The Canadian COVID-19 case toll rises above 300 Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Canada has 313 cases. This weekend, the biggest news was that cases of COVID-19—and the Canadian government's response—have not slowed down. Yesterday, Canada’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Theresa Tam confirmed there are 313 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, now coming officially from all 10 provinces. British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta are the worst off so far. It's a sharp increase that shows Canada has yet to "flatten the curve," as health officials say, by slowing down the rate at which the virus spreads. The data representing said curve is not so easily available. In Maclean's, Patricia Treble writes that the federal government is not releasing the numbers swiftly enough to make a real impact. This is not as trivial as it might sound. As case counts rise around the world, and governments make life-changing decisions based on those numbers, access to this information in its most digestible form is vital for the public to understand what’s happening. Short of waiting until Monday to start contacting all 13 provinces and territories, there seemed no other way to see how the tally had changed. Not from government sources, at least. Comparatively, Canadians are still faring well, however: Iran reported 113 new deaths on Sunday, the same day Italy reported nearly 400 deaths in a single 24-hour period. The global number of cases has surpassed 150,000, while the death toll is over 5,700. Meanwhile, airports, conference halls, churches and theatres continue to temporarily shut their doors or limit gatherings, with the United States recommending cancelling any gathering of more than 5o people for the next two months. WestJet is cutting back seat counts to encourage social distancing. There is literally so much happening, it's hard to distill into, say, a newsletter ostensibly about Canadian politics. But we can try and help. If you're feeling lost, Maclean's own Aaron Hutchins has compiled an 18-point list of answers to common questions, from "Can I meet a friend for coffee?" to "Is it safe to bring home books from the library?" We just had the Prime Minister make an announcement to the country telling us to avoid unnecessary travel out of the country. It’s not every day the Prime Minister gets on national television to parlay that message. Clearly this is important. I get that it will impact how we live. But there are meaningful policies. It’s not based on nothing. We should all roll up our sleeves and do that heavy lifting—and that might include cancelling a vacation. Speaking of national television: On CTV's Question Period Sunday, Justin Trudeau gave an exclusive 10-minute English-language interview from self-isolation, dodging many questions ("Nothing is off the table," he reiterated) and answering some. Of immediate concern: why has he not tested for COVID-19 while his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, has tested positive ? The answer: he's not showing symptoms, and without them, health experts say tests may not be able to detect the virus. To avoid guesswork and a false sense of security, he's self-isolating and not, as he says, using up "a testing kit that would be better suited for someone who is showing symptoms." Trudeau went on to defend Canada's actions as in line with expert recommendations, including what's happened so far with travel advisories (avoid non-essential travel), school closures (leave it up to the provinces) and border crossings. On that latter note, CTV host Evan Solomon pointed out the discrepancy between what the government is saying—which is to avoid all international travel—and what border security are actually doing—which is not much. The PM said that messaging was being streamlined now, with new measures to be put in place, and attempted to clarify the delay: A lot of people who came back from, say, the Caribbean or somewhere else on vacation have said, 'Well, I wasn't really asked much.' Well, they were not coming from a place of concern, and therefore there were different protocols.... We do not want public health officials using up their time and resources at airports doing something that isn't the most impactful thing they could be doing. A race against time. How is the coronavirus affecting the federal Conservative leadership convention? If you ask lower-polling candidates Marilyn Gladu, Rudy Husny and Rick Peterson, the entire thing should be suspended, if not outright postponed. Mar. 25 is the ultimate deadline for candidates, who need to drum up $300,000 to quality for the final ballot. The three above-mentioned hopefuls, perhaps not coincidentally, have not yet reached that threshold, and it's impossible to say whether COVID-19 genuinely spoiled their chances at the leadership, or whether it's simply a convenient excuse. Wait... What year is it? In non-COVID news, a Canadian woman and her Italian partner were found in Mali after being kidnapped in Burkina Faso in Dec. 2018, having apparently escaped and hitching a taxi back to a UN safety zone. Repatriation efforts are underway, though if the couple were indeed wandering the desert for months in search of rescue, one can only imagine their confusion at having missed the outbreak of a life-changing global pandemic. And now for something completely different. Because this is, again, ostensibly a politics newsletter, let's discuss something unrelated to the virus: British Columbian politics. With his college shut down, Philippe J. Fournier of 338Canada found himself with more time than usual on his hands, and used that time to dive into some good ol' provincial number-crunching. Therefore, with no more exams to mark and classes to teach I decided to dive deep into a project I had initially planned for next summer: the 42nd British Columbia election, which is tentatively scheduled for fall 2021 at the latest. However, given the precarious state of the B.C. Legislature seat-wise (both the B.C. NDP and B.C. Liberals currently stand at 42 seats in the 87-seat legislature), Premier John Horgan could potentially set up and lose a confidence vote before then (although a spring 2020 election now appears highly unlikely given the current crisis). —Michael Fraiman | 