Despite much discussion about ‘lessons learned,’ there have been few efforts at actually adapting our social protection systems in the pandemic’s wake, writes researcher Chris Webb. There has been alarmingly limited recognition that our income support systems remain ill-equipped to deal with both the changing world of work and future crises.

Housekeepers and food and beverage workers—a sector dominated by women of colour—have experienced increased pressure on the job, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. But British Columbia’s hospitality workers raised the alarm, staging the longest hotel strike in the province’s history and securing a new vote in favour of a collective bargaining agreement.

Canadian Dimension spoke with Megan Q. Linton, a disabled and mad studies researcher and writer, and creator of the Invisible Institutions podcast. Megan’s research on institutionalization and disability has appeared in Canadian Dimension, Briarpatch magazine, the Disability Visibility Project and the CBC. Megan is currently a doctoral student at Carleton University.

Recession fear is now at levels worldwide last seen in 2020, cautions Marxist economist and commentator Michael Roberts. At the very least, global inflation rates are still likely to be much higher than before the COVID pandemic by this time next year—and at the worst, the global economy could have entered a new slump only three years from the last one.

In the lead-up to the upcoming WTO ministerial meetings, key figures in the global movement for vaccine justice are calling on the Canadian government to change its position on lifting intellectual property rules for COVID-19 vaccines and other tools. For more than 18 months, Canadian trade officials have refused to back the call for making vaccines, tests, and treatments available globally as public goods.

The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is speedier than we can handle. Even with high rates of vaccination, the virus can both overload health care systems and generate problematic variants. With both six million dead, and a continuing toll of some 8,000 more per day, COVID-19 is a far greater threat than Ebola. It is its own perfect storm, and we may be caught in its midst for some time yet.

We are now into the third week of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ that has besieged downtown Ottawa. What we have witnessed is a total abdication of responsibility by all levels of government, exacerbated by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has cowered in the face of any crisis that was not artificially manufactured by himself and his party.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has fully acquiesced the reins of governance on the province’s COVID file to a motley band of angry, frustrated, and mostly ill-informed anti-mask, anti-vax, anti-Trudeau, anti-science freedom lovers. They’re kind of like the Jesus freaks from the 1970s, but lacking the same ideological coherence.

Neoliberalism has no answer to collective or social problems, which is why we have seen this ideology fail so spectacularly during the pandemic, particularly in Saskatchewan. While many of us have been socialized into hyper-individualist forms of thinking, as progressives we must continue to focus our critique, through the pandemic and beyond, on the root causes of violence and inequality, rather than its symptoms.

Canada should leverage foresight to strengthen its federal model and the COVID-19 response. This will require prioritizing public health over profits, upholding lived experiences, trusting technical experts and remaining adaptive. Canada’s strategy must account for federal and national mandates but also the importance of global engagement. Without it, we will be living on borrowed time.