Elon Musk, one of the key minds behind Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, is at it again.
In what can be described as something a 14-year-old boy that’s spent far too much time swearing at people in Call of Duty might do, Musk posted a meme comparing Canada’s democratically elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler.
Why might one of the world’s wealthiest men make such an offensive move, you might be wondering? Well, Musk is offering commentary on the ongoing vaccine-mandate/anti-vaccine occupation in Ottawa and the Canadian government’s efforts to curb its funding through cryptocurrency.
Musk’s post shows the Nazi dictator behind the genocide of 6 million Jewish people with the caption “stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau. I had a budget,” in reply to crypto-focused news outlet CoinDesk’s report that the Canadian government has frozen 34 crypto wallets tied to the occupation.
While undeniably offensive, the meme is also inaccurate given Trudeau’s government passed a budget last summer — though this happened after two years of not having one, according to The Daily Beast. Trudeau’s government recently controversially invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act in an effort to cut off funding from the occupation movement, giving financial institutions the ability to freeze the accounts of people involved in the blockades.
This isn’t the first time Musk has voiced his support for the occupation. Last week, the Tesla CEO tweeted “Canadian truckers rule” and has also suggested that the Canadian government is suppressing the demonstrations.
Canadian physicians are prescribing a new treatment for improving patients’ mental and physical health: the outdoors. A collaboration between Parks Canada and PaRx, a national nature prescription program, allows registered physicians to prescribe patients with an annual Parks Canada discovery pass for free.
“We are very lucky in Canada to have a world of beautiful natural spaces at our doorstep to enjoy healthy outdoor activities. Medical research now clearly shows the positive health benefits of connecting with nature,” said Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, in a press release. “This exciting collaboration with PaRx is a breakthrough for how we treat mental and physical health challenges, and couldn’t come at a better time as we continue to grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our daily lives.”
The PaRx program was first launched by the B.C. Parks Foundation in November 2020. Throughout 2021, the program expanded to Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Physicians, nurses, and other licensed health care professionals in those four provinces, who are registered with PaRx, can now start prescribing Discovery Passes to patients.
The initiative looks to combat an increase in mental and physical health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A Statistics Canada survey found that between 2020 and 2021, symptoms of depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder jumped by four per cent among Canadians aged 18 and older.
“I can’t think of a better way to kick off 2022 than being able to give the gift of nature to my patients,” said Melissa Lem, a family physician in B.C. and the director of PaRx, in a press release. “There’s a strong body of evidence on the health benefits of nature time, from better immune function and life expectancy to reduced risk of heart disease, depression, and anxiety, and I’m excited to see those benefits increase through this new collaboration.”
An annual Discovery Pass for adults (which costs around $72) provides access to 80 locations across the country, including national parks, historic sites, and marine conservation areas, covering more than 450,000 square kilometres of land and water.
“Research shows that children and adults who are more connected to nature are not only more likely to work to conserve it, but also engage in other pro-environmental behaviours,” said Lem. “I like to think that every time one of my colleagues writes a nature prescription, we’re making the planet healthier, too.”
When prescribing the passes, PaRx is asking physicians to prioritize patients who live close to the sites and will get the most use out of the pass, as well as those who may find the price of a pass a barrier to accessing nature, said Prama Rahman, a spokesperson for the B.C. Parks Foundation.
With 1,000 physicians currently registered, PaRx plans to expand to all Canadian provinces and territories by the end of 2022.
Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell joined Neil Young in removing her music from Spotify in response to vaccine misinformation shared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue,” Mitchell wrote on her website. She also linked to an open letter signed by a coalition of scientists, medical professionals and more calling on Spotify to address misinformation on its platform.
Young similarly criticized Spotify for its lack of misinformation policy, writing that the platform “can have Rogan or Young. Not Both.”
Spotify purchased the Joe Rogan Experience podcast for $100 million USD (about $127.5 million CAD) in 2020 as part of its push into podcasting. The show is one of the most popular podcasts globally, with an estimated audience of 11 million.
Like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell contracted polio as a kid. Her doctor hinted that she would never walk again. “My mother came to visit me once. With a mask over her face and a haunted look in her eyes”. She said that the experience of isolation informed the melancholy in her music https://t.co/d5OptjX8rd
An essential part of the story that’s gone relatively unsaid so far is that both Young and Mitchell contracted polio as kids before the vaccine was developed in the 1950s. Some have attributed the musicians’ stand to their experience with polio, which has largely been eliminated thanks to the widespread adoption of the vaccine. According to the World Health Organization, wild poliovirus cases fell over 99 percent from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to just 33 reported cases in 2018.
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. According to the government of Canada’s website, over 77 percent of the population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of January 22nd, 2022.
Following Young’s move away from Spotify, other streaming music platforms moved to capitalize, with Apple Music’s official Twitter account tweeting that it’s “the home of Neil Young” in an apparent dig at Spotify. It’ll be interesting to see if a similar push happens around Mitchell’s music.
Bell’s Let’s Talk initiative is helping to enhance a crisis support service aimed at Indigenous communities.
$250,000 is being allocated to expand the Friendly Calls program put on by the Canadian Red Cross.
The program pairs a trained volunteer with callers feeling isolated for a social conversation and are connected to mental health supports in their communities. Feelings of loneliness and isolation have been growing problems during the ongoing pandemic.
The expansion will see the organization working with various Indigenous organizations, such as the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, to focus the program on the experiences specific communities face. Various Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers will also take part in designing the expansion later this year.
Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the pandemic impacted the mental health of many, adding to the challenges Indigenous youth and their families face on a daily basis.
“From pandemic response to vaccination campaigns to emergency preparedness efforts, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has a strong working relationship with the Canadian Red Cross. We look forward to supporting the development of their Friendly Calls program for Indigenous communities in partnership with Bell Let’s Talk,” Dumas said in a statement.
The funds are coming from a $700,000 donation made by Bell Let’s Talk and the Canadian Red Cross in 2020.
Vaccines were made available to anyone who wanted one, and Ontario’s reopening this past summer reminded me of what life was like prior to the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean the past year wasn’t difficult.
With thousands of COVID-19 cases being reported each day, and the emergence of one variant after another, my anxiety around the virus never waivered. It was the limitations, and small ounces of freedom, presented by the pandemic that dictated what I did over the year and, surprisingly, shaped my list of favourites.
The vaccine
Image credit: ShutterStock
The various vaccines against COVID-19 are at the top of my list as they created a safety net against the virus, and for the first time since March 2020, gave me hope that things might get back to normal.
Although that’s far from the truth at this point in time, given the spread of Omicron and the very little that’s known about it, the fact that something was created to fight COVID-19 is pretty amazing.
If you’re like me and follow a lot of health professionals on social media, you may have heard them say “thank you science” whenever they got vaccinated. As someone who feels strongly about getting vaccinated, science is indeed the thing to thank.
Netflix’s Lupin
A “gentleman thief” trying to clear his dead father’s name, is there a better storyline than that? Netflix was full of amazing shows this year — You, Money Heist, and Squid Games, just to name a few — but Lupin was the most memorable for me during the multiple lockdowns in Ontario.
The show retells the story of Arsene Lupin, a French thief who’s a master of disguise, through the character of Assane Diop, the only child of his immigrant father from Senegal. His father is framed for stealing an expensive jewel from his former employer. He eventually hangs himself after being wrongly imprisoned. Diop uses Lupin’s tricks to avenge his father and prove the real thief.
The best food app
Food waste is a major problem in Canada. According to Second Harvest, 35.5 million metric tonnes of food is wasted every year. This is about 60 percent of the food produced in the country. Considering the rising number of foodbank use during the pandemic, and the larger issue of food insecurity in Canada and around the world, coming across these numbers from Second Harvest left a pit in my stomach. It made me reevaluate my shopping habits and the food that gets wasted in my household and I learned there are a number of initiatives that fight this.
My favourite, and most used, is Too Good To Go. The app connects people to restaurants and markets that have extra food that would be thrown out if not consumed. Each location makes up “surprise bags” with whatever they have leftover and sells them at discounted prices. I’ve found most bags to be around the $5 mark. I’ve come across restaurants, coffee shops, juice bars, and grocers offering these bags and found I’m trying places I normally wouldn’t frequent.
It can be a little tricky if you have certain dietary restrictions, but there is an option for customers to call the store they want a bag from before they pay to try and get more information.
Favourite book
Like most, I’ve worked the entirety of the past year at home, staring at a screen for upwards of 12-hours a day at times. So when it came time to take a breather, I often turned to a book to give my eyes a little break from the searing light of the screen.
One of my favourites this year was The Killer Inside by Cass Green. I’m one of those people who enjoys reading and watching crime-related content in my free time, and this book is right up my alley. It features lies, mysteries, and one plot twist after another, making for a perfect read.
Otter.ai
The transcription app is tried and true for most in the journalism industry. It allows users to upload recorded interviews into a database to be transcribed. I can honestly say that it has saved me hours of time this past year. The best part is the search feature, which allows me to look up certain words in the interview.
This is especially useful in longer interviews as I don’t have to go through the entire transcript to find a specific quote I need, and can just search for a key term instead.
Here’s to hoping next year’s list involves more outdoor favourites!
TORONTO, CANADA – JANUARY 23, 2021: PEOPLE SKAKE AT ICE RINK AT NATHAN PHILLIP SQUARE WITH ‘TORONTO’ SIGN BEHIND THEM DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
Toronto residents now have access to a new tool that will keep them informed on COVID-19 outbreaks across the city.
The City of Toronto added the COVID-19 exposure notifications page to its official website. It will disclose locations where numerous residents have been exposed to the virus through the confirmation of one or more positive cases and when contact information for those impacted isn’t available.
“We’re sharing this information to help prevent opportunities for virus spread and equipping residents with instructions they can follow to protect their health and the health of those around them if they may have been exposed to this virus,” Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said in a statement.
In order to protect privacy, single residential addresses will not be included on the page and only settings where 20 or more people were present will be reported.
Information will be updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 3 pm.
The new tool was released in an effort for Toronto Public Health (TPH) to reach the city’s 2.9 million residents faster. The health unit has 900 employees dedicated to contact tracing and its various aspects. This is one of the largest teams in the country dedicated to contact management efforts.
“TPH continues to review the latest evidence to identify ways to better protect our community against COVID-19. This is especially important as we continue moving forward returning to many of the activities that we’ve missed,” Dr. de Villa said.
Masks may soon be required around more than just other people.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that COVID-19 antibodies appeared in 40 per cent of the 152 blood samples taken from white-tailed deer in Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania in 2021.
A second study tested 151 wild deer and 132 captive deer in Iowa between April and December 2020. Of the 283 deer samples, 94 tested positive.
Canadian experts are watching the findings closely. In an email from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), the government confirmed that no deer or other wildlife in Ontario have tested positive for COVID-19. But officials are still advising people to be cautious.
Both studies suggest that the deer populations contracted the virus through human interactions, with the virus then transmitting among the animals. This theory, however, has no concrete evidence beyond the abundance of deer in urban centres and their social behaviour among one another.
“There is some opportunity for human-to-wildlife transmission because there are some susceptible mammal species,” the MNRF said. “This type of transmission is a concern because the establishment of a reservoir in a wildlife population could lead to reverse zoonoses (i.e. wildlife-to-human transmission).”
After reservoirs are established in multiple wildlife populations, researchers in the PNAS study argued that it becomes almost impossible to eradicate COVID-19. Once the virus is in a new host, it can adapt and evolve into different strains, ones that the researchers said could be transmissible to humans and effective against our vaccines.
But before jumping to any drastic conclusions, Keith Munro, a wildlife biologist for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH), said that further studies need to be completed.
“The studies are really valuable for highlighting the ability for this virus to get into white-tailed deer,” he said, “but we definitely need more research to figure out how it spreads, what are the factors that cause it to move into deer, and how widespread it is in different environments.”
Munro also pointed out that neither study looked at contraction of the virus among deer based on age or sex. And without more information on the circumstances and environment in which the virus was contracted, you can’t extrapolate these results to Ontario’s deer population, he said.
The MNRF in cooperation with the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and the Public Health Agency of Canada are currently testing wildlife for COVID-19, including deer.
Human-to-human transmission is still the most common conduit for COVID-19 spread, but the MNRF said that humans who have a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 should avoid close contact with animals, including pets, to protect them from the virus.
Vice versa, the chances of contracting COVID-19 from wildlife is low. Even preparing and eating hunted, wild game has shown no evidence of COVID-19 transmission. But to be cautious, the MNRF has advised a few simple actions to reduce risk:
Avoid contact with live, wild mammals. Feeding wildlife is discouraged because it can spread disease.
Follow normal health and safety steps when working with dead animals, such as wearing a mask and gloves—especially if you’re field-dressing wildlife.
Don’t work with animals if you have a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
Get vaccinated.
Related Story Here are the best places to stargaze in Ontario
A potential security breach has been discovered and may have compromised Ontatio’s COVID-19 vaccine booking portal. Multiple reports of individuals who have used the portal have come forward and said they have received spam text messages.
Marion Ringuette, director of communications for the Solicitor General has confirmed the reports and responded with a public statement. Ringuette urges those who have received spam texts to disregard them as the Ontario government would not reach out via text in this manner.
“Ontarians should be aware these texts are financial in nature and that the government will never conduct a financial transaction through these methods,” said Marion Ringuette said in a statement.
Ringuette has also confirmed that the Solicitor General is working alongside partner ministries and the Ontario Provincial Police to investigate the reports and identify the severity of the security breach.
Over the weekend, Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated that he was briefed about the investigation. “I’ve had a conversation with my chief of staff, principal secretary and secretary of cabinet and they have all hands on deck on all our ministry especially or Ministry of Health, and I’m confident with the group that we have down there,” Ford said earlier today.
The Ontario COVID-19 vaccine portal was built to streamline the ways residents can book their vaccine appointments and access vaccine certificates following the immunization process. This potential breach comes only days after Ontario announces children between the ages of five and 11 can be vaccinated.
Solicitor General Sylvia Jones was asked to comment on the matter. “This investigation, and any investigation when we hear of potential breaches, we investigate thoroughly,” Jones stated.
Based on current reports, it doesn’t appear as though it is a massive breach, meaning anyone booking through the portal will be a target to spam. However, those who wish to be cautious should remain so and see how the situation escalates throughout the week.
I was washing my hands at the cottage this morning using antibacterial hand soap after returning from a trip to town. While silently singing “Happy Birthday” to myself two times, I was also looking at a little poster prepared by the Redstone Lake Cottagers Association about the dos and don’ts relative to the septic system. Antibacterial soaps and other compounds are on the septic Don’t list, but such soap is now de rigueurin today’s COVID-19 environment. Is there any amount of antibacterial soap that a septic can tolerate, or should we sing “Happy Birthday” three times with good old bar soap?—Kevin Lengyell, Little Redstone Lake, Ont.
Well, there’s good news and there’s…actually, there is no bad news. It’s all good news! You can safely wash your hands with any kind of soap. Studies haven’t found added health benefits from soaps containing antibacterial ingredients when compared to plain soap, says the CDC. Both are equally effective. More important is washing your hands thoroughly and correctly for at least 20 seconds. (But no need to sing Happy B-day a third time. Unless you just really like the song.)
“It’s also worth noting that while manufacturers happily add an ‘antibacterial’ label to things, the reality is that pretty much any soap has some antibacterial properties,” says David Evans, a professor in the department of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Alberta. “But if you’re worried about the soap’s impact on the septic system, switch to something without the label. You’ll still be fine. And you’ll probably save some money.”
“How much negative impact it can have is hard to determine,” says Bill Goodale, the sewage system inspector for the Township of Tiny, Ont. “There are a lot of different variables from one cottage to another.” But if you switch to regular soap, “and you’re doing everything else right with the system, then the bacterial action should return to normal levels.”
See? Good news!
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.
This article was originally published in the August/September 2021 issue of Cottage Life magazine.
Ontario’s enhanced COVID-19 vaccine certificate launched on October 18th.
The enhanced vaccine certification is a QR code that Ontarians can download and scan at locations that require vaccination verification, including indoor restaurants, gyms, clubs and more. You can still use your previous vaccine passport, but this method aims to save time.
To download the enhanced vaccine certificate, first head to this link. Following that, you’ll be asked a series of questions such as how many doses you received, if your COVID-19 vaccinations were all done in Ontario, what type of health card you have, and if you are non-indigenous.
For those who have modern green photo health cards and an up to date web browser, you’ll be pushed to the next part of the portal and then get you to confirm.
Following that, you’ll need your health card number, the nine-character code at the back of the card, two-letter version code, date of birth and postal code. Lastly, you’ll see the ‘Proof of vaccination’ option. Next, hit continue and download your enhanced vaccine certificate.
You can also save your enhanced certificate on iOS or Android
