Vaccines confuse politicians Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Andrea Horwath reversed herself on Thursday on the question of mandatory vaccination for health-care workers. The Star has the story. On Wednesday the Ontario NDP leader was against forcing health and education workers to be jabbed or reassigned, casting it as a Charter rights issue, while Ontario Liberal Leader Stephen Del Duca said it was a reasonable measure. Charlie Angus tweeted, then deleted a criticism of her, then she put out a video walking back her position. Doug Ford is opposed to mandatory vaccination or certificates. Premier Doug Ford has said he won’t mandate vaccinations for workers, saying he thinks it’s a constitutional right to refuse the shot. He’s also said he doesn’t support a proof-of-vaccination system that would allow people to participate in certain activities if they take the shots. In Quebec on Thursday, Francois Legault announced his province will issue a vaccination passport so those with two doses can prove their status to gain access to non-essential services, the Gazette reports. “I want to be very clear: if you don’t have specific reasons that a vaccination could threaten your health, you are putting yourself at risk by not getting your two doses of vaccine,” Legault said. “You’re also putting all of society at risk. If we don’t want to add to the deaths, if we don’t want to overwhelm hospitals, I am asking all Quebecers—it’s a question of solidarity—to go get your two doses.” Justin Trudeau said Thursday that he has asked senior officials to look into making vaccines mandatory for federal employees, CBC reports, and also in federally regulated industries: airlines, banks and rail. Perhaps some of these politicians saw the Nanos poll CTV released Thursday showing a majority of Canadians support mandatory vaccinations. The poll shows "53 per cent support the premise, another 21 per cent somewhat support it, while 16 per cent oppose it, eight per cent somewhat oppose it, and two per cent remain unsure." The Globe's John Ibbitson writes that the poll suggests politicians like Ford are anxious to avoid alienating certain constituencies. The real reason Mr. Ford and other conservative premiers are reluctant to act may involve greater resistance to vaccination among voters in rural areas–key conservative constituencies. That appears to be the case in the United States, where predominantly rural states such as Alabama and Louisiana have much lower rates of vaccination than more densely populated states such as New York and California, as well as fewer restrictions. Child care deal: Trudeau was in Quebec on Thursday to announce another child-care funding deal, a no-strings-attached $6-billion transfer to that province, the Globe reports. The announcement took place in advance of a much-anticipated federal election call that’s expected as soon as in the coming days. Mr. Trudeau and the Liberals would be seeking a majority government in the forthcoming campaign and the party’s prospects in Quebec will be critically important to that pursuit. In 2019, the Bloc Québécois won 32 of 78 available seats in the province while the Liberals won 35, the Conservatives won 10 and the NDP had one. Where are the coroners’ reports? The Globe has a troubling in-depth feature by Karen Howlett on the failure of Canadian long-term care homes or governments to account for COVID-19 fatalities in the homes. COVID-19 has laid bare weaknesses in how deaths are reviewed in nursing homes, also known as long-term care homes. Canada had the worst record for COVID-19 fatalities in these homes among other wealthy countries during the first wave of the pandemic. Even so, no province, with the notable exception of Quebec, has ordered public hearings into the disproportionate toll the coronavirus took on residents. Investigations by provincial coroners and medical examiners have been rare, leaving allegations of neglect inside some homes largely unexamined. In the absence of proper assessments of these deaths, nursing home operators have rarely, if ever, lost their licences, no criminal charges have been laid and grieving families have had nowhere to turn in their searches for answers. Kabul-Toronto: The first flight of Afghan refugees landed in Canada on Thursday, and CTV has a report. CTV News cameras at the Toronto Pearson International Airport spotted more than three dozen Afghan refugees leaving a military transport on Wednesday evening, including several children and seniors. Ottawans stayed home: Ottawa was the stay-home capital of the pandemic, according to a Blacklock’s Reporter story quoted in the Sun, citing a StatsCan report. StatsCan said close to half of Ottawa’s working population worked remotely. “Ottawa had the highest rate of people working from home with close to half of all workers, 47.5%, many of whom are employed in the federal public administration, performing their tasks from home,” wrote StatsCan. The report said Canadians who worked from home were usually university-degreed couples with office jobs that had yearly salaries and household earnings in the top 10%. New look! Maclean's unveiled a redesign of its print magazine that was a year in the making, writes Alison Uncles, editor-in-chief. In an age of distraction, a beautifully designed print magazine is a thing unto itself, a physical artifact (we see you, NFTs!) that leans into a mandate of beauty and knowledge; ours will deliver current affairs and insight, long-form journalism and dispatches from Canada’s best writers on a range of topics from politics and public affairs to trends in technology, the arts, design and pop culture. It features an article about a human smuggling journey gone terribly wrong, by your correspondent. — Stephen Maher | 