Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
That is the Prime Minister on this Friday giving us his government’s response to the pandemic. The last couple of questions about Canada’s bid to win a sea tat the security council, at the united nations. The Prime Minister has a call with Arab nations this afternoon to make a pitch. There is a good Canadian press story about the ambassador to the united nations heading back down to new York to continue that final push for the seat forcanada. That happens in June, that vote. Lots of other bits of news from the Prime Minister. Let me bring in Vassy kapelos and Catherine Cullen. Vassy, lots of information about contact tracing and testing. Also almost a plea to provinces who haven’t asked for help to ask for it because the federal government is standing by.
Vassy:
It was interesting. a lot of broad stokes, as you’resaying, Rosie. Not a lot of specifics of what the goal should be. a specific question from Jordan press at the Canadian press. What does the level of contact tracing need to be for canadiansto feel safe and there wasn’t ananswer, but there were things the Prime Minister did provide. Namely that there are civil servants who can make 3, 600 contact tracing calls a day, seven days a week. and there are 1, 700 people working with statistics Canada that can make an additional 20, 000 calls a day. He named Ontario as a province that asked for help. He did not specifically name others, but said some others don’t need it to the same degree. My mind initially goes to quebecand wonder whether or not there is a process there or something more to that part of the story. I wonder with all those who work with the Prime Minister and this is not expected, that the points of tensions with Quebec are certainly higher to be as accurate as possible as I can based on My conversations with other provinces. That’s something to keep an eye on. When it comes to contact tracing, based on our question from our colleague salimah shivji, she asked around a contact tracing app. The idea that apple and google only want one app per country. Whether the Prime Minister has discussions on that and whether that will be the case. I thought his answer was interesting. While he didn’t say, yes, we’ll procure this app and every province will have to sign on. He did say they will arrive at appoint where – he hopes they will arrive at a point where they can recommend strongly to Canadians that they use a particular app. If I read between the lines, it seems like there will be a deal with apple and google to have that app and that will be the mechanism from a technological point of view for contact tracing in this country. That jumped out at me and that will be something to keep our eyes on when that will roll out. I think he mentioned the summer.
Rosemary:
June.
Vassy:
Not too long. We should have a clear picture of the technological aspect of contact tracing and how it will play out in this country.
Rosemary:
He seemed to know more about the apps and understand them better than I do. It’s good to know there are conversations ongoing with google and apple who are supporting the data with whatever app we decide to go with. We also have some information that on that call with the premiers last night, some of the concern was the inter-provincialtravel and if you all have different apps, how does that work and do you feed into that, to contain and contact trace. Catherine, what stood out for you?
Catherine:
Obviously all of this was framed very much as a collaborative effort as we have heard over and over again since this outbreak, how it’s the most collaborative it’s been, team Canada effort. That positivity with how the Prime Minister approached this today, but implicit with what hesaid, the money is there, the people are there, we’re giving you everything you need. You just have to ask for it p it does put pressure on the provinces and territories. The federal government says they are making everything possible available. So this work has to get done. That was implicit in what the Prime Minister said today. We all want to know which provinces have grabbed onto that help the Prime Minister has offered help to and which ones haven’t.
Rosemary:
If he made a point of mentioning Ontario who has reached out and they are still trending upwards. He said some provinces have and haven’t. It might be an attempt to delicately urge premier legault. I want to end on china because know you’re both tracking that story on different angles. He was asked about the situation on further restrictions on china on Hong Kong. Catherine, I’ll get you to start.
Catherine:
I was struck by his choice of language. I know Vassy interviewed franÇois-philippe champagne lastnight on her show. I’m struck by the contrast in tone between what he is saying and the secretary of state in the United States obviously there are different relationships with china and there are a lot of issues in thebackground with Canada’s relationship with china. If I can find the quote by mike pompeo, condemning the move, saying it’s not acceptable. and in the new law might have security officers from beijing set up office in hong Kong. This could be the end of hong Kong. The Prime Minister is quite cautious in the tone, certainly in contrast to the United States.
Rosemary:
That has been part of the story of the pandemic is how governments respond to china or describe their interactions with china through all of this. It does seem like china is picking up where it left off with Hong Kong, as things seemed to die down around democracy protests and whatnot, and now china is there trying to again take control in some way or dictate the way things unfold inhong Kong, Vassy.
Vassy:
I think it’s important to underscore this speaks to what you laid out. This new security law which needs to be rubber stamped will target those opposed to the communist regime in china. We’ve already seen on the extradition law huge protests, many of which ended up turning violent. We have to remember there are 300, 000 Canadians that live in Hong Kong. It’s such a dangerous situation that a diplomatic notice went out today saying we are expecting increased protests based on this security law. Catherine is right. I was able to pull up the quote from mike pompeo. The United States condemns the proposal to unilaterally impose legislation on Hong Kong. That is not what the Prime Minister said. They’re waiting further details and waiting for it to play out. The word he used was “concern,” the same one franÇois-philippe champagne did. He reiterated the federal government’s support for a one country, two system approach. That is different than what we are beginning to hear from some world leaders. I would add a note of caution. It’s not as widespread initiallywhen the extradition law was floated. We’ll have to wait to see where does the international conversation go. Are we seen as a laggard as withother conversations involving hong Kong in the past or does the federal government take a different approach. They are trying to navigate the fact that for hundreds of days michael spavor and michael kovrig have been detained in china.
Rosemary:
Very careful words. The United States very firmly pointed to china as one of the nations that might be doing that spying or trying to get tapping into that research. Canada wouldn’t go down the road to name any of the nation states involved in that. I’m going to leave you there. Vassy kapelos, her show “power & politics” on at 5:00 eastern on CBC news network. Catherine Cullen, you can catch her on “the national” later tonight.
before you go, we are waiting to hear from the leader of the opposition, Andrew Scheer. As you heard from the Prime Minister there, lots of ongoing conversations about what happen son Monday. Monday is supposed to be the return of the house of commons in its full format, although probably not with 338 M.P.s, everyone agrees that is not a good idea. But the conservatives and the opposition are pushing to have this move forward so they can have more conversations about more topics. Mr. Scheer says that’s importantto hold the government to account. We are standing by to bring thatto you. I want to get this interview to you if we can. Dr. Chris