers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Political pundits Amanda Alvaro, Chad Rogers and Kathleen Monk recently participated in an hour-long panel discussion on politics during COVID-19, examining how Canada\u2019s leaders have fared since the start of the pandemic, what still needs to happen and how the coronavirus will shape the nation\u2019s politics in the future. Hosted by the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC), the May 14 webinar was emceed by its general counsel and director of communications, former news anchor Amanda Blitz.<\/p>\n

The CBC Power & Politics<\/em> regulars began, not with partisan jabs, but with kind words for the other sides of the political aisle. Alvaro, who frequently champions Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, paid a compliment to Premier Doug Ford of Ontario. \u201cHe\u2019s really been able to connect well with Canadians. He\u2019s delivered the news in a way people want to hear,\u201d she acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Rogers, a Conservative stalwart, praised Minister of Small Business Mary Ng as a person \u201cwho has done the hard work with a tremendous amount of humility and ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

And NDP proponent Monk lauded the work of the nation\u2019s public servants, whose \u201cyeoman\u2019s efforts\u201d have brought Canadians home from abroad and supplied them with stimulus cheques in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, it took only a few seconds for Andrew Scheer\u2019s name to appear on Alvaro\u2019s list of those who have not performed well during the crisis. Rogers sprang to the Conservative leader\u2019s defence, countering that it is exceedingly difficult for anyone on the right to watch a government spend as much as the Liberals currently are. \u201cWe\u2019ve already allocated more money than we did in World War Two. For a Conservative, this is the worst horror movie ever written,\u201d he asserted. \u201cWe are going to have things in this crisis that are going to be horrible missteps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monk, meanwhile, criticized Quebec\u2019s response to the pandemic but commended British Columbia\u2019s. \u201cIt is amazing how good public policy can save lives. Never has it been more evident that we are a country of different governments, different territories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nobody on the panel could dispute the economic toll of the pandemic, including double-digit unemployment. Monk shone light on how women have been disproportionately affected, dubbing it a \u201cshe-cession,\u201d as a higher ratio of women work in sectors brought down by COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Both Alvaro and Rogers gave kudos to the federal government for providing emergency assistance to individuals quickly. However, Rogers claimed the Liberals were using \u201cCOVID-19 as a cover to put their boot heel to the throat of the oil and gas industry in Alberta. There is an extreme environmental agenda trying to pivot the Canadian economy into something it isn\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Of course, China was discussed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the erosion of China\u2019s image recently, we can\u2019t avoid China,\u201d Alvaro said. \u201cThere are many reasons why China can\u2019t be written off, but many reasons why China is making it very difficult for countries to have a positive relationship with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese government is a totalitarian cult of death,\u201d Rogers declared. \u201cThey could have aided the world by getting a week or a month ahead of the [COVID-19] curve. We should be very mindful every time we speak with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChina has not done itself any favours with their management of the post-crisis phase,\u201d Monk added.<\/p>\n

In the midst of the pandemic, the Conservative party leadership race is taking place. All of the panelists steered clear of the Derek Sloan method of populism \u2013 which questioned the patriotism of Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada\u2019s chief public health officer \u2013 and saw it more as a contest between Erin O\u2019Toole and Peter MacKay.<\/p>\n

All also agreed that it is remarkably challenging to campaign without being able to press the flesh and make stump speeches. However, Alvaro said, while people are at home, politicians do have a captive audience if they \u201ccan tap into the digital space that is less time-consuming than going door to door.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the topic of leadership, Rogers predicted that Trudeau will, as the crisis subsides, give consideration to his future as leader and ultimately decide it will be time to step down before the next federal election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will give him an honourable exit, after establishing himself as essentially a wartime leader and not having to face a caucus that has lost faith in him,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

As the discussion wrapped up, Monk postulated that a potentially positive outcome from the crisis would be an increase in trade closer to home, i.e., within North America.<\/p>\n

Alvaro said there will be many questions to follow: \u201cMuch of this will obviously be judged on how the recovery comes about, and how we fix the things we have fundamentally ignored, like long-term-care facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogers appealed to all in attendance to make a charitable donation, as nonprofits have been struggling for funds during the pandemic; a request that was backed by all the panelists.<\/p>\n

For more information about CJPAC, visit cjpac.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sam Margolis<\/strong> has written for the <\/em>Globe and Mail, the <\/em>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clockwise from the top left are Amanda Blitz, Kathleen Monk, Amanda Alvaro and Chad Rogers. Political pundits Amanda Alvaro, Chad Rogers and Kathleen Monk recently participated in an hour-long panel discussion on politics during COVID-19, examining how Canada\u2019s leaders have fared since the start of the pandemic, what still needs to happen and how the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9914,9917,9915,769,9916,3597],"class_list":["post-34917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","tag-amanda-alvaro","tag-amanda-blitz","tag-chad-rogers","tag-cjpac","tag-kathleen-monk","tag-politics"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}