Narrow political thinking no help in COVID fight
It's a massive oversimplification to suggest that unkind conservative leadership has led us into the mess we are in with spiking COVID-19 cases.
Yes, Prairie premiers have made mistakes — sometimes, very bad mistakes in their handling of this second wave, in particular, as was evident by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's refusal to react to the pleas of doctors a month ago to address spiking case counts with tougher public health measures.
Classifying even more severe problems in Manitoba under Premier Brian Pallister and in Alberta under Premier Jason Kenney as paying the price for not imposing more severe restrictions makes for a quick and dirty narrative that the problem is strictly a political problem on the right.
Well, it is a political problem, but really one in which far too many people resent whatever doesn't fit their pre-existing world view. Rejection of fact may now be our most dangerous pre-existing condition.
People, just because you don't like what a doctor, scientist or journalist tells you, doesn't mean it's part of a global conspiracy ... or even the least bit partisan.
In fairness, it is hard to keep grounded in this pandemic where things come at your fast and issues tend to be complicated and nuanced.
And there is little doubt premiers within this loosely knit conservative alliance were more easily swayed by business notions of keeping the economy rolling at all costs.
This hasn't served them especially well in the past month-and-a-half of skyrocketing cases that have hammered the Prairies. In no small irony, politicians' popularity soared when they were more inclined to heed the counsel of medical professions in the early stage of this now nine-month pandemic.
But this shouldn't just tell our politicians something. It should tell us all something — not the least of which is that COVID-19 knows no politics and that it hits where it hits.
Jurisdictions like B.C. and Quebec with different governments are also struggling compared with how they were doing in spring. In Quebec's case, despite an Oct. 1 banning of most social gatherings and organized sports and a closure of restaurants, bars, gyms, libraries and museums that somewhat reduced rapid case growth, that province still had to cancel surgeries throughout that province.
The U.S. is now facing out-of-control COVID-19 spread everywhere with record daily case counts and hospitalizations, which very much includes red Republican states and blue Democrat states like California and Massachusetts that are shutting down restaurants and public gatherings.
And even within neatly confined groupings like “Prairie conservative premiers,” there is more than a little variation. Consider Pallister's recent brave condemnation of anti-lockdown/anti-maskers ... or maybe better put, consider the reaction to it.
Pallister should have received near universal congratulations for saying and doing almost exactly what needed to be said and done. Instead, he was hammered in the game of “what-about” played by many simply too petty or insecure in their political beliefs to accept someone they've vowed to oppose may actually say exactly what they wanted.
The same phenomena has now besieged Moe after his Monday condemnation of the anti-mask, anti-lockdown rally Saturday in Saskatoon. Yes, it should have come earlier. It should have been more forceful.
And it goes on and on and on from every direction. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau comes through with a vaccine?
“Not fast enough.”
“Too little, too late.”
“Why should I be denied the right to go to the United States and get it?”
Enough.
Sure, we all get to critique political decision-making. Lord knows, this pandemic has demonstrated the need.
But if this is only about your own self-gratification — ceaseless political pettiness and harping invariably to make yourself feel good among your friends or on your social media feeds — are you really helping?
Yes, our political leaders need to be less confined in their thinking. But shouldn't that apply to everyone?