Commitment to each other proves deep

For many of us across Canada, this past week was the first time that we could share a beer and a burger with friends on a patio. There was a small childlike giddiness to the occasions. It feels like we can see the end of the tunnel now, even if it is still a long way off.

So, what have we learned in the lost spring of 2020?

First, it’s time to begin preparing for the next pandemic, now. We have had a virus attack emerge more than twice a decade since the turn of the century. Let’s never again enter the next one as shambolically as we did this. Better public health funding, regularly inspected and replaced PPE stockpiles, and public health classes for every elementary school student are a minimum.

We have learned how scandalously we allowed our parents to be treated by some in the elder care industry. We treat cattle better than some of the miscreants in this crisis were doing secretly. Every long-term care facility must have legislated requirements about staffing levels, medical support, and no more than two clients to a room. Government oversight was often stunningly careless. Regular inspections and stiff penalties, and timely public reporting on findings, are required. We should all give our heads a shake for allowing these appalling abuses to have taken place under our noses.

We learned that massive and fast injections of cash and credit work. One small example: the U.S. Fed injected 700 per cent more liquidity into their economy in three months than it did in the three years after the 2008 crash. What we don’t know is what the fiscal legacy will be. There appear to be two schools of thought.

One group of mostly younger economists say that the global economy can absorb far higher debt levels for longer than we ever thought possible. That high levels of public sector debt are manageable without being inflationary or currency crushing. The United Kingdom, slower than many to respond — but still a provider of massive levels of assistance — has just reported their inflation sits at one half of one per cent. This is not what mainstream economists, let alone right-wing monetarists, said would happen.

The second school, still believers in the traditional fiscal and monetary orthodoxies, say we have bequeathed an alarming unfair burden to our grandchildren. No one knows, today, who will be proven right.

One thing we know for sure: if we had blinked at generously supporting families, small businesses, indeed entire economies, we would have faced greater economic devastation, possibly even civil unrest. Now we need to assess what worked and what didn’t – and what we would do if another lockdown were required, in just a few years’ time.

Happily, we discovered that despite some snarling and sharp elbows behind the curtain, on stage almost all of our governments behaved with respect to each other and their citizens, avoided too many political games, and acted with courage and commitment. Mistakes were made and some typically Canadian territorial squabbles broke out, but in the main we can be proud of our public institutions and those who lead them.

What we failed to get right, and must learn in preparation for next time, is how you run a parliament remotely and digitally. A commitment to choose the best technological infrastructure, installing it and training politicians in its effective use is another must. It was often amusing, sometimes irritating, to be part of Zoom calls that wobbled and wheezed. It’s not acceptable as a standard for legislatures.

Perhaps most impressively, we learned how deep is our shared commitment to each other. From the tens of thousands of essential workers who daily put their lives at risk, to the myriad of small kindnesses that neighbours and friends supported each other with. The predictions of some gloomy pundits that people behave badly, when wracked with terror in a pandemic, were simply wrong.

So let’s raise a glass to our achievement in fighting our way through this awful spring together. Let’s keep those we lost in our thoughts, and try to support their grieving families. Now we begin to rebuild our economy and our defences. With colleagues, friends and communities we prepare for what will be a very testing fall and winter ahead. Robin V. Sears

is a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and was an NDP strategist for 20 years. He is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Twitter: @robinvsears