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R, a key metric to watch as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted When is it safe to ease COVID-19 restrictions? How does that relate to the “peak” of the epidemic? And when might restrictions need to be reimposed? Here's a metric that can help answer those questions.

Sam Cooper, Global News: "The report from Canada’s cyber defence agency, the Communications Security Establishment, builds on its previous COVID-19 alerts, which warned that cybercriminals have “spoofed” many Government of Canada webpages in attempts to scam citizens. The new report outlines the stunning scale of these spoofing and phishing attacks, and new strategic directions.

The cyber defence agency is “aware of over 120,000 newly registered COVID-19 themed domains, a large proportion of which was considered malicious or related to fraudulent activity,” the April 27 report says."

Foreign intelligence targeting Canada’s COVID-19 research and supply chains: report Cyber spies are targeting Canada's COVID-19 research, a report says.

Internet connectivity issues. Hopefully, back tomorrow...
Credit: Brian Gable
Globe and Mail

Bob Mackin, TheBreakerNews: "A post on the Liberal Minister of Digital Government’s group on a China state-censored social media platform is promoting a lawsuit against an investigative journalist who cast a critical eye on China’s hoarding of medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sam Cooper of Global News reported April 30 under the headline “United Front groups in Canada helped Beijing stockpile coronavirus safety supplies,” about how allies of the Chinese Communist Party went on a six-week, worldwide buying spree and exported 2.5 billion pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to China, from Canada, Australia and other countries.

Cooper’s story quoted former Mexican diplomat Jorge Guajardo and Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole, a harsh critic of the CCP."

Exclusive: Liberal minister’s WeChat group promotes lawsuit against journalist who highlighted China's mask-hoarding - theBreaker Real estate agents are exploring a lawsuit against investigative journalist Sam Cooper, who wrote about China's manipulation of the world medical supply market as the coronavirus spread beyond Wuhan.

Carla Wilson, Times Colonist: "Island Health announced Monday that Abermann will continue to oversee daily operations and management of the private facility.

Nanaimo Seniors Village is run by Pacific Reach Seniors Housing Management, operating as West Coast Seniors Housing Management. That company is part of the Retirement Concepts group of companies."

Nanaimo seniors care home to remain under Island Health's control for now Island Health has extended its daily management of a privately owned Nanaimo seniors home until at least the end of July.Susan Abermann was appointed administrator of the 150-bed Nanaimo’s . . .

Mike Hager, Globe and Mail: "Some of the billions of dollars that have been spirited out of China and pumped into British Columbia’s economy in recent years have mingled with drug money and bolstered the underground money-laundering sector, one of Canada’s foremost academics told a provincial inquiry Monday."

B.C.’s money laundering fuelled by offshore and drug money, inquiry hears Criminology professor says funds spirited out of China have helped to bolster underground sector in the province

John Hua, Global News: "In Vancouver, criminologist Stephen Schneider said, there seems to be businesses whose sole purpose is to launder money, and that it has become a “cottage industry” in which people become specialists or consultants to help organized crime groups transport and launder dirty cash."

Money laundering in Vancouver appears to be ‘cottage industry,’ inquiry hears One expert says there seems to be businesses in Vancouver whose sole purpose is to launder money.

The Earnscliffe public opinion research team surveyed nearly 2,000 Canadians on their attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic.

What do Canadians want policy makers to know about COVID-19? How is the pandemic changing how Canadians think about industries and corporations? What is the new role of corporate communications and COVID-related advertisements.

Watch the live webinar below:

Earnscliffe Webinar: This Changes Everything - Earnscliffe Strategy Group Originally aired Friday, May 22. Moderated by Allan Gregg, our panelists Doug Anderson, CAIP, Stephanie Constable, CAIP, Chris Ball, and special guest Susan Delacourt, national columnist for the Toronto Star, gathered to discuss Earnscliffe’s newly-released polling data. The Earnscliffe public opi...

Simon Little, Global News: "When British Columbia’s public inquiry into money laundering resumes on Monday, Port Coquitlam’s mayor says he hopes it becomes must-watch programming.

The Cullen Commission has moved its proceedings online amid concerns about COVID-19. Global News will stream the entire proceedings live.

“My hope is that Justice (Austin) Cullen becomes just as well known as Dr. (Bonnie) Henry,” said (Brad) West, referring to the B.C.’s provincial health officer, whose daily pandemic briefings have become essential viewing."

B.C. mayor hopes money laundering inquiry becomes must-see TV "My hope is that Justice (Austin) Cullen becomes just as well known as Dr. (Bonnie) Henry," said West.

UPDATED: How B.C.'s long term care industry tilted in political donations.

Credit: Raeside
Times Colonist

Sam Cooper, Global News: "Almost half of Canadians believe at least one popular coronavirus conspiracy theory or myth, including 26 per cent who believe COVID-19 is a Chinese-engineered bioweapon released from a lab, according to a new survey from Carleton University.

In an interview, Carleton University journalism professor Josh Greenberg said study authors found popular conspiracy “memes” are seeded and distributed in the “highly fragmented” information-sharing landscape of social messaging apps such as Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok."

Nearly half of Canadians can’t tell coronavirus fact from conspiracy theory: survey Most Canadians believe they can easily distinguish coronavirus fact from fiction. But a new study suggests otherwise.

Neil Irwin, New York Times: "When something falls by 10 percent and then rises by 10 percent, it might seem as if it ends up back where it started. But that’s not how the math works.

A 10 percent drop from 100 to 90, followed by a 10 percent gain, would return it only to 99. With bigger swings, those effects become more striking.

A 40 percent drop followed by a 40 percent gain would result in a quantity 16 percent below the starting point.At even greater extremes, you end up with bonkers numbers like those in the air traffic example, in which a 96 percent drop followed by a 123 percent gain leaves you with a number that is still 91 percent below normal."

https://t.co/4FKxuRBDOq?amp=1

Air Travel Surges by 123%! (Beware of Misleading Data Like That) In normal times, percentage change is a helpful guide to what’s happening in the economy. But these are not normal times.

In the summer of 2019, Speaker Darryl Plecas' chief of staff, Alan Mullen visited the capitals of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario as well as seven U.S. states — Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington — to do research on security at their legislative building.

Credit: Walt Handelsman
The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

Kerry Gold, Globe And Mail: "The Housing Vancouver Strategy needs a serious rethink because it is based on flawed population projections that are pressuring the City to develop more market housing than it needs, say housing experts."

Critics say Vancouver needs to recalibrate its housing strategy Flawed targets could lead to over-development and demolition of affordable rental units

Jeremy Nuttall, The Star: "Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Adam Austen said Ottawa is encouraging dialogue to address the “legitimate concerns” raised by Hong Kongers over the legislation. Hong Kong is home to 300,000 Canadian citizens."

China’s latest move — slammed as ‘death of Hong Kong’ — sparks calls for Ottawa to end region’s special status Thursday Beijing moved to impose a national security law on the special administrative region, which opponents say violates the agreement it signed wi...

The Globe and Mail's article by Kathy Tomlinson names nine consultant or in-house lobbyists and seven companies or organizations.

There are 728 active registrations in the B.C. Lobbyist Registry, of which 455 are by consultant lobbyists.

A look at the 690 words that matter

Globe and Mail Editorial: "The price tag for the current lockdown includes federal-provincial deficits of at least $300-billion this year, and a reduction in economic activity estimated by the Parliamentary Budget Officer at $395-billion.

Even testing on a massive scale, accompanied by an enormous bureaucracy for contact tracing and border enforcement, will cost only a fraction of that. Buy the insurance policy already."

Globe editorial: Where is all the testing and tracing our politicians keep promising, but haven’t delivered? Without all of the tools in place to safely reopen the Canadian economy, we run the risk of a spike in infections, and restrictions being reimposed

The Economist: "Covid-19 has demonstrated that the foundations of prosperity are precarious. Disasters long talked about, and long ignored, can come upon you with no warning, turning life inside out and shaking all that seemed stable.

The harm from climate change will be slower than the pandemic but more massive and longer-lasting. If there is a moment for leaders to show bravery in heading off that disaster, this is it. They will never have a more attentive audience."

The covid and climate crises are connected The pandemic shows how hard it will be to decarbonise—and creates an opportunity

Gary Mason, Globe and Mail: "There is no question, in my mind, that laws were broken here. And no one should even begin to suggest otherwise.

It’s also wrong to play down the matter, or to intimate in any way that it wasn’t a big deal because we weren’t talking about millions of dollars. That misses the point completely.

Election finance laws, such as they were at the time, were violated and those who did the violating won’t face any consequences.

That’s the bottom line."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-report-on-illegal-election-donations-ignores-key-legal-and-democratic/

Canadian Press: "Politicians in British Columbia will return to a new look legislature next month where efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 could see the house taking on the appearance of a TV game show, says Premier John Horgan.

Horgan said Wednesday he expects the legislature to resume sitting either June 15 or June 22 to pass the budget and several pieces of legislation."

Premier says B.C. legislature could look like 'Hollywood Squares' next month VICTORIA — Politicians in British Columbia will return to a new look legislature next month where efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 could see the house taking on the appearance of a TV game . . .

Credit: Adrian Raeside
Times Colonist

Covid-19 cases worldwide on April 1, 2020 and May 20, 2020

Steven Chase, Globe and Mail: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will continue to support the World Health Organization even as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to cancel his country’s membership in the UN agency. But Mr. Trudeau has signalled that Ottawa will ask hard questions about China’s relationship with the global public-health body.

“No global institution is perfect, and there are obviously things we need to work on and things we need to improve,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters Tuesday, two days after Canada and dozens of other countries passed a resolution calling for an independent review of the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic."

Trudeau backs WHO but says ‘real questions’ about China persist The Prime Minister has signalled that Ottawa will ask hard questions about Beijing’s relationship with the global public-health body

CBC News: "Ontario is launching an independent commission into the province's long-term care system.

Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton said in a statement released Tuesday that the commission will start in September, and in the meantime the government will be setting out terms of reference, leadership and timelines.

"An independent, non-partisan commission is the best way to conduct a thorough and expedited review," Fullerton said in a news release."

After more than 1,400 COVID-19-related deaths at long-term care homes, Ontario orders independent commission | CBC News Ontario is launching an independent commission into the province's long-term care system. More than 1,400 long-term care residents have died amid COVID-19 outbreaks in the facilities.

Nick WellsThe Canadian Press: "A rising death toll from overdoses in B.C. during the COVID-19 pandemic has advocates, government officials and health-care workers concerned about a public health emergency that has been overshadowed by the response to the virus.

The BC Coroners Service says 113 people died in March of suspected illicit drug toxicity, the first time in a year that deaths from overdoses across B.C. exceeded 100.

The province declared opioid-related overdoses a public health emergency four years ago. More than 5,000 people have died from overdoses since then."

Overdoses ‘sadly normalized’ in British Columbia, addictions minister says The province was starting to see a drop in overdose-related deaths by the end of 2019, only to see a spike once the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Credit: Brian Gable
Globe and Mail

Canadian Press: "British Columbia’s top doctor is urging residents to stay close to home over the long weekend in order to mitigate transmission of COVID-19 before some businesses reopen on Tuesday.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said much of the virus’s spread has occurred because symptoms are often mild, especially in the early stages of illness, and people may not recognize it could be COVID-19 making them sick.

“This means we must continue to stay alert and stay vigilant, and this May long weekend, we need to pause,” she said. “We need to stay close to home and think through how all of us in B.C. will put into place our new safe-social-interaction rules for the coming days and weeks.”

B.C.’s top doctor urges ‘pause’ over long weekend before businesses reopen Tuesday Dr. Bonnie Henry said much of the virus’s spread has occurred because symptoms are often mild, especially in the early stages, and people may not reco...

Monica Catto, contributed to the Globe and Mail: "I don’t want things to return to normal. What was deemed normal in long term care clearly wasn’t working.

What I do long for is a new normal – one where people are cognizant and appreciative of the efforts that professionals in LTC make every day."

Working in long-term care these days is breaking my heart Monica Catto tries her best to be a conduit between the long-term care residents she looks after, and their physically-distant family. But some days are really hard

It ain't over 'til it's over

SBS News: "Australia has received international backing for an independent coronavirus inquiry as trade tensions with China come under heavy strain.

More than 60 countries including Russia, Indonesia, India, Japan, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and all 27 European Union member states have co-sponsored the motion.

The draft resolution calls for impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation of the international response to the pandemic."

Coalition of 62 countries back Australia's push for coronavirus pandemic probe India, Japan, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Indonesia, Russia, and all 27 EU member states will back Australia's push for a probe into the coronavirus pandemic.

Where the B.C. legislature's security budget fits among policing budgets in the Capital Regional District (2018)

Check out these statistics and judge for yourself.