Thread by @HeatherMoAndCo

🧵1. Since there’s so much disinformation (ie from @jaketapper), let’s breakdown the real problems in #COVID19CA.
Mulroney sold off 70 yrs of publicly owned domestic vaccine production capacity in 🇨🇦. theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl… #cdnpoli

2. Chrétien/Martin increased R&D funding but selling off Connaught was a body blow.

Then Harper made things worse.

Not only did Harper’s #CPC gov’t cut PHAC funding by 23% (phac-aspc.gc.ca/about_apropos/… )

Harper drastically cut funding to research councils. #cdnpoli #Covid19CA

3. Enter other issues, like cronyism between #Conservatives & pharma companies.
In 2011 Harper gave a 10 yr $425.9M contract to GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline). It required GSK to supply at least 15 million doses a month in a pandemic once its vaccine is ready #cdnpoli #COVID19CA

4. But GSK’s ID Biomedical lab was rife with problems, in June 2014 the US FDA threatened GSK’s Ste Foy plant with regulatory action over repeated bacterial contamination & other problems. #cdnpoli #covid19CA (globalnews.ca/news/1412728/g… ) #cdnpoli #COVID19CA

5. Fast forward to #Covid19 pandemic. Lack of consistent control of domestic production capacity in 🇨🇦, meant dependency on imports. However, 🇺🇸’s export ban created vaccine supply issues globally (hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-…). #cdnpoli #COVID19CA #CDNhealth

6. This meant 🇨🇦 was impacted on multiple fronts, including 🇺🇸 companies not licensing subsidiaries to manufacture domestically in 🇨🇦.
In spite of valiant efforts to get out ahead by securing contracts at the start of the pandemic, vaccine nationalism created problems. #cdnpoli

7. The serious issue of lack of domestic Canadian-owned means of production, is a key element of the problem (theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…).

However, there’s another major part of the problem too....the provinces. #cdnpoli #CDNhealth

8. The fiercely guarded autonomy of provinces has meant an extremely uneven response in 🇨🇦. #ABhealth & #ONhealth in particular, have been terrible standouts. From hoarding federal #Covid19 relief funds to having no clear plan for vaccine rollout, the mismanagement is shocking.

9. Instead of planning, implementing sound strategies, issuing #lockdowns (real ones, not #mockdowns) Ford & Kenney played politics, tried to have it both ways, pandering to anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, mixed messaging, while pretending to be on top of #COVID19.
#ONpoli #ABleg

10. The false &/or misleading narratives in largely conservative controlled #cdnmedia have had a ripple effect. Instead of coming together, the opposition seeks opportunities to politicize at every turn. They see an #LPC successful navigation of a deadly pandemic as a 0 sum game.

11. But #COVID19 is no game. It’s costly, deadly, with long-term health & economic consequences that will ripple for years to come. Some estimates say $82 TRILLION, globally. (marketwatch.com/story/today-in…). It’s time to stop playing dumb politicking games & fight a runaway train./