COVID-19, Hygiene Theatre, Masks, and Lockdowns: “Solid Science” or Science Veneer? is the latest installment in the Institute’s essay series on the COVID-19 pandemic. This essay examines whether government policy responses followed the science and evidence extant at the time of COVID’s emergence and progression through the population, or whether governments followed the science selectively to create more of a veneer of science than a solid policy foundation.

Lessons from the Public Private Partnerships in Surgical Care in Quebec finds that private surgical clinics play an increasingly large role in Quebec’s universal health care system, following a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that allows private surgical clinics to perform select surgeries covered by the Quebec health-care system. In fact, private surgical clinics now perform 1-in-6 government-funded day surgeries in the province.