So, we are languishing on the vaccination rollout and medical doctors who are working in intensive care units filled with COVID carriers are not even allowed to get the second vaccine, which has greater protection for variant mutations. What is wrong with that picture?

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on April 26, 2021.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s tears failed to dampen the unprecedented spike in his unpopularity.

His mea culpa, offered while in isolation at his late mother’s home in Etobicoke, was designed to let people know that their pain was his pain. But nobody was listening.

The government’s decision to announce draconian lockdown measures the previous weekend was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Within two days, decisions to close children’s playgrounds and unleash unprecedented police powers on an already suffering populace were hastily reversed.

Ford says he went too far, but that is not the issue. He went to the wrong places.

During COVID, if we have learned one thing, it is that the outdoors is our friend. So why prevent children from enjoying playgrounds and shut down the sports of golf, tennis, baseball, soccer, and the like?

Surely if there is one thing that should be encouraged in a pandemic that is well into its second year is the need to get outdoor exercise through several avenues. The closure of all outdoor athletic venues is absurd, and the notion that you cannot even sit on a picnic table in a park is illogical.

What is not enough is the decision to ignore a plan for asymptomatic testing in vulnerable workplaces like grocery stores, food factory floors and shipping areas.

What is not enough is the decision to deny the most vulnerable workers paid sick leave.

Is it any surprise that without sick leave, and with no random workplace testing that silent and not-so-silent carriers are spreading the virus?

What is also not enough is the way that multiple governments have refused to prioritize hot spots for treatment.

In a Confederation, the vaccines are distributed on a per capita basis, but when one city has more than 1,500 cases per day, and a province might have less than 10, why is that per capital system inviolate?

We literally have dozens of public health experts micromanaging in their own municipalities, but we do not have a national approach for tackling this virus.

Provincial governments just say, give us more money to solve the problem, but they are not willing to play ball with a national “hotspot” strategy.

So, we are languishing on the vaccination rollout and medical doctors who are working in intensive care units filled with COVID carriers are not even allowed to get the second vaccine, which has greater protection for variant mutations.

What is wrong with that picture?

If we have learned anything during this pandemic is that the old ways are not always the best ways, and it makes sense to have a national rollout of a vaccine strategy.

It also makes sense to prioritize workplaces and school sites for onsite, antigen testing to stem the spread of the virus.

Shutting down playgrounds and treating people like criminals is no way to get the population on side.

Ontario’s COVID meltdown overshadowed a national budget rollout that should have put smiles on everyone’s faces.

The promised childcare investment, while lauded by every parent, will be a tough sell in provinces that do not want federal incursion in their field of responsibility.

Better to have $1,600 a month daycare in Toronto than embrace a national plan that makes childcare affordable and accessible wherever you live.

During the pandemic, women are the majority of those who have vacated the workforce and, in some instances, continued working while they home-schooled their children.

The national childcare investment should be applauded by all parties, but as usual, the Conservatives had nothing but complaints to offer.

Right-wing commentators grudgingly argued it might be a good idea but needs further study.

A national strategy for childcare has been studied almost as long as the legalization of marijuana, with the first report on the matter dating back to 1970.

Equality First: the Royal Commission on the Status of Women recommended 51 years ago that there should be a sliding scale of payment for childcare based on need. Chair Florence Bird would turn over in her grave if she heard that people were still asking for more studies on childcare.

The federal budget charts a path forward for other provinces to follow the lead of Quebec with a truly affordable system of childcare.

The economic burden of the pandemic has disproportionately fallen on women. Kudos to Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s first woman finance minister for investing real money into a national plan fifty-one years after it was first proposed.

Hopefully this plan will actually come to fruition.

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

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.