Bruce Arthur Profile picture
Toronto Star columnist, father of four. We can be good, and we’re gonna make it. DMs open, or barthur@thestar.ca. Born at 330 ppm.
Nov 24, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
In which @CTVNews points out that in his scummy rant towards a CP reporter, Pierre Poilievre just lied. No time zone garbage, no related CTV story BS. He lied. And so many people fell all over themselves to make up BS to cover for him. ctvnews.ca/politics/feds-…
Image A whole industry of conservatives and recently created bots on Twitter first tried screenshots of news alerts from different time zones to prove Poilievre was right. It was really dumb: the story in question was time stamped, and tweeted by @rachelaiello at the same time.
Jun 14, 2023 20 tweets 5 min read
“He wouldn’t stop. He had an intimidating presence." When an older couple yelled at a nine-year-old girl at a track meet — she's a boy, she's trans, her moms were genital mutilators, groomers, pedophiles — it made you ask, who do we want to be, in Canada? thestar.com/opinion/star-c… This stuff is malevolent and malignant, and it’s happening in Canada.
May 27, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Fact-based, evidence-based, real world-based. There seems to be a coordinated attack on safe supply, from the omission-heavy Vancouver Is Dying doc, to the more recent version Pierre tweeted, to that very questionable piece in the NP. () Very ugly stuff. Image Like I said: coordinated
Jan 9, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
See, there can be adverse reactions to vaccines; they’re just nothing like what the anti-vaccine crowd claims they are, and are still exceedingly rare, and even reporting is hindered by anti-vax sentiment. He should have his medical costs covered in a settlement. Billions of shots have been given out, and statistically, the rate of adverse reactions is minuscule, while the benefits are tremendous, even life-saving. It should be an easy call.
Oct 5, 2022 8 tweets 3 min read
No matter how many times Hockey Canada’s leaders speak, they fail to make a case for the leaders at Hockey Canada to stay in their roles. Will the rink lights stay on if they are replaced? They sure as hell would. thestar.com/sports/hockey/… Quebec likes going its own way, but this is still a move.
Jan 28, 2022 12 tweets 4 min read
It’s not surprising that Canada has enough victims of misinformation or hate or inchoate anger to form this so-called Freedom Convoy. But the way Canada’s conservatives are embracing all of that - or enough - is a sad, clarifying show of where we’re going. thestar.com/opinion/star-c…
Jan 27, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
So which issues deserve to be heard? The demand to dissolve the government? To imprison officials? Maybe see some traitors hang? This is such a clarifying moment in Canadian politics
Jan 27, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
The far right in Canada is following the exact same playbook as the far right in the United States, and what you see today is going to be worse tomorrow. Meanwhile, the federal conservatives are fighting over who wants to align with Max’s crowd Meanwhile, there are people on every 401 overpass across the GTA from the 400 east.
Jan 25, 2022 13 tweets 5 min read
This is what conservative politicians from across the country are lining up to support This is what conservative politicians are lining up to support as it travels across the country
Dec 13, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
According to a memo and multiple sources, this week Ontario intends to expand its booster campaign almost any way it can, and faster 18+ eligibility will follow. It’s a huge lift, and welcome. And in the age of Omicron, that may not be enough. thestar.com/opinion/star-c… This is terrific
Dec 11, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read
“This is the scariest it has been since the pandemic started.” I didn’t want to write this, and you probably don’t want to read it. But Omicron is here, and it is almost certainly a force unlike anything we have seen. This will be very hard. thestar.com/opinion/star-c… It's a hurricane
Dec 10, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
I fear this is going to develop faster than we can react to it: holiday parties, holiday travel, an exhausted populace that doesn't want to hear it, and isn't really being told anyway. Omicron will spread so fast, and unless it's strangely easy on the unvaccinated, it will hurt That yellow line looks a lot like the Omicron line in other countries
Dec 8, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Omicron's coming, Delta's doing well, the science table shows that even optimistic scenarios could cancel surgeries, and the province isn't ... doing anything? Not true. But it's not doing much. thestar.com/opinion/star-c… 🎶 sick of wri-ting these articles 🎶
May 14, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Open outdoor activities, with care. Close down indoor activities, more. If you want more summer, let’s speed up. Pride was already cancelled: now Caribana, Taste of the Danforth, and more. The CNE is the one we might have saved, and maybe should have. It’s close to the point where everyone could get double vaccinated
May 14, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
This gets funnier and funnier and funnier and then you get to the note, and I’m going to need this to be made into a movie of some kind. Eugene Melnyk never stops. cbc.ca/news/canada/ot… I am still enjoying this almost as much as I would enjoy a Caribbean yacht trip in calm waters with a pleasant, non-malodorous captain
May 13, 2021 14 tweets 3 min read
Ford just said "One thing threatens the summer, everyone hopes to have. And that's the weak and porous border measures that the federal government has kept in place." Nope, it would be reopening too fast. This is so stupid. Public health restrictions, which were resisted by the province until it was nearly too late, are finally driving cases and hospitalizations down, despite the borders. A fourth wave will come if they are lifted too early.
May 4, 2021 11 tweets 3 min read
Just gonna go ahead and tweet this again: the borders could be better. Blaming Ontario's third wave on the borders is a joke. thestar.com/opinion/star-c… Same with vaccines, by the way. Not a single expert I've ever talked to agrees they could have stopped a third wave, because you can't vaccinate at an exponential rate. It was up to public health measures. Ontario trashed those, and was warned what would happen if they did.
May 4, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
For a government that tries to treat everything like a comms problem, they are very bad at comms Just top-notch comms. I presume the ad campaign to blame the feds will be like the gas pump stickers, but on television
May 4, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
All they have now is trying to blame other people I am still thinking about this: turning a pandemic you utterly botched into an attack ad campaign. Just venal stuff
May 4, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
I wrote about NACI’s very, very bad day. thestar.com/opinion/star-c… One thing about the risk: if there is a ton of Covid around, the risks are vastly outweighed by the benefits, and Canada, unfortunately, has a pile of premiers who let the virus run to varying degrees lately. This is a good explainer of AstraZeneca’s risks and benefits:
May 3, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read