Happy Canada Day!

[traductio]

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians -- or, well, to the many Canadians among whom I live, whose ranks I hope to join in the next year or so once I'm eligible for citizenship.

I hope you're enjoying appropriately distanced activities on what (here at least) is an absolutely gorgeous day.

And to my friends in Quebec, happy moving day (if "happy" is at all the right word).

[secundem_artem]

Something from a great Canadian to help everyone in the Great White North celebrate appropriately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzV-gN5IveA

[mamselle]

O, Canada!

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkTLVFPe1J0

And, well, just for fun...

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pASE_TgeVg8&list=RDySRf8m3plrM&start_radio=1

...and more fun...

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySRf8m3plrM

...and just a bit more...

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpj1zgyfScM

(No beavers were harmed in the production of this ad. We're not sure about all the humans, though...)

M.

[Puget]

Greetings Canadians! Would you mind terribly if some of us joined you? It seems rather uncrowded and sane up there, and things are getting pretty unpleasant down here. We'll be very quiet and learn to say "about" correctly. Just give it some thought, eh?

[Morden]

Happy Canada Day! I begged off a neighbourly BBQ because of social distance concerns, so no celebration plans for me. I did buy a couple  face masks with Canadian maple leafs all over them, so maybe I'll wear one today if I go out.

[Cheerful]

Happy Canada Day, nice country with a beautiful national anthem!

[Parasaurolophus]

Joyeuse fête du Canada! Too bad I forgot to post for St. Jean.

[kaysixteen]

Obviously it must be nigh onto infinitely better than here, but just exactly how is Canada handling the coronacrisis?   And is there significant variations there amongst the provinces, or some sort of national strategy led by its fed gov?

[traductio]

Obviously it must be nigh onto infinitely better than here, but just exactly how is Canada handling the coronacrisis?   And is there significant variations there amongst the provinces, or some sort of national strategy led by its fed gov?

Overall, better than the United States. It varies a lot by province -- Quebec was hit especially hard, especially the province-run nursing homes. Ontario (my province) was second, especially the Toronto region. Other provinces fared much better. The most recent depictions of the famous infections curve that I can find are here (link). You'll see for Ontario, for instance, that the curve looks a lot more like those from European countries (quick peak, then clear downward trend) than that of the United States.

[Morden]

Mask wearing isn't a big political issue here--although I have noticed fewer people wearing masks in the last couple weeks even as the different levels of government are recommending (but for the most part not mandating) them. In my province, there is a lot of COVID testing available. Anyone who wants a test can have one, even without any symptoms (the cost is covered by government health systems). We're not doing as well with people downloading the contact-tracing app.

[Parasaurolophus]

Obviously it must be nigh onto infinitely better than here, but just exactly how is Canada handling the coronacrisis?   And is there significant variations there amongst the provinces, or some sort of national strategy led by its fed gov?

Think of it this way: we had 67 new cases today, you had 52 609. We've basically had our first wave (although there's still some sputtering in Québec); yours hasn't even peaked. 0_o

I wouldn't be surprised if the border stayed closed for, like, a year, via one-month extensions. But that largely depends on what the US tells us to do, since if it insists on opening the border, it will almost certainly open.

[kaysixteen]

The border cannot be shut iron-tight, even now, so those few non-Canadians that are allowed to cross into Canada, what happens to them?  Mandatory legally-enforced quarantine, or something less?  Indeed, are legally-enforced quarantines being done anywhere in Canada now, for Canadians?  No such quarantines have ever been imposed during this pandemic for any Americans in any state, as, like it or not, really most Americans would likely not stand for them,  I guess.  But Canadians are well-known for being less, ahem, rebellious, and more interested in common good actions... at least by rep.  And there ain't really anything like the equivalent of Red State America up north, either, right?

[traductio]

There are mandatory 2-week quarantines for anyone entering the country (and there are pretty strict limits on who can do that), and from what I hear, they're enforced pretty vigorously, mostly through phone calls from the RCMP. (This much I've learned from comment boards, so it might be anecdotal.) The mandatory quarantine is the reason (well, one of the reasons) we're not traveling back to visit family in the States this summer. U.S. citizens can enter the U.S., and Canadian permanent residents (and citizens, too, but we're just PRs) can enter Canada. But any "vacation" we took would feel awfully stressful and would be followed by two weeks not even leaving our house once we got home. And I hate crossing the border as it is -- that stress would be through the roof.

ETA: The upside? Since one criterion for applying for citizenship is the number of days spent in Canada, we'll be able to apply earlier than we had planned.

[mamselle]

"And there ain't really anything like the equivalent of Red State America up north, either, right?"

What about,
   <<Je parle joualle....>>

(c'est a dire, les Quebecois) ???

M.

[traductio]

"And there ain't really anything like the equivalent of Red State America up north, either, right?"

What about,
   <<Je parle joualle....>>

(c'est a dire, les Quebecois) ???

M.

Quebec is one of my favorite places, in part because it has an endlessly interesting history. (Another place with a fascinating history? Saskatchewan and North Dakota, but that's another story.) Right now, the Coalition avenir Québec government is conservative, but not in ways that are necessarily legible within a U.S.-centric framework. There's not the same support for guns, for instance, and attitudes within the province tend to be more liberal with respect to sexual orientation and gender equality. Plus, masks haven't been politicized the way they have been in the States. I'm simplifying, of course, because it's a big province, and Montréal is different from the more rural parts of the province (the way NYC is from upstate NY, or Chicago from the rest of Illinois, etc.).

Which isn't to cut the Legault government any slack, as many of its policies have been retrograde. Just differently retrograde.