You can check out anytime you want? Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. A federal expert panel issued a report Thursday that recommends that the federal government stop forcing travellers to stay in mandatory hotel quarantines when they enter Canada. The experts say the system in place in Canada doesn't make sense because it is not applied equally to land and air travellers, it is expensive, some travellers skip the hotel and take a fine, and it doesn't reflect the incubation period of the virus: The costs and hardships from lengthier mandatory quarantine in government-authorized accommodations may be acceptable in countries such as New Zealand and Australia that are pursuing an elimination strategy. Nevertheless, the Panel noted that despite strict health measures, there have been reports of hotel quarantine workers testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 in both Australia and New Zealand. The report did not immediately convince Health Minister Patty Hajdu and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who put out a statement saying the current measures are working. Charter fights: Gerald Butts, the former principal secretary to, and longtime friend of, the Prime Minister, has a column in Maclean's warning that the real problem with the Quebec bill that would unilaterally change the Canadian constitution isn't the changes it would make, which would be subject to judicial oversight, but the fact that it is just another example of premiers casually invoking the "notwithstanding clause" that allows provincial governments to override Charter rights in certain circumstances. Call me old fashioned, but don’t democratic societies put minority rights into inviolate foundational documents precisely because they’re politically tempting to violate? Politicians find it easier to defend minority rights in theory than practice, and if you think living in an advanced democracy provides herd immunity from majoritarian leaders who abrogate them for kicks and giggles, talk to your nearest Indigenous person—or American. Green money: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new $2.6-billion program on Thursday to provide grants of up to $5,000 for homeowners to put into energy-saving home upgrades. These programs are politically popular, and ought to encourage people to do things to reduce emissions, providing "a nudge for people who have been thinking about it, maybe procrastinated on it,” in the words of Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan. But critics point out that this spending is far from the most efficient way to cut carbon, because of the "free rider" problem: many of the people sign up likely would have proceeded with the renovations in the absence of such a program How will the government pay for all those heat pumps? Well, the parliamentary budget officer thinks that the government's proposed digital services tax may collection more revenue than the government forecast, $4.23-billion rather than $3.4-billion over five years. Canada is proposing "a 3-per-cent tax on revenues collected from Canadian users by online companies such as Google and Facebook," part of an international push to tax multinationals. Back to school? Ontario Premier Doug Ford sent a letter on Thursday to medical experts and stakeholders in Ontario seeking input on whether students should get back to the classroom. Ontario schools have been closed for in-person learning since mid-April, but with the province planning to enter the first phase of its reopening plan by June 14 and the academic year nearing an end, the calls to allow students to return to the classroom for at least a few weeks of in-person instruction are growing louder. Fewer jabs: The federal government announced Thursday that Moderna will ship two million COVID jabs to Canada in the next two weeks, a fraction of the millions that the vaccine manufacturer has contracted to supply by the end of June. The total is in doubt due to "certain difficulties" Moderna is facing. That means somewhat slower vaccine rollout than Trudeau has promised. The figure is likely now closer to 40 million and Canada will hit the 50 million mark at the end of July—a month later than Trudeau's projection in April. Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy chief public health officer, said Thursday that officials have now identified 41 cases of blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, leading to five deaths across the country. The rare but statistically significant incidence of blood clots linked to the vaccine has led to uncertainty about what will become of the doses in storage. In a letter to provincial governments on Wednesday, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu urged them to make sure the jabs are not wasted. What should you do if you have had a single AstraZeneca shot and aren't sure whether to get a second shot of that vaccine or wait for a different brand? It's hard to say. Too close for comfort: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh apologized Thursday after Global News found a video of him, maskless, embracing an aide, a violation of COVID social-distancing rules. Monumental thinking: Maclean's Paul Wells has an interesting chat with Canadian Ken Lum, who is the co-founder of the Monument Lab, a Philadelphia think tank that asks interesting questions about what kind of historic figures are honoured with monuments. Lum has thoughts about Canadian struggles over what should be done with statues of famous people with checkered pasts. Dundas Street and Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto are named for a Scottish politician who is viewed by many historians as having delayed the end of the British slave trade. James McGill owned slaves. Egerton Ryerson helped design the residential school system. “Canadians overestimate their benign circumstances,” Lum says, “but there’s a lot of pernicious harm that’s been done.” Should statues come down? Lum isn’t categorical on the question, but whatever happens in every case, there should at least be more discussion and fewer resorts to the notion that monuments, as “history,” are eternal and inviolate. — Stephen Maher | 