Former Markham-Stouffville MP and Liberal cabinet member Jane Philpott called for honesty and transparency from the Trudeau government Friday morning, in a tweet published before the Prime Minster's daily address.
"This is not the time to hide bad news," said Philpott. "This includes real-time updates, open-source, data, best/worse case projections - in short, we'd like radical transparency."
This is not the time to hide bad news. This includes real-time updates, open-source data, best/worse case projections - in short, we'd like radical transparency.#KnowledgeImpactsBehaviourhttps://t.co/if5o6ETvH9
— Jane Philpott (@janephilpott) April 2, 2020
Philpott, a physician by trade with a Doctor of Medicine from University of Western Ontario, is one of many Canadians who have returned to the front lines amidst the pandemic.
Like 100s of other Canadian health professionals, I've returned the front lines, to help the amazing team at the @MSHospital COVID assessment centre. If you think you have symptoms or in close contact with someone who has it, use this self-assessment tool: https://t.co/zpV2FpfmrD pic.twitter.com/EtWaI0aNe0
— Jane Philpott (@janephilpott) March 19, 2020
Philpott's wishes weren't fulfilled, though, as Trudeau instead urged Canadians to use their imaginations to picture the extent of the virus.
When asked why projections could not be released, Trudeau said he thinks people can "imagine" the range of scenarios, from "everyone gets suddenly better" to "things keep getting worse."
"There is a range out there, and just highlighting that range is not as useful or important as being able to get clearer numbers and analysis of what we are likely to face," he said.
Trudeau tells Canadians to "imagine" how bad coronavirus will get, won't release numbers pic.twitter.com/WHCnjueKo8
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 2, 2020
Trudeau then said that his government "look[s] forward to sharing more with Canadians in the coming days."