Black on COVID politics

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Dr. David Black discusses the issue in a documentary with the Canadian Parliamentary Access Channel (CPAC).

Here’s some of what he had to say:

“I would argue that COVID has made us realize that good quality information is terribly important. It’s been a matter of life and death that we as Canadians receive good information from public authoirities – complicated information, not just about social distancing or washing our hands, but also about the nature of virology…

“So the lesson here for things like elections, as we get past this, is that elections are too important perhaps to reduce to the low information logic that has prevailed, from the media side horse race coverage and gaffe seeking; from the political classes side, scripted talking points, manufactured media events and TV ads that really dominate the rhetorical culture of elections, and where most of the money goes… ultimately not advancing the conversation very much. Not making us smarter. Not making us more informed. Not raising the level of the average Canadian as they think about politics and the choices they make.

“So what COVID has arguably done, because of the lessons learned from the need to offer a rich information environment around COVID – let’s bring that into our elections.”

Watch the full documentary at CPAC.