FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Feb 23

Canada Also Has Its Own Right-Wing Extremist Groups

by bcurry

Just recently, there was an anti-lockdown demonstration in front of the provincial legislation in Edmonton, Alberta.  Interestingly, the province’s premier, Jason Kenney, associated several hate groups and racism to the anti-lockdown protest.  Now, Alberta is politically Canada’s most conservative province, having elected a string of conservative governments in the last five decades.  Nevertheless, the Premier openly declared that some prominent racists and white supremists promoted Saturday’s protest at the legislature, and individuals attended the event from known hate groups like the ‘Soldiers of Odin’ and ‘Urban Infidels’.  What these groups failed to mention is that Alberta had a disproportionately high number of COVID-19 cases and deaths compared to the rest of Canada.  Although somewhat late off the mark, the province eventually and somewhat reluctantly was forced to introduce lockdown measures and mandatory mask wearing, especially in its two largest cities of Calgary and Edmonton.  Once again during the protest, violence broke out when the police were forced to intervene.  Allegedly, several officers were punched by protesters while trying to make an arrest.  Premier Kenney correctly asserted that while Albertans value freedom of speech and assembly, the event’s connection to hate groups and any violence had to be condemned.

For a number of years, studies have shown right-wing extremist groups are ‘prevalent’ across Canada, including the ‘Proud Boys’ which has recently been added to the national terrorist list in Canada.  A number of Canadians supported Donald Trump when he was president and continue to support him even today.  As in the U.S., one place where right-wing extremists find support is online.  Sub-forums of the white supremacist website, Stormfront.org, are among the most popular.  It should be remembered that the Proud Boys was origionally founded in 2016 by a Canadian, Gavin Miles McInnes, a Canadian writer and far-right political commentator at the time.  Under its current American leader, Enrique Tarrio, many Proud Boys members stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th and several, including Tarrio, have since been arrested. 

The fact of the matter is that Canadian authorities will have to continue to assess and investigate all extremists groups in order to prevent associated violent activities, especially against minorities.  These groups have particularly emerged during this pandemic and have taken advantage of the anger, mistrust of government and general fears of some Canadians.  They tend to ally themselves with anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and those opposed to government lockdowns of businesses and services.  Don’t be fooled, these are not temporary movements and will be around for awhile in both Canada and the U.S.  There is no invisible wall between the two countries, especially in the age of the Internet.

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Feb 20

There is little doubt that Walmart is part of an oligopoly

by bcurry

As supplier of produce and goods, you don’t have much choice now but to deal with one or more of the large retail distribution firms in Canada and the U.S.  In recent years the choice of which retail outlets to deal with has greatly narrowed.  What the pandemic has highlighted economically is that certain sectors in both countries are basically controlled by a few large companies who make up oligopolies.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines “oligopoly” as “a state of limited competition in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.”  Today, as a supplier, one has little choice but to deal with the likes of Walmart, Cosco, Loblaws, Amazon, etc.

These large enterprises in turn are increasing their sales through online ordering, a somewhat costly transition but a necessary one.  The pandemic and changing customer preferences for shopping have speeded up this process.  In the meantime, these companies have recently introduced new higher supplier fees, arguing that they are intended to help cover the cost of modernization plans, especially those related to improvements in e-commerce and to help pay for upgrades.  The introduction of these higher fees set off a prolonged conflict between manufacturers and supermarket chains, a few of which like Loblaws Canada sought to charge similar supplier fees.  Walmart for one said the fees were a fair trade-off for suppliers, since the proposed investments would lead to sales growth.  Walmart and Loblaws have now set a dangerous precedent in the sector by asking suppliers to help cover the costs of new investments.

It’s understandable that suppliers are enraged by these new fees, wondering why they are being forced to subsidize the likes of Walmart and Loblaws to modernize their businesses.  Given the nature of oligopolies and their desire not to increase their retail prices to consumers, what’s frustrating is that the suppliers may not have any choice but to accept the additional costs and reduce their profit margins accordingly.  Several may even find it difficult to survive by doing so, including some of the independent grocers.  What’s even more frustrating, due to the pandemic’s impact resulting from the frequent closures of medium and small retail businesses, these larger companies have significantly increased their overall profits for the last year.  For example, Walmart reported record revenue worldwide of over US$152 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, a 7.4 percent increase over the previous year. 

Governments have legislation regulating “monopolies” which inevitably reduce competition in the economy, affect the normal operations of the free market and increase costs to consumers.  Perhaps it’s about time that governments take a closer look at oligopolies as suggested by a number of industry organizations.  In addition, maybe corporations like Walmart and Loblaws could reintroduce or increase hazard pay to their employees as long as the pandemic continues.   Through the end of 2020, the total additional COVID-19 compensation Amazon and Walmart provided to their frontline workers represented only a small fraction of the companies’ extraordinary earnings, and an even smaller percentage of the stunning, pandemic-fuelled wealth created for their richest shareholders. 

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Feb 9

Why Hasn’t COVID Rapid Testing Been Done in Canada?

by bcurry

We are in a veritable war to contain the spread of COVID-19.  One would think that we would employ all the weapons at our disposal to combat spread of this virus.  However, this has not been the case when it comes to the use of rapid testing in numerous provinces in Canada.  Yet, a priority recommendation last month by the Canadian government’s COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel was to increase the use of rapid testing.  It has been reported that a million rapid tests procured by the federal government sit unused in warehouses where they’ll soon expire if not used.

Nobody who advocates rapid testing thinks it’s a replacement for lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing which is currently the gold standard for COVID testing.   However, most would agree that rapid tests can be effectively used as an initial screeningmechanism in certain high risk situations.  Moreover, a positive rapid test means the person can be immediately isolated until the case is confirmed with a PCR test.  Quick regular screening could be done in such high risk situations as testing long-term care staff and residents, school teachers and students, warehouse and meat packing employees, hospital staff and ER patients, air travellers, etc., etc.  The most widely available rapid test in Canada is the Abbott Panbio test.  Compared to PCR testing, it is very simple to use and can be employed on site almost anywhere.  Even trained volunteers without medical backgrounds can run the Panbio test.

I was surprised to find out that as of the beginning of February, provinces such as British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec had been reluctant to employ rapid testing to any significant degree.  All three provinces have high levels of confirmed COVID cases and have implemented several lockdowns to date.  On the other hand, public health officials in Nova Scotia successfully embraced rapid testing the earliest, helping to keep the number of COVID cases at a reasonably low level relative to its population.  One study by Simon Fraser University concluded that screening long-term care staff every three days with a Panbio rapid test would reduce outbreaks by 45 to 55 percent compared to no regular screening.  The study also concluded that doing such testing once a week would reduce outbreaks by 25 to 40 percent.

Many health experts find it mind boggling that we are not using all the tools in our toolkit.  The good news is that finally provinces such as Ontario recently announced that thousands of rapid tests are being supplied to key business sectors such as manufacturing and food processing.  In addition, large workplaces are at last starting to roll out rapid test screening, with Air Canada, Loblaws, Suncor and other major corporations announcing programs.  It’s about time!  Waiting for everyone to be vaccinated against the virus just won’t do.  Despite some public health officials’ reluctance in the past to employ rapid testing tools, the time has come to get over any concerns and proceed more quickly with a rapid testing campaign.  We owe it to Canadians who have largely done a good job of following the COVID-19 guidelines to the best of their ability. Canadians need all the available help they can get to end this horrific pandemic.

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Feb 5

COVID-19 Vaccination Rates: Why Comparison of Canada to Israel is a Problem

by bcurry

Lately, certain Canadian media sources are comparing the high Israel vaccination rates for COVID-19, which rank number one in the world per 100,000 persons vaccinated.  The comparisons are being used to blame the Canadian authorities for the current low vaccination rates: Canada currently ranking 29th place in the world.  However, the comparisons may not be very fair given a number of critical factors and major differences between both countries.

For one thing, Israel was fortunate on January 7, 2020 to have struck an agreement with Pfizer to exchange citizens’ data in exchange for 10 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, including a promise of shipments of 400,000-700,000 doses every week.  Ten million doses are a drop in the ocean for Pfizer, which has pledged to produce 1.3 billion vaccine doses in 2021 — and is likely to produce more.  What was particularly interesting to Pfizer was that Israel was already capable of mass immunization and will provide details to Pfizer (as well as and the World Health Organization) about the age, gender and medical history of those receiving the jab as well as its side effects and efficacy.  Canada was not in the same situation given a number of other factors, including its more decentralized health care delivery system involving the provinces.

Out of necessity, Israel developed a “militarization” capability over the years and its infrastructure is designed to quickly implement prompt responses to large-scale national emergencies, including attacks by any of its Arab state neighbours.  When it comes to population, Israel’s population stands at about 9.2 million, compared to Canada’s at around 38 million people, four times that of Israel.  More importantly, the State of Israel is contained in 27,869 square kilometers or 10,760 square miles, just barely bigger than New Jersey.  Canada’s Vancouver Island alone is 1.38 times as big as New Jersey.  Canada is approximately 9,984,670 sq km and stretches from the Pacific to Atlantic Oceans and to the Artic Ocean in the north.  The simple geographic size of Canada is in itself a major concern with respect to transportation, isolated communities and weather patterns.  However, like Israel, Canada is primarily an urban society with 81.5 percent of the total population living in cities compared to Israel where over 92 percent of Israelis live in urban areas.

Even with an adequate supply of vaccines to immunize Canada’s population, the vaccination campaign will likely be unprecedented in scale, especially to more remote communities in the north and to the indigenous population.  Israel has a centralized system of government, a national health-system and a well-developed infrastructure for implementing prompt responses to large-scale national emergencies.  On the other hand, Canada has a more decentralized health care network with the ten provinces being responsible for the actual vaccinations.  This has raised the question as to whether the provinces will be ready to efficiently administer millions more doses when they finally arrive.  Moreover, there will be millions of doses to deal with since Canada has contracts with Novavax, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, and other vaccine manufacturers.  Despite delays with the arrival of first vaccines, Canada is expected to begin to receive millions of doses by the spring of 2021.

There is little doubt that some high-income countries like Canada and the U.S. are lacking several of Israel’s facilitating factors, apparently contributing to the current slower pace of the rollout in our countries.  However, the fortunate thing is that both countries will soon enter into a mass vaccination campaign likely to be unprecedented in scale and requiring all of the available resources needed to provide access to people wherever they are situated.  While some elements of Israel’s successful and timely vaccination campaign may be useful to duplicate, the vast differences between Canada and Israel reinforce the notion that “no one size fits all”.  As in Israel, Canada’s campaign will require well-tailored outreach efforts to encourage Canadians to sign up for vaccinations and then show up to get vaccinated.  This is the only way that any mass campaign can be successful in such a large and diverse country as Canada.

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Feb 4

Tragedy in Numbers of Accidental Gun Deaths in the U.S.

by bcurry

We occasionally read or hear about accidental gun deaths among Americans in our media. The fact is that a few instances of accidental deaths due to firearms do occur in Canada, but no where near the numbers recorded in the U.S.  Most Canadian gun-related fatalities or injuries are due to hunting mishaps for example, especially since the country has far fewer gun owners than what you see in the States.  Some of the American stories are nevertheless horrific.  There was one about an infant child who found a small revolver in her mother’s purse and accidentally fatally shot the mother.  Of course, there are several stories of members of a household shooting another member, sometimes mistakenly suspecting a night time intruder in their home.

Overall, there were close to 40,000 deaths from firearms in the U.S. in 2018.  Sixty-one percent of deaths from firearms in the U.S. are suicides.  That same year, 24,432 people in the U.S. died by firearm suicide.  Accidental gun deaths accounted for 1% (458) of total gun-related deaths in the U.S. in 2018.  Thus far in 2020, there have been unintentional recorded shootings by over 220 children.  This has resulted in 92 deaths and 135 injuries.  Most unintentional firearm-related deaths among children occur in or around the home; 50 percent at the home of the victim, and 40 percent at the home of a friend or relative.  It is estimated that there are roughly 430 unintentional firearm fatalities in the U.S. per year. The rate is highest for older children to young adults, ages 10 to 29, and the vast majority of the victims are male.  These numbers do not reflect the accidental gun-related injuries which can be life threatening and life changing.  These numbers also do not reflect the consequences of stolen guns being used in crimes.

Gun-related deaths are tragic, accidental gun-related deaths are even more tragic especially when they involve children.  If one has to have guns around the home, then one needs to employ numerous precautions in order to keep them away from younger household members.  Keeping a loaded gun in one’s unlocked dresser or kitchen cabinet is careless and unsafe.  In Canada, registered gun owners are required by law to first separate ammunition physically from where a gun is stored or in a secure place with the unloaded gun.  Secondly, guns are to be rendered inoperable by means of a secure locking device or the removal of the bolt or bolt-carrier.  Finally, the gun itself is to be stored in a locked container, gun rack or safe, preferably with a guarded combination.  The idea is that that the storage location is constructed so that it cannot readily be broken open or into.

The careless storage and use of weapons around the home is even more of a concern right now that many families and their children are isolating due to COVID-19.  The first rule of parenting is to protect their children.  One accidental death is far too many.  Remember, the data does not include hospitalized cases of injury due to firearms, composite statistics which are not gathered by agencies.  Whether or not one is a proponent of gun control doesn’t matter when it comes to the unsafe storage and use of guns.  The numbers speak for themselves, but each number represents an avoidable death or injury.  Indeed, one extensive American study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that guns kept in homes are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defence.

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Jan 30

Did the U.S. and Canadian Economies Hit Bottom in 2020?

by bcurry

Starting back in March/April of last year, economists began to see that the lockdowns and restrictions caused by COVID-19 were beginning to show a detrimental impact on both the American and Canadian economies.  The economic decline is clearly shown by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics which are used as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health.  As a broad measure of overall domestic production, the GDP is defined as the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period.

The U.S. GDP shrank by 3.5 percent last year as the novel coronavirus upended American businesses and households, making 2020 the worst year for U.S. economic growth since 1946. Similarly, the real GDP in Canada decreased 5.1 percent in 2020 (from the 2019 annual level to the 2020 annual level), compared with an increase of 2.2 percent in 2019.  In addition, unemployment rates in both countries climbed and continue to climb to this day with new layoffs by major companies being announced daily.

The real question now is as to whether the economies have hit bottom?  Or will things just get worst as we continue to battle the current coronavirus outbreaks, especially the new variants, and the rate of vaccinations continues to lag behind?  Optimistically, economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal predict a strong rebound in 2021, with the economy growing by 4.3 percent.  Looking forward in the long-term in Canada, the GDP growth rate is projected to trend around 2.70 percent in 2021 and 1.70 percent in 2022, according to several econometric models.  Nothing really to brag about!  The Chinese GDP is expected to grow by over 6.0 percent this year.

While GDP projections are all good and dandy, there are several issues of concern when it comes to both economies.  The longer the pandemic reigns, the biggest concern continues to be the impact on small businesses.  Many small businesses in the retail and service sectors will not survive.  Remember that small businesses are still the biggest creators of new employment.  Travel, hospitality and recreational sectors have also been hit hard, and their survival will greatly depend on how quickly their customers feel safe enough to once again travel.  One must ask also just how well our health care systems will cope with rising COVID cases?  In addition, the economy will emerge in a very different form, especially when it comes to the make up of the labour market and the increasing use of new technologies.  We more than likely will continue to see high unemployment rates in the near future, especially among women, youth, minorities and vulnerable groups.  Given continuing job security concerns, will people begin to once again consume at normal rates?  My feeling is that our economies have not as yet really hit bottom.  Unfortunately, it may be months before one really sees any kind of actual turnaround.

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Jan 24

Churches vs. the State on Pandemic-Related Restrictions for Gatherings

by bcurry

It has come to my attention that a number of churches, in this case located in British Columbia (B.C.) Canada, are challenging public health measures in the courts claiming that they unfairly target religious gatherings.  According to legal experts and theologians, the legal arguments, largely based on interpretations of the Bible and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, can cut it both ways.  Firstly, by way of background, the province of B.C. was among the first to introduce a number of restrictions back in the spring of 2020.  Public health orders put in place at the recommendation of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s (B.C.’s provincial health officer) appeared to have successfully contained the first outbreak of COVID-19 in the province.  With the current second wave, public health measures have been reintroduced to deal with recent outbreaks, particularly in the Vancouver area.  To date, COVID-19 has killed more than 1,000 people in B.C. and infected more than 60,000 people in the province of a little over 5 million.  There is little doubt that public health authorities are worried that the second wave could increase hospitalizations of COVID-19 cases and overload the health care system — a concern also arising in other larger provinces.  According to federal statistics, about 7.6 percent of COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized.

What I found particularly alarming was a statement by one clergy member that this is not the bubonic plague and fifty thousand people have not died in B.C., thereby arguing that they are not in that health emergency place.  One must then ask, just how many deaths would it take to justify putting into place health emergency measures?  Ten thousand, twenty thousand or thirty thousand?  The clergy then goes on to argue that there is no authority except that which God has established.  As a result, there are those who believe that the dissenting churches are being influenced by U.S.-based evangelicals who see COVID-19 restrictions as an affront to their freedoms.  Indeed, certain church groups appear to be taking their claims from a kind of American version of religious freedom, which isn’t a Canadian one.

Once again, the current extraordinary situation contains familiar arguments surrounding religion vs. science.  I would happily leave such a debate to the theologians and philosophers.  From a holistic and realistic point of view, governments are obviously within their rights to use their powers to limit the potential for future COVID-related deaths and sickness, including declaring a state of emergency.  In light of the alarming increase in COVID-19 cases, greater transmission rates and the arrival of more contagious variants, many forms of indoor and outdoor gatherings have been restricted in numbers.  Until enough persons are vaccinated, we have little option but to continue such public health measures.  Most legal experts in Canada believe that religious institutions which deliberately and flagrantly violate basic public health requirements during the pandemic will probably receive very little sympathy from the courts.  And rightly so!

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Jan 21

Issues Surrounding Daily News Now Being Absorbed Electronically In Bits and Bytes

by bcurry

In 2008, I read an interesting book by Mark Bauerlein entitled “The Dumbest Generation”.  In it, the author discusses how the Digital Age stupefies young Americans, asserting that this jeopardizes our future.  The results may be particularly problematic given that many Canadians, Americans and others get the majority of their local, national and international news through electronic media.  As asserted in the past (Finally the American mainstream media got it right – Oct. 26, 2020) there has been a significant decline in mainstream print media.  There also has been a lot of misinformation and disinformation put out by online sources trying to appear to be reliable sources of news.  Unfortunately, way too much of this situation occurred during the Trump era, as witnessed by conspiracies surrounding the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

How many people really take the time to consult mainstream media outlets in print, on the radio, on television and through the Internet?  When researching a story, I like to have as many facts as possible and sometimes several interpretations of those facts from several reliable sources.  By reliable, I mean that the reports have been vetted a number of times and the dependability of the sources has been confirmed.  Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case with many Internet sources.  In addition, while we all have our opinions about a subject matter, we should try to obtain as many viewpoints as possible before reaching too quickly any immediate conclusions.  Failure to do so leads us to what is referred to as “confirmation bias”.  This is where one attempts to confirm one’s beliefs and viewpoints by selectively seeking out those sources which simply reinforce our preconceptions.

Unfortunately, this is what a lot of extreme right-wing or left-wing proponents do in order to justify their interpretations of news events.  The extreme right has for years festered in a variety of places on the Internet, including 4chan, Parler, Gab, CloutHub, etc., etc.  Of course, then there is the Breitbart News Network (known commonly as Breitbart News) which is an American far-right syndicated news, opinion and commentary website founded in mid-2007.  Breitbart has published a number of falsehoods and conspiracy theories as well as intentionally misleading stories, including claims that Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration supported the ISIS.  Breitbart columnists love to attack The Washington Post and The New York Times as being “the mortal enemy of conservatism” (Joshua Klein, Breitbart, 25 Dec. 2020).  Normally, it is rare for mainstream media to attack another media source in this manner, but not for Breitbart.  Breitbart also spent an inordinate amount on its election news coverage, especially anything dealing with unfounded allegations that the Democrats stole the election from Trump.

More has to be done to alert young people in particular about the need to seek out news from different sources, including mainstream print media.  It is just not good enough to have them be informed by too conveniently accessing bits and bytes.  There is a real danger that they will be influenced by conspiracy theories and could become radicalized in one form or another.  Want to know about historical events, read a book or view documentaries on the History Channel.  Even better, talk to some informed people who actually witnessed the events in real time.  The truth is out there, one only has to take the time and make an effort to find it.

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Jan 17

Maybe It’s Time That We All Look More Closely How ‘Twitter’ Is Being Used

by bcurry

Online harassment and hate speech have long festered on Twitter, but the incidents appeared to have risen during the 2016 presidential campaign.  Exchanges between supporters of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton grew personal and acrimonious.  Of course, over the last four years, Trump has used twitter as his personal means to attack opponents and to spew conspiracy theories such as claiming that the Democrats had stolen the presidential election.  Twitter finally did the right thing and cut him off after the Capitol riot which he helped to instigate.  Now, an interesting defemation case against Twitter has arisen in Canada — more specifically in British Columbia (B.C.).

B.C. billionaire Frank Giustra, a Vancouver businessman and philanthropist, has recently won the right to sue Twitter for defamation after a judge ruled that B.C. courts have jurisdiction to hear the case.  Moreover, the case once again highlights the fact that there are jurisdictional difficulties with internet defamation cases.  Under American law, Twitter would not be liable for damages to Giustra in the U.S. due to freedom of speech provisions in the First Amendment.  However, in Canada the question becomes whether Canadian common law provides similar protections for a platform such as Twitter.  The answer would have to be determined in Canadian courts, with a possibility of eventually ending up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Remember the infamous “Pizzagate”.  In the above case, tweets promoting a conspiracy theory had gone out during the 2016 U.S. presidential election that Hillary Clinton and other supporters were involved in child sex-trafficking.  Among those supporters targeted was Frank Giustra who sits on the board of the Clinton Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by former U.S. president Bill Clinton.  The related tweets also left the false impression that Mr. Giustra was corrupt, a “murderous thief” and a criminal.  The whole crazy conspiracy was of course debunked.

There is nothing particularly new about Twitter being accused of allowing hate speech and disinformation to permeate its platform.  What is especially interesting is that this self-made billionaire is financially capable of taking on an internet Goliath in the courts, with possibly a good chance of winning his defamation case under Canadian common law.  Once again, people are hoping that this particular lawsuit will help raise public awareness of the real harm to society if social media platforms are not held responsible for the content posted and published on their sites.  Although Twitter has yet to file a response to the defamation claims, the company has indicated it intends to defend the case mainly on the basis that it is not a publisher of the tweets.  Unfortunately, the time normally taken to try such cases in the courts can be very lengthy, even taking several years for final judgement.  In the meantime, it behooves us all to be aware of the real flaws and dangers associated with the misuse of social media, including those surrounding Twitter.

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Dec 29

2020 Did Have Some Good News

by bcurry

No one will disagree that 2020 was not the best year for most of us, except for those heavily invested in the Stock Markets.  However, there was some good news despite the COVID pandemic.  Here are a few examples:

  • Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump to become the next American president, although there are millions of angry Americans who still wanted to see Trump re-elected.  Despite Trump’s attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the voting process, democracy won in the end run.
  • Obviously, the coronavirus vaccine remarkably became the fastest vaccine to be ever developed, authorized for use and is now being administered.  Its development prompted a wave of unprecedented global scientific and governmental collaboration.  As one scientist put it: “In the last 11 months, probably 10 years’ work has been done.”
  • With fewer people driving, flying and travelling in general, air pollution levels went down in most major cities.  At one point, it was reported that global greenhouse gas emissions fell 17 percent, the biggest drop in human history. 
  • More countries, including Canada, made net-zero emissions pledges in 2020.  South Korea became the first Asian country to set a 2050 net-zero emissions goal, followed by Japan and China, which committed to reaching net zero by 2060.  China is the world’s biggest emitter and had previously committed only to aim for peak emissions in about 2030.  The U.S. is expected to return to the Paris Accord on Climate Change under Biden’s administration and to commit to net-zero emissions goals.
  • There were also major breakthroughs in the development of HIV prevention methods in 2020.  Diagnoses of HIV among gay and bisexual men dropped to their lowest level in 20 years in several Western countries and more assistance is being provided to poorer countries.
  • Demand for renewables, growing before the pandemic, held steady during 2020.  Advancements in green tech have rapidly brought down the costs of wind and solar, making them highly competitive with fossil fuels.  As a result of the lockdowns in several economies, the demand for fossil fuels went down and is expected to decline over the next decade.
  • Green technologies are quickly growing, especially with the emerging transportation demands for more e-vehicles in moving both cargos and people.  In addition, private vehicles are increasingly being designed out of urban areas with encouraging results for communities and businesses.
  • More policies emerged to support greater diversity, most notably in the arts and in business.  Such policies focus on more underrepresented groups, including women, people from racial or ethnic minority groups, LGBTI or disabled people.
  • The Black Lives Matter movement raised the issue of systemic discrimination throughout societies, forcing governments and leaders to recognize and to act on its existence in different societal contexts.
  • As a result of the many coronavirus-related deaths in long-term care residences, governments have been finally forced to recognize the horrendous situation respecting the warehousing of the elderly in our society.  Hopefully, this will lead to the restructuring of long-term care as an extension of health care systems and to a more humane treatment of our vulnerable and ageing population.
  • The pandemic has hopefully demonstrated the real need for global approaches to deal with poverty, climate change, refugees, endangered species, and a myriad of other issues.

Hopefully, 2021 will be a much better and safer year.  Happy New Year to all!

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