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Using monthly public transit revenue data and a difference-in-differences strategy, we investigate the effect of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic on public transit revenues in the large urban municipality of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. We find that COVID had the largest (statistically significant) impact on adult transit fare revenue, a smaller impact on youth fares, and almost no impact on low-income fares suggesting that youth and low-income transit pass users were less able to substitute away from or forgo public transit during the COVID shock, unlike adults. Reductions in transit services that occurred at the same time were more likely borne by youth and low-income transit users. To minimize service reductions and their inequitable effects, we argue that given municipalities have little financial power and flexibility, higher orders of government should provide transit operating funding during times of transit fare shocks. Keywords: public transit, municipal finance, COVID-19 L'annexion est le processus par lequel une municipalit tend de fa on permanente ses limites par l'acquisition de En utilisant les donn es mensuelles sur les revenus du transport en commun et une strat gie de diff rence dans les diff rences, nous tudions l'effet de la pand mie de SRAS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) sur les revenus du transport en commun Calgary en Alberta, Canada. Nous constatons que COVID a eu l'impact le plus important (statistiquement significatif) sur les revenus des tarifs adultes, un impact plus petit sur les revenus des tarifs jeunes et presque aucun impact sur les revenues des tarifs faible revenu, ce qui sugg re que les jeunes et les utilisateurs d'une carte d'abonnement faible revenu taient moins capable de se substituer ou se renoncer au transport en commun pendant le choc COVID, contrairement aux adultes. Les r ductions de services de transport qui se sont produites en m me temps taient plus probablement assum es par les jeunes et les utilisateurs de transport faible revenu. Pour minimiser les r ductions de service et leurs effets in quitables, nous soutenons que, tant donn que les municipalit s ont une capacit financi re faible et peu de flexibilit , les ordres de gouvernement sup rieurs devraient fournir un financement de fonctionnement du transport pendant les p riodes de chocs tarifaires. Mots-cl s : public transit, municipal finance, COVID-19, Introduction In Canadian municipalities, the costs associated with operating public transit is funded in large part by transit fares--fees paid by persons who take public transit. An unexpected shock to [...]

The objective was to explore percentages of the population treated with prescribed opioids and costs of opioid-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits among individuals treated with prescription opioids and costs of all opioidrelated hospitalizations and ED visits in the province (i.e., provincial costs) before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Alberta, Canada. In administrative data, we identified individuals treated with prescription opioids and opioid-related hospitalizations and ED visits among those individuals and among all individuals in the province between 2015/16 and 2021/22 fiscal years. Services used were counted on an item-by-item basis and costed using case-mix approaches. Annually, from 9.98% (2020/21-2021/22) to 14.52% (2017/18) of the provincial population was treated with prescription opioids. Between 2015/16 and 2021/22, annual costs of opioid-related hospitalizations and ED visits among individuals treated with prescription opioids were ~$5 and ~$2 million, respectively. In 2020/21- 2021/22, the provincial costs of opioid- related hospitalizations (~$14 million) and ED visits (~$7.0 million) were almost twice the costs observed in 2015/16 and immediately before the pandemic (2019/20). Our findings suggest that increases in the opioid-related utilization of inpatient and ED services between 2015/16 and 2021/22, including the drastic increases observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, were likely driven by unregulated substances. Key words: COVID-19, emergency medical services, health care costs, hospitalization, illicit drugs, opioid epidemic, Elena Lopatina^orcid.org/0000-0002-8233-587X Introduction Prescription opioids, such as codeine, oxycodone, and hydromorphone, are important medications for pain management. Prescription opioids can be associated with risks and adverse effects such as the [...]

In Canada, the meatpacking industry relies heavily on a workforce comprised of racialized migrants and immigrants, many of whom are former refugees. In the spring of 2020, the industry saw devastating COVID-19 outbreaks leading to hundreds of infections, numerous fatalities and plant closures in Southern Alberta. Based on findings from a community-university research partnership, the intersections of immigration status and the conditions of work faced by im/migrant-refugee workers are analyzed in the Alberta meatpacking industry. Drawing on 225 survey responses and 17 qualitative interviews with im/migrant and refugee workers, the concept of 'intentional precarity' is advanced to explore the strategies that the industry uses to maintain a docile workforce. This paper makes three contributions. First, we present original accounts of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreaks in Canadian meatpacking from the perspective of im/migrant workers; second, we demonstrate that im/migrant workers are not just autonomous labourers, but rather people embedded in caring and kin networks that are both local and transnational; and third, we unpack the fraught relationship between im/migrant workers, their families and the dirty, difficult, dangerous (3D)--and, during COVID-19, deadly--work environments. We argue that families act as a buffer against 3D work by offering protection and assistance in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 outbreaks in slaughterhouses. Yet, obligations to support family are also often the primary reason for workers to take jobs in meatpacking in the first place. Keywords: Refugees, COVID-19, meatpacking, precarious work. Au Canada, l'industrie de conditionnement de la viande depend fortement d'une main-d'ceuvre composee d'immigres et d'immigrants racialises, dont beaucoup sont d'anciens refugies. Au print-emps 2020, l'industrie a connu des epidemies devastatrices de COVID-19 qui ont entraine des centaines d'infections, de nombreux deces et la fermeture d'usines dans le sud de l'Alberta. Sur la base des resultats d'un partenariat de recherche communaute-universite, les intersections entre le statut d'immigration et les conditions de travail auxquelles sont confrontes les travailleurs immi-gres-refugies sont analysees dans l'industrie de conditionnement de la viande en Alberta. A partir de 225 reponses a un sondage et de 17 entrevues qualitatives avec des travailleurs immigrants, immigres et refugies, le concept de ' precarite intentionnelle ' est avance pour explorer les strategies utilisees par l'industrie pour maintenir une main-d'oeuvre docile. Cet article apporte trois contributions. Premierement, nous presentons des comptes-rendus originaux des epidemies de COVID-19 de 2020 dans I'industrie canadienne de conditionnement de la viande du point de vue des travailleurs immigres et migrants ; deuxiemement, nous demontrons que les travailleurs immigres et migrants ne sont pas seulement des travailleurs autonomes, mais plutot des personnes inte-grees dans des reseaux de soins et de parente a la fois locaux et transnationaux ; et troisiemement, nous devoilons la relation tendue entre les travailleurs immigres et migrants, leurs familles et les environnements de travail sales, difficiles, dangereux (3D) et, pendant le COVID-19, mortels. Nous postulons que les familles agissent comme un tampon contre le travail en 3D en offrant protection et assistance en temps de crise, comme les epidemies de COVID-19 dans les abattoirs. Pourtant, l'obligation de subvenir aux besoins de la famille est souvent la raison principale pour laquelle les travailleurs acceptent un emploi dans l'industrie de la viande. Mots-cles : Refugies, COVID-19, conditionnement de la viande, travail precaire., INTRODUCTION Approximately 70 percent of beef sold in Canada is manufactured at two plants in Southern Alberta: Cargill in High River and JBS Foods in Brooks. On April 20, 2020, [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic created rapid, wide-ranging, and significant disruptions to work and family life. Accordingly, these dramatic changes may have reshaped parents' gendered division of labor in the short term. Using data from 1,234 Canadian parents in different-sex relationships, we compare retrospective reports of perceived sharing in how housework and childcare tasks were split prior to the declaration of the pandemic to assessments of equality afterward. Further, we describe perceptions of changes in fathers' engagement in these tasks overall, by respondent gender, and by employment arrangements before and during the pandemic. Results indicate small shifts toward a more equal division of labor in the early 'lockdown' months, with increased participation in housework and childcare by fathers, supporting the needs exposure hypothesis. We conclude by discussing gender differences in parents' reports and potential implications for longer term gender equality. La pandemie COVID-19 a provoque des perturbations rapides, vastes et importantes dans le travail et la vie de famille. En consequence, ces changements dramatiques peuvent avoir remodele la division parentale du travail entre les sexes a court terme. A l'aide de donnees provenant de 1 234 parents canadiens vivant dans des relations de sexe different, nous comparons les rapports retrospectifs sur le partage percu de la repartition des taches menageres et de garde d'enfants avant la declaration de la pandemie aux evaluations de l'egalite par la suite. En outre, nous decrivons les perceptions des changements dans l'engagement des peres dans ces taches en general, par sexe des repondants et par conditions d'emploi avant et pendant la pandemie. Les resultats indiquent de petits changements vers une division du travail plus egalitaire au cours des premiers mois de 'verrouillage', avec une participation accrue des peres aux travaux menagers et a la garde des enfants, ce qui confirme l'hypothese d'exposition aux besoins. Nous concluons en discutant des differences entre les sexes dans les rapports des parents et des implications potentielles pour l'egalite entre les sexes a long terme., THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC CREATED rapid, wide-ranging, and significant disruptions to work and family life. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11,2020 and by March 22, [...]