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Atlantic: Canada Got Better. The United States Got Trump.
I wonder whether Canada has the equivalent of Fox News. Perhaps having a whole media industry invested in stoking racial resentment is return for pro-business support is the difference.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/i-moved-canada-during-pandemic/614569/
In raw terms: On July 22, the 37.5 million people of Canada recorded 543 new coronavirus cases and eight fatalities. That same day, the 328 million people of the United States reported a staggering 69,730 new cases and 1,136 deaths. When you arrive in Canada, you instantly understand the basic cause of the disparity.
It’s not the health-care system, exactly—although that has coped better, too. A close friend in Los Angeles combatting cancer this week began to experience COVID-19-like symptoms. Her cancer treatment had to pause while she awaited first a test (a two-day delay) then the results (God knows how long). Meanwhile, my two Canadian nephews took the precaution of a COVID-19 test before coming to visit us in the country. They got the test on a walk-in basis. The results arrived a few hours later: all clear.
Outside the hospitals and clinics, people in every walk of life are taking the disease seriously. They wear masks. They stand outside of stores. They don’t complain all the time about trivial inconveniences.
The politicians have behaved better, too. Canada has politics, same as everywhere else. I see those political divisions close up; my sister serves in the Canadian Parliament as a Conservative senator. The Liberal Trudeau government depicts its Conservative opponents as Trumpy bigots and barbarians. The Conservatives retort by highlighting the ethics troubles of the Trudeau government. The latest such trouble: Justin Trudeau apologized for not recusing himself before his government directed a C$900 million contract to a well-connected charity that had paid more than C$300,000 in speaking fees to the prime minister’s mother and brother.
It’s not the health-care system, exactly—although that has coped better, too. A close friend in Los Angeles combatting cancer this week began to experience COVID-19-like symptoms. Her cancer treatment had to pause while she awaited first a test (a two-day delay) then the results (God knows how long). Meanwhile, my two Canadian nephews took the precaution of a COVID-19 test before coming to visit us in the country. They got the test on a walk-in basis. The results arrived a few hours later: all clear.
Outside the hospitals and clinics, people in every walk of life are taking the disease seriously. They wear masks. They stand outside of stores. They don’t complain all the time about trivial inconveniences.
The politicians have behaved better, too. Canada has politics, same as everywhere else. I see those political divisions close up; my sister serves in the Canadian Parliament as a Conservative senator. The Liberal Trudeau government depicts its Conservative opponents as Trumpy bigots and barbarians. The Conservatives retort by highlighting the ethics troubles of the Trudeau government. The latest such trouble: Justin Trudeau apologized for not recusing himself before his government directed a C$900 million contract to a well-connected charity that had paid more than C$300,000 in speaking fees to the prime minister’s mother and brother.
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