Earlier this week, rookie backbench MP and current candidate for Conservative leader Derek Sloan questioned the loyalty of Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, musing aloud if her loyalties were with China over Canada.
The underlying xenophobic sentiment is abhorrent, though that is not the point of this commentary. The crux of what Sloan said in both an initial video posted to Facebook and a subsequent email to supporters — that Tam was wrong on two specific issues: masks and travel bans — have been echoed by some conservative politicians and even some political and opinion journalists.
The issue of masks has been covered extensively by health and science reporters, including in this excellent piece by Ed Yong in the