Winter reminds us we’re not always in charge
It’s been lovely to see some snow falling in the past few days. I took a walk with my family to enjoy the beautiful weather and admire the snow-coated branches of trees. Unsurprisingly, a snowball fight broke out, which, along with a short stop to build a snowman, checked off a couple of classic winter activities. If the snow holds, I’m hoping to break out my cross-country skis, and I know many other people would love to lace up their skates.
But as much as I love the beauty of the snow and fun of playing in it, there’s another reason I love winter. It reminds us that we are part of the ecosystem, and we thrive in it because of the community we’ve built around us. Nothing makes you realize that Mother Nature isn’t at your beck and call like waking up to a city transformed by snow. Everything is clean and white and quieter, even, as snow muffles sound. Add in some freezing temperatures, and your cosy home becomes even more of a refuge. It’s best to just settle in until the plows get to your street.
Winter keeps us honest. It reminds us we’re not always in charge, that it’s good to plan for contingencies, to check the road conditions before you make that trip. That it’s important to be ready to help someone get their car out of snowbank — next time, it might be you stuck. To lend a hand and shovel a neighbour’s walk if they’re ill. Chances are, one day we’ll be ill too. We need to maintain the web of relationships around us, as that’s what keeps us all thriving in a world we really don’t control.
But our current provincial government is working hard to dismantle the projects we’ve put together to help each other. It feels like everything is for sale now in Ontario.
A family member, who was recommended to a private surgery clinic to deal with a long-standing health problem in hopes of speeding things up, was turned down. The case was too complicated, they said. The clinic wouldn’t assume the risk.
In the for-profit world, it’s about making as much money as you can, as quickly and cheaply as possible. One way to do that is to pass the costs of doing business onto someone else, generally the public sector. This can be leaving toxic industrial sites behind for someone else to clean up, pushing the difficult cases back onto the public health-care system, or building subdivisions at the edges of cities and handing the infrastructure bill to the city councils with a smile.
It works well. A Toronto Star article from Jan. 18 shared an Oxfam report that found Canada’s billionaires had increased their wealth by 51 per cent during the pandemic. We have “around 50” billionaires in Canada, if you’re wondering, who together have assets of $249 billion. This kind of wealth inequality has a steep cost.
As our government spends millions to subsidize profitable businesses, like Mexican multinational Grupo Bimbo, the City of Toronto recorded 110 deaths in the city’s homeless shelters in 2022. Of course, this doesn’t include the people who die outside of the shelters, which happens all too often. A friend who lives close to the Niagara Escarpment woke up to find yellow police tape not far from her house the other day. They had found a homeless person dead in the woods. The average age of the shelter residents who died in Toronto was 51.
It’s snowing steadily as I write this, beautiful large flakes that are sticking to the trees again. A city salt truck just went by my office, keeping the roads safe. We can pretend that we’re in control, that we don’t need anyone’s help, until our car metaphorically skids out on an unplowed road. Or we can do what wise Canadians have done for decades and plan for those sudden winter storms.
We can work together to make sure everyone gets through the winter safe, healthy and warm — and maybe has a chance to play in the snow.