Doug Ford lashes out Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. The best line of the weekend came from Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who slammed a group of about 200 anti-lockdown protesters gathered outside of Queen's Park Saturday as "a bunch of yahoos," calling their actions "selfish" and "irresponsible". The comments further distance the populist premier from US President Donald Trump, who last week said the larger masses of American protesters "seem very responsible to me." (It's noteworthy that one Toronto police officer said the Queen's Park protesters " practised good social distancing when asked to do so ," whereas some Americans are dressing up in foam-pylon suits, endlessly honking car horns, bringing guns and peddling conspiracy theories on live TV, which really puts the whole "yahoo" thing in perspective.) In the same speech on Saturday, Ford also announced pay raises for frontline workers of $4 per hour for the next 16 weeks, in addition to an extra $250 if they work more than 100 hours in a month, to attract and retain employees. That's an extra $3,560 for anyone working 40 hours a week in long-term care homes, retirement homes, emergency shelters, supportive housing, social services, congregate-care settings, corrections institutions or youth justice facilities, according to the official release. Are we there yet? Earlier, Ford announced his government will release its plan for reopening the Ontario economy this week, after P.E.I. announced it will ease restrictions in early May and Saskatchewan is organizing a five-step reopening starting May 4. "It can be turned up, if you will, like that of a dimmer switch, but it can also be throttled back if need be," Premier Scott Moe explained yesterday on CTV's Question Period. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also addressed the national reopening in his Saturday press conference, but only to reiterate that Canada needs a "co-ordinated approach nationally to avoid any confusion." All premiers and Trudeau have emphasized the science-based nature of their tactics. You can read the full text of Trudeau's Saturday speech here. In Quebec, Premier François Legault mused about relying on natural herd immunity to reopen their economy in the near future. "Herd immunity" refers to the idea that once a certain percentage of the population is immune to a virus, it spreads less easily, making it easier for Canada's healthcare system to help infected patients. (The safest way to achieve this is through widespread vaccination; a less safe way is by letting everyone get infected.) Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam, however, on Saturday warned against herd immunity as an immediate solution, calling it " actually not something that should be undertaken." Trudeau confirmed that the other provinces' reopening strategies do not hinge on anyone achieving immunity, and that the broader economy will not reopen until a vaccine is available. Trudeau also announced an injection of $62.5 million to Canada's fish and seafood processors, noting they need to be able to purchase personal proprotective equipment for employees and adjust their business models to implement social distancing. Urban anxieties. For a look at how local governments across Canada are struggling with COVID-19 economics, urban policy consultant Brian Kelcey analyzed a few Canadian cities for Maclean's to understand just how much money they're bleeding each month. Calgary is down $15 million a week, whereas Mississauga, whose economy relies heavily on traffic around Pearson International Airport, is losing $20 million a month. Halifax, meanwhile, will be out of cash in approximately four months, citing tax deferrals and lost reveue from parking fees. Mr. Rajotte goes to Washington. Alberta's office in Washington, D.C., will now be headed up by former Conservative MP James Rajotte, who held office in Edmonton—Leduc from 2000 to 2015, until he declined to seek reelection. His job will largely be to promote Alberta's oil and gas sector, along with other bilateral trade agreements and investment opportunities. Getting antsy. Some Conservative MPs are getting frustrated with the federal leadership race, which has been put on hiatus since the COVID-19 outbreak. The source of that frustration is outgoing leader Andrew Scheer, whose persistence that the House of Commons reconvene more often in-person, even after the fatal mass shooting in Nova Scotia, has made him appear tone-deaf, critics say. One MP, speaking anonymously, summarized it thusly for the Toronto Star: "People didn’t f—ing care." Living through the surreal. Leo McKay Jr, a teacher in Truro, N.S., wrote a personal essay for Maclean's about his experience living nearby last week's mass shooting. Even by the sick standards of mass shootings, the details of this event are bizarre. Like many people lucky enough to only be indirectly affected by the violence, I experienced the mass shooting through social media. And I spent a lot of the morning cautioning my young adult children not to trust the seemingly exaggerated details they were seeing local people post. The gunman is driving a police car. He’s pulling people over like he’s a cop and then just shooting them. Photos of houses and police cars on fire. I was reminded of the hoax photos that emerge during hurricanes: sharks swimming through shopping malls. “This can’t all be true,” I kept telling my family members. A virtual vigil. An online vigil was organized and aired on Friday for victims of the Nova Scotia attack, filled with loving tributes and home-recorded acousitc tunes. You can watch the full video here. —Michael Fraiman | 