A market in free fall, oil prices crashing and a global pandemic. What's next? Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Health Minister Patty Hajdu yesterday said the federal government is leading an effort to bulk purchase medical supplies to ensure health authorities have what they need to fight the novel coronavirus. The feds and the provinces are rushing to identify the gaps in their inventories. With stock markets in free fall and oil prices crashing, Finance Minister Bill Morneau uttered words yesterday aimed at saving the nation from anxiety. He pledged to improve a federal fiscal stabilization program that "should be updated." Don't confuse stabilization with equalization, a separate fed-prov funding fight. The equalization program is meant to ensure Canadians enjoy the same quality of services anywhere in Canada. Stabilization, a much smaller pot, gives financial assistance to "any province faced with a year-over-year decline in its non-resource revenues greater than five per cent." And those funds are limited to $60 per head. When do the provinces want a fix? Now. When will they get it? "In the pretty near term," said Morneau. Both the COVID-19 response and the fiscal stabilization program are on the agenda for the two-day first ministers' meeting later this week. "An abundance of caution": A few days ago, a massive conference in Washington D.C that attracted 18,000 attendees—including powerful lawmakers like Vice-President Mike Pence—revealed that three of those participants had tested positive for COVID-19. Canadian politicians are taking no chances. Anthony Housefather, a Liberal MP who attended the event, has taken himself into self-isolation after possibly coming into contact with an infected individual. Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow is taking the same measures under similar circumstances. 338Canada: The Conservatives can't crack Liberal support: If a federal election were held today, would anything change? Philippe J. Fournier crunched the numbers from the latest polls and concluded that in the face of cascading crises to start 2020, Liberal support hasn't tanked. And Conservative numbers, particularly in the all-important Toronto area that failed to go blue in October, haven't budged much. But it's still a razor-thin margin overall: With the Bloc on the rise in Québec and the gap narrowing between the two main national parties, a majority government of any stripe would be highly unlikely with such numbers. The Liberals would remain roughly 3-to-1 favourites, but a modest swing against the LPC in Canada’s two most populous provinces could completely flip those numbers. Yesterday, the House debated an opposition motion that, if it's successful, could force the government to release a bunch of documents. Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre's motion demands "any document" prepared by government "since November 4, 2015" that examines "warnings or concerns of economic downturns, their potential impact on the fiscal framework, or advice or recommendations on how to deal with them." The motion asks for the docs within 45 days, and it's an ATIP analyst's dream. Document type? Check. Timeframe? Check. Subject matter? Check. Journalists who file ATIPs only wish they had this power. Sometimes governments bow to a cruel one-for-one rule: for every good-news story brought to you by taxpayer money, bad news surely follows. Do you remember your newsletter correspondent's recounting of a harrowing search and rescue on the high seas in 2018, when the Navy saved the day? Well, the Canadian Press reports that last year, five per cent of calls for emergency assistance went unaided by the military. Refuelling problems and equipment failures contributed heavily, though the Department of National Defence says no deaths came of the unanswered calls. Halton a new rail yard: A gaggle of mayors from suburbs and exurbs west of Toronto are taking their opposition to a new rail-truck hub straight to the Prime Minister's office. CN wants to build a $250-million "logistics hub" in Milton, Ont., to respond to regional shipping demands. The mayors say the project will have serious adverse effects on human health. They're making their case against the project to the PMO—as well as Transport Minister Marc Garneau—this afternoon. Welcome to Ottawa, Željko Komšić: The chairman of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the nation's capital today. Komšić will meet with Governor General Julie Payette at Rideau Hall at 2:30 p.m., and then make the trip down Confederation Boulevard to meet the PM in West Block. Komšić is the Croat representative of his country's presidency, which rotates its chairmanship between a Croat, Bosniak and Serb member. You thought Canada's regional politics were complicated? Try this on for size. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
