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In Canada, this meant a relentless (and often vapidly expressed) fixation on open borders and anti-racism — principles that I happen to support, though not at the expense of Canadians dying. In the United States, the reality of COVID-19 ran headlong into Donald Trump’s obsession with the stock market as an index of presidential self-worth. In the U.K., there were unconscionable delays that resulted from Boris Johnson’s populist infatuation, by which he and his entourage seemed to imagine that any problem can be managed so long as they flippantly zigged while bien pensants zagged. (I learned that Johnson himself was admitted to intensive care around the time I wrote these words.) In China, uncountable thousands died because an authoritarian government was more interested in protecting its international reputation than its citizens.

One long-term effect of this crisis, I hope, will be to revaluate the way Canadian leaders pick the people who run important departments and agencies. Under Canada’s constitutional scheme, the primary responsibility for health care falls to the provinces. And since it is the provincial governments that do much of the heavy lifting on service delivery and policy, it always is tempting for PMs to fill prominent federal roles with figures who are more mascot than minister.

What we are living through now is a deadly reminder that there are enemies out there that don’t care about our slogans and hashtags. The COVID-19 virus is one of them.

• Twitter: jonkay