The longer we are in lockdown, the more Liberals will lose. With an under-functioning Parliament and a flattened COVID curve, the government needs to pivot quickly, or any hope of an early election majority may simply be wishful thinking.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on June 15, 2020.

OTTAWA—The Liberal COVID-fighting honeymoon is over.

Last week two fatal blows were delivered.

One came from the opposition which banded together to derail tough government legislation on COVID subsidy fraudsters.

The second blow was the picture of the prime minister on bended knee attending a crowded protest with thousands of people at the same time his government is saying you can only gather in groups of five or 10.

Justin Trudeau’s presence at the rally sent an important message about how Canadians need to tackle the issue of systemic racism. He was right to be there.

But his government is off the mark with continued lockdowns, interprovincial travel warnings and international travel bans.

His presence at the protest sent a message in direct conflict to the one delivered daily by public health officials across the country, who are still placing major restrictions on group gatherings for fear of viral transmission.

Until recently, we were told that wearing masks in public would not be helpful. Now we are being told it is a mandatory part of public distancing.

The only people who seem to think things are generally going well must be in a parliamentary bubble.

When asked about the continuing travel ban last week, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said, “The arrangement we have today is working and it is working very well.”

Millions of Canadians who have lost their jobs and/or remain huddled in their homes by government fiat, may not agree with her.

A full-page plea in The Globe and Mail was literally begging the government to reconsider its current lockdown strategy.

The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable enlisted more than 100 companies to support their move to eliminate the 14-day international travel quarantine and reopen the southern border.

As the ad pointed out, the travel/hospitality sector employs 1.8 million people and contributes $102-billion to the Canadian economy.

Similar backlash is happening against travel restrictions in other parts of the world. The United Kingdom is being sued by airline companies for its decision to retain a 14-day quarantine for international travellers who enter the country.

Last month, air travel in the United States fell by 96 per cent, reaching its lowest level in the history of passenger data collection.

Who are the most vulnerable victims of the interprovincial travel and tourism lockdowns? It is the young people, who are facing the bleakest job market.

The May unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds was 29.5 per cent. For those planning to return to school in the fall, the number jumped to a shocking 42.1 per cent. And the problem is not just the unemployed. It is also the mental burden of isolation facing single people working from home.

A close colleague is a millennial whose job was moved to his home at the beginning of the crisis. He was told last week that his office would not reopen until next March. His response was to make an appointment with a mental health professional because the news was so depressing.

It is not surprising that young people are turning their backs on the self-distancing rules of federal and provincial governments. At a younger age, people need more social stimulation. Isolation can kill as quickly as COVID with mental breakdowns and suicides, where the young are most vulnerable.

This lockdown is especially tough on people living alone. Does it make sense to prevent family visits for those who are currently living in long-term care facilities? The loneliness that comes from not seeing a familiar face for months should be considered when quarantines are extended simply based on COVID.

In Ottawa alone, there is now a two-year waiting list for medical procedures cancelled because of COVID. Some postponements are life-threatening, including heart and cancer surgeries that can be fatal if left untreated.

There is going to be a higher death toll in other areas because of the focus on COVID.

The air of parliamentary collegiality which has characterized pandemic relations went out the window because opposition parties are now sensing the vulnerability of the government’s current position.

In the first two months, the prime minister’s daily press conferences were critically acclaimed. Now he is being attacked for spending all his time in scrums while Parliament is mostly muzzled.

The longer we are in lockdown, the more Liberals will lose.

With an under-functioning Parliament and a flattened COVID curve, the government needs to pivot quickly, or any hope of an early election majority may simply be wishful thinking.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By SHEILA COPPS

First published on Monday, July 3, 2017 in The Hill Times.

OTTAWA—In Canada, the 150th birthday bash seems to have taken on a double meaning.

Bash connotes a happy time when everyone joins together in an unforgettable party.

Bash can also mean a chance to take a dump on the very birthday celebration that drew hundreds of thousands of Canadians to Parliament Hill.

Some of the worst birthday bashers were the aboriginal naysayers who erected a protest teepee on Parliament Hill to protest ‘our home on native land.’

They achieved their goal, garnering headlines about legitimate aboriginal grievances that have not been rectified during the lifetime of Canada’s existence.

In so doing, they missed a huge opportunity to build a bridge instead of burning it.

How easy would it have been for the original fathers of Confederation to walk away from the agreement to create Canada because of differences of language and different religion? To welcome those differences into one political construct took courage, and a willingness to reach out.

Real leaders know how to step beyond divides and bring people together.

U.S. President Donald Trump has shown how easy it is to build walls. He nurtured a political base founded on racial and religious resentment.

That strategy was politically profitable in the short term. Demagogues and despots have always understood how easy it is to divide people on the basis of race, religion and colour.

It should be our collective responsibility to support bridge building and decry division.

That is why the decision of aboriginal protesters to try to undermine the nation’s celebratory mood on Canada’s birthday was a mistake. That is why the recent ban on police participation in the Toronto Pride parade was also a mistake.

The Black Lives Matter movement, that spearheaded the police ban, has legitimate beefs related to racial profiling, discrimination and biased treatment by police. So does the gay community.

Some of us are old enough to remember the horror of the Toronto bathhouse raids.

But to go from that unhappy period to a situation when gay supporters from the police join in celebration of diversity can only be viewed a huge step forward.

What does blocking police accomplish in the effort to eliminate bias and discrimination?

If anything, the Black Lives Matter movement is simply reinforcing reverse discrimination. Just like police should not be stopping people on the streets and randomly asking for proof of identity just because of their colour, so parade goers should not ban all police on the basis that some have been, and continue to be homophobic and/or racist.

Surely the intention of leaders in the black, white and indigenous communities should be focussed on bridging the gaps between races, not systemically reinforcing the notion that one group is an overlord of the other.

By attempting to pour cold water on the Parliament Hill celebrations of Canada’s birthday, some aboriginal leaders have done a disservice to their own history.

The indigenous peoples welcomed Europeans to our shores. Without the Mi’kmaq, Montagnais and the Innu, Samuel de Champlain would never have survived Canada’s cruel winters.

So why turn their backs on the very ancestors that their forefathers welcomed?

Some will argue that it is all about making a political point. The point that the birthday of an occupier nation is not worth celebrating.

Really?

After 150 years, Canada as a construct is actually worth celebrating. Is it a perfect country? Certainly not. Have mistakes been made in political and religious leaders decisions to displace children and wipe out indigenous languages in the name of civilization?

Of course, and rectifying the scandalous legacy of residential school deculturalization has preoccupied governments for the past quarter century. To be successful, reconciliation cannot be unidirectional.

All healing involves recognition that the aggrieved and the aggressor will set aside their rancour and reach out to accept the other.

It involves an understanding that supporting police who support minorities is a part of the healing process.

Assuming that the mistakes of the past can only be solved in a one-sided demonstration of guilt simply reinforces reverse prejudice and discrimination.

When those early leaders sat down in Charlottetown in 1864 to fashion a country, they were 153 years ahead of their time.

In today’s global world, different peoples, with different religions, and different languages need to find a way to live and work together.

The survival of the human race depends on it.

The creation of Canada was at the core of that diversity.

And 150 years later, it is time for all of us to celebrate.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.