Time for pointing fingers will come later, Trudeau says as Trump calls out WHO
There is a triple video as part of this article which I am unable to download, but can be watched by you if you click on the "SEEDED CONTENT" link just below this BUZZ NOTE. It will take you to the original article.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Time for pointing fingers will come later, Trudeau says as Trump calls out WHO
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during his daily press conference on the COVID-19 pandemic outside of his residence at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, on Sunday, April 5, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
WASHINGTON -- Now is not the time to point fingers or assign blame for COVID-19, Canada's federal government said Wednesday after Donald Trump, his re-election hopes hijacked by a deadly global pandemic, turned his populist cannons on the World Health Organization.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to be drawn into the Trump administration's latest political offensive, insisting that his Liberal government would concentrate for the time being on helping Canadians avoid getting sick.
"That is our focus right now -- what can we do now, what do we need to do in the coming weeks, how do we lean on experts in international institutions and in partner countries around the world for making recommendations alongside our domestic experts on what we need to do now," Trudeau said.
"There will be plenty of time as we move forward to reflect on challenges that were faced in the past. We need to learn and move forward as quickly as we can."
In the United States, where the outbreak of the virus has killed more than 26,000 people, sickened more than 600,000 and plunged the economy into suspended animation, Trump is accusing the UN agency of botching its initial response to the outbreak in China and covering up the extent of the emerging threat.
He has ordered a halt to funding -- the U.S. is the WHO's single largest financial benefactor, providing hundreds of millions of dollars each year -- pending the results of a review to examine why "credible reports" that conflicted with official accounts from the Chinese government weren't properly investigated, and why early evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus in China was ignored.
But the president's not alone in calling out the agency: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer wants Trudeau to explain why Canada has been so dependent on an organization so closely aligned with China.
"We've got serious concerns about the accuracy of the information coming out of the WHO," Scheer said. "It's incumbent upon this government to explain why they have based so many of their decisions on the WHO."
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that six days passed between when Chinese officials knew about the real dangers of the virus and when the public was warned, time that likely allowed the outbreak to blossom into a full-blown global public health disaster.
The WHO failed outright in calling out China's lack of transparency, the president said -- although he neglected to acknowledge his own public statements in January thanking President Xi Jinping and praising the country's efforts in fighting the virus.
On paper, the move is classic Trump: attacking a multilateral institution with a mixed track record, deep ties to the rules-based international order and an outsized financial dependence on American dollars. He has in the past also targeted the World Trade Organization and likes to take credit for shaming fellow NATO members into spending millions more on the military alliance.
Countries around the world greeted the timing of the decision, if not the decision itself, with condemnation. So too did Microsoft founder Bill Gates, now a global health philanthropist whose foundation rivals the U.S. as one of the agency's largest contributors.
"The world needs WHO now more than ever," Gates wrote on Twitter.
Trudeau said Trump has not asked Canada to adjust its contributions to the WHO -- $17.5 million for 2020, paid in full, along with an additional $15 million since Feb. 11 specifically for the agency's response to COVID-19, a government spokesman said. By comparison, the U.S. pays more than $500 million a year in annual assessments.
It's money well-spent on a "very valuable tool" under normal circumstances, said Health Minister Patty Hajdu -- but especially during a serious viral outbreak.
"Canada values the work of the World Health Organization, and we continue to commit to contribute towards the work of the organization," said Hajdu, citing its ability to bring countries, scientists and researchers together to find both short- and long-term solutions.
"Any response to COVID-19, and in fact really any global outbreak, is one where countries have the capacity to work together, to pool their research and to really share their efforts to manage these outbreaks -- that will happen again and again and again, by the way."
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director-general, last week urged the world to resist the temptation to politicize the pandemic, a message that clearly went unheeded in Washington.
"When we are divided, the virus exploits the cracks between us," Tedros said Wednesday, expressing "regret" at Trump's decision.
"No doubt, areas for improvement will be identified and there will be lessons for all of us to learn. But for now, our focus -- my focus -- is on stopping this virus and saving lives."
Tedros also thanked those countries that have expressed support for the organization and promised to maintain their financial commitments. "Solidarity," he said, "is the rule of the game in defeating COVID-19."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2020.
-- With files from Jim Bronskill and Teresa Wright in Ottawa
Tags
Who is online
382 visitors
Although I'm not particularly a supporter of my Prime Minister, Canada is my country of citizenship, and I am proud to see that with respect to this issue he is more mature, sensible and concerned about what is most immediately important than Trump who is almost twice his age.
[Deleted]
The World Health Organization has led the entire world astray. Why should we continue to listen to the WHO when the directives and advice of the organization allowed the outbreak to spread to pandemic proportions?
Is continuing to listen to bad advice really a more sensible, mature thing to do? The WHO is currently engaged in a political effort to cover it's own bumbling leadership of the international response to the pandemic. The WHO is displaying more concern over its political future than for leading the international process of fighting the pandemic.
Sure, lets start a new internet business, handing out doctorates in microbiology and epidemiology to any nabob that pays for one.
That's the ticket.
So is our government.
No, your 'president' has led the entire world astray.
He is an incompetent bumbling moron who should never have disassembled the pandemic response team that President Obama put in place and then continued to ignore every warning.
The reason he is withholding funding is because of WHOs criticism of tRumps deadly mishandling of this from the start
FUBAR
Trump is currently engaged in a political effort to cover it's own bumbling leadership of the international response to the pandemic.
Fixed it.
If the President of the United States is responsible for leading the international response to the pandemic then what useful purpose does the WHO serve?
I may not have voted for Justin but IMO he has a lot more dignity than the "pussy-grabber".
IMHO Mr. Trudeau works for his people.
What has tRump ever done for 'we the people '?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
Everything Trump does is for the American people.
Everything the 'president" has done done is done himself, no one else
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. How many times is WHO allowed to fail?
Interesting to see how many want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. They think that covid-19 is the only reason for the existence of the WHO.
Dumbasses get fired every day. WHO didn't see the train on the tracks and people want to know why.
There is no reason not to investigate the whole damn thing from the beginning once the world returns to normal, but squeezing WHO in the middle of a pandemic when their services are required all around the world, not just with respect to covid-19, is cruel and disgusting.
Easy. Let the world pay, but don't expect me to pay for a service I don't get. Do you pay your neighborhood's cable bill?
I assume that countries that can afford to do so do fund the WHO. The WHO does a lot more than deal with covid-19, so you might be getting some benefit from the WHO that you don't know about.
Good words to describe this 'president' Buzz. Cruel and disgusting.
When I saw him on TV the other day I noticed he was looking more decrepit and evil than usual
How many times do you think they failed?
IMO, some changes need to be made in the WHO but defunding them isn't in our best interest.
Agreed, and as I said, now is not the time to punish.
The Trump administration closely followed the directives of the World Health Organization. That's how the process is supposed to work. The United States was not alone in following the directives of the WHO.
The international process led by the World Health Organization has proven to be a complete and utter disaster. And now President Trump is being blamed for the failings of that international process.
The World Health Organization failed to act promptly and appropriately. As a result, the international process to prevent a pandemic didn't work. The bureaucratic political inertia of the international framework has killed a lot of people and destroyed the global economy.
And now everyone wants to blame President Trump. If the United States is to be held responsible for the failings of international framework then there isn't any need for the World Health Organization. The WHO is in the way, time to kick it to the curb.
I'm not so sure that now is the time to do it. Leadership of WHO really messed up with this and failed the entire world. And the leadership needs to be held accountable for their failures and the organization needs to be rebuilt with new leadership. But the WHO does a lot more especially in the middle of a pandemic. There are many countries that cannot handle the health issues caused by this pandemic and if the world does not step up to help then this pandemic will never go away and the death toll will be so much worse. Hold the leadership accountable but I don't believe that now is the time to hold up funding as that will impact the poorer countries round the world much worse than it will impact the leadership.
Hell, when the pandemic is done take the leadership to The Hague and let the International Court determine the legal issues and punishments. But for now keep supporting the rest of the work that the WHO does, especially in developing and poor countries.
And how will the World Health Organization help countries who cannot handle the health issues? The United States can't even manufacture enough disposable face masks and shopping bag aprons to protect its own health workers, let alone supply other countries. Where does the WHO expect to obtain the resources to help other countries?
Responding to the pandemic is going to require more than thoughts and prayers. Empathy isn't enough. All the exquisitely precise academic knowledge in the world has little value without the tools to apply that knowledge. And the world can no longer expect the United States to be capable of manufacturing a sufficient quantity of the tools that are needed.
The World Health Organization isn't doing anything tangible to help anyone. Begging for donations is futile when there isn't enough to donate.
Are you REALLY of the opinion that ONLY the USA can provide the necessary, as you call them, "tools" and "resources"? Do you also think that dealing with a unique pandemic is the only thing that the WHO does?
I guess Bill Gates has his work cut out for him, since the WHO does nothing to help anyone. For sure it won't be the USA as long as Trump is around, and hopefully he won't be after mid-January.
Thank you, Snuffy, for posting a common sense comment.