Ottawa learns no target is sufficient Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. The federal government's first-quarter vaccine delivery numbers are in. For months, it promised 6 million doses. It now claims 9.5 million doses arrived in Canada before the end of March—though only 7.4 million had been delivered to provinces amidst a sharp increase in shipments. The Public Health Agency says 14.6 per cent of Canadian adults have received their first dose. Health Canada also approved the 1.5 million doses on loan from south of the border. As those vaccines ramp up, millions of Ontarians prepared for another 28-day lockdown amidst a variant-fuelled resurgence of the virus in several hot spots across the province. TVO's John Michael McGrath, whose question about modelling data in February prompted public health officials to predict looming disaster, yesterday asked the same officials to explain who exactly failed to stop a third wave. David Williams, the chief medical officer of health, said nobody failed. Okay then. Meanwhile in Ottawa, where the obsessively observed wastewater surveillance tracker spiked horribly, public health officials warned the public that effective contact tracing is "just not possible" when case counts increase at the current pace. Still, unwavering support for Doug Ford: 338Canada's Philippe J. Fournier, a Maclean's contributor, dissects the findings of a new Léger/Canadian Press poll on Ontario voting intentions. Doug Ford remains the clear favourite to win re-election, despite a steady flow of experts that castigate his government's rampant pandemic mismanagement. During the 2019 federal campaign, Andrew Scheer had been hesitant to campaign along side Doug Ford in Ontario, for Ford’s approval rating then hovered between the low and high 30s in the province. Have the tables turned between Ford and the CPC? According to the latest numbers, it is Ford who would probably neither need nor request Erin O’Toole’s support during next year’s Ontario election, for the premier is performing at higher levels than his CPC counterpart, especially in the seat-rich region of the 905. A new poll from Abacus Data backs up Fournier's theory. The Liberals clock in at 38 per cent, eight points ahead of the Tories. Justin Trudeau's approval rating is slightly more negative (40%) than positive (39%), but O'Toole's negatives (33%) far outpace his positives (19%). Jagmeet Singh has the best image—33% positive, 24% negative—of all three leaders. Yesterday, the feds launched a public consultation for a new review of the access-to-information law that mandates disclosure of public documents to any Canadian who requests them. Coincidentally, your newsletter correspondent received a briefing note from last October in which Department of Justice bureaucrats presented options on using the Emergencies Act to "address" the second wave of COVID-19. The document, which you can see here, was redacted entirely. The federal procurement website pinged with a new contract for the producer of the next federal leaders debate. The Privy Council Office officially awarded the $2.2 million gig to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A story from the public broadcaster notes the media consortium includes a wide variety of outlets, including CTV News, Global News, APTN News, Noovo, La Presse, Le Devoir, L'actualité, Le Soleil, Le Droit, La Tribune, Le Nouvelliste, Le Quotidien, La Voix de l'Est, OMNI Television, CPAC and the Toronto Star . The Biden plan and the Trudeau precedent: As U.S. President Joe Biden readies a $2-trillion infrastructure plan that mentions "billion" 69 times in its fact sheet, Paul Wells compares and contrasts that effort with the "Investing in Canada" plan north of the border. The president is spending big and funding his plan with taxes. Liberals, however, are using deficits to finance their own plan: To some extent, Biden is forced into fiscal virtue for the same reason Trudeau is liberated from its obligation: because since 2000, three of Trudeau’s predecessors worked hard to keep spending in line with revenues, and three of Biden’s predecessors didn’t. But still, Biden’s plan looks like a big argument about what’s worth paying for in a society. Trudeau’s looks like skipping that debate. A massive underground bunker in North Bay, Ont., a key NORAD facility during the Cold War, has sat unused for the last 15 years. The Underground Complex sits 182 m below the Earth's surface, nestled in precambrian rock. Now, the Department of National Defence is looking to fully decommission the site. NORAD rules forbid a third party from taking over the site, but the "Power Cavern" that heats and ventilates the complex is a federal heritage building. DND says that could have to be preserved indefinitely. It's all catnip for bunker nerds. Speaking of surplus subterranean storage, Radio-Canada's Enquête investigative team revealed that former prime minister Jean Chrétien played a role in an effort to build a nuclear waste facility in remote Labrador. Chrétien initially downplayed his involvement—that is, until the reporters got their hands on emails. At one point during a sit-down interview, Marie-Maude Denis asked the former PM if his influence could open doors. "No," he replied. "I can open the door for you. It can get you out." Won't get fooled again: Ottawa's most incisive April 1 joke came from the Bytown Museum, which poked fun at the Chateau Laurier renovation debate with its own gaudy reno plans. The insider joke of the day goes to a "lost tarantula" poster spotted by Maclean's bureaumate Marie-Danielle Smith. Google the phone number. Mea culpa: Your newsletter correspondent is sorry/not sorry for rick-rolling you yesterday. Those of you who clicked the bait at the end of yesterday's newsletter might never forgive Maclean's, but we're never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you, never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye (unless you unsubscribe, but please don't), never gonna tell a lie and hurt you. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
