We shouldn’t be reopening
People are asking, “How are we doing in procuring vaccines?” This has prompted frantic comparisons between Canada and selected other countries. It’s axiomatic to compare oranges to oranges. Most comparisons adjudging Canada to have been relatively unsuccessful overlook the fact that the country is the singular apple in all this.
We have very few people and little political clout amongst the nations of the world.
We are not remotely autocratic, nor culturally inclined to be obedient to intrusive power. We celebrate our cultural and ethnic diversity, and do not match lock step to any well intended tune. We don’t manufacture a vaccine here and, like many of our creature comforts, it has to come from abroad.
Sadly and certainly we are not receiving the volume of vaccine we would like and evidently think is our entitlement.
This is bad. But we do need to get a grip; in all this, we really are a singular apple and comparisons with other nations are pretty well pointless.
P. D. Brown, Toronto
Re Don’t judge Canada’s vaccine fight after first round, Feb. 6
Star columnist Bruce Arthur reminded us that when the federal government signed contracts with various vaccine manufacturers last summer, no one knew which companies would ultimately develop successful vaccines, nor when that would occur.
What, exactly, do the federal opposition party and provincial government think they would have done better?
I haven’t judged the feds as having failed Canada on vaccine delivery — yet.
The much greater failure, so far, has been that of the provincial government, which waited until after Christmas to clearly and consistently tell everyone to stay home, not to gather and not to travel, instead of doing so in September or October, as COVID-19 cases began to rise again.
Now, even as the provincial government criticizes the feds for slow vaccine deliveries, it is planning to begin “reopening the economy.”
If case counts and deaths rise again as a result, that will be solely on Premier Doug Ford.
Patricia Orr, Georgetown
Re Provinces actually want this to go viral, Feb. 6 For months, my wife and I have been chagrined at the colossal failure of all governments’ understanding of how to market a proper response to the pandemic.
The same-old, same-old method of within-the-box advertising was doomed to fail, especially when targeting the under-40 market.
We are so tired of listening to friends tell us that they have been part of the solution, while, in their next breath, they talk about situations where they did not follow the guidelines.
People should have been told what a fail looks like in order to sober them up to the fact that, indeed, they are part of the problem.
David Ottenbrite, Cambridge, Ont.
Re ‘People feel like they’ve got no other choice’: Protest group says hundreds of small businesses will defy rules and reopen next week, Feb. 4
Regarding the protest group of businesses planning to reopen Feb. 11, potentially illegally: If in fact they do reopen and it is illegal, it would be a great public service if the Star published a full list of names of these businesses. I for one will ensure I never patronize any of them ever again. Patrick Stewart, Toronto
Re The Saturday Debate: Should private longterm care be abolished?, Feb. 6
Will Mitchell says the high death rate in private long-term care is because these facilities are older and in need of modernization. Well, what has stopped these businesses from taking their profits over the past 20 years and rebuilding?
Mitchell says this was not done because of the lack of government funding.
Pardon me, but aren’t these private businesses? That is not a valid excuse.
You buy a parcel of land, build a new facility, move the residents, then tear down the old. Sell the old lot, or build another new building and double your capacity. Reinvestment of profit is normal for any business, but apparently not for long-term care.
The fact that the profits were used to pay dividends, instead, speaks volumes about the operators’ true concern. Clyde McDonald, Bracebridge, Ont.
Re Eighty-one deaths later, outbreak declared over, Feb. 6
Had governments valued seniors, they would have moved heaven and Earth to keep our elders safe.
Instead, Premier Doug Ford made it next to impossible for seniors to have loving, caring families at their side through horrific times; didn’t ensure that staff could restrict their workplace to one home by providing a living wage and sick days; allowed loopholes which see untrained temporary workers moving between homes; didn’t call in the military during the second wave; hasn’t called Bill 203 More than a Visitor act or Bill 13 Time to Care act back for third and final reading; speedily passed Bill 218 which means families have to prove “gross negligence” in order to sue long-term care home operators.
It is time to give seniors, those who built this great country, the dignity and respect they deserve.
Joyce Balaz, London, Ont.
Re The Saturday Debate: Should we do away
with private long-term care?, Feb. 6
The “yes” opinion in this debate is clear: invest in people, not profit!
The “no” side’s words are impressive; rebuild, provide, improve, increase, mandate, ramp-up and integrate.
“Invest” appears restricted to digital support.
When my late mother lived in a private care facility, it was people who delivered the care and human touch in partnership with family. Not once during the “No” opinion was the word “dividend” used.
It feels strange that caring for our seniors, regardless of their health, is considered a cost centre where mandated services must be provided or the funds returned to the ministry.
What happened to investing the dividends?
The bottom line is COVID-19 has exposed the relationship of successive majority governments with private investment for close to 30 years.
Don Graves, Burlington
Re Crisis of Care, Feb. 7
Thank you for Sunday’s thick supplement, Crisis of Care, which amalgamates articles published by the Star about Ontario’s nursing homes over the past 20 years. It is a catalogue of horrors, and of the complete abandonment of Ontario’s seniors by any government in power.
Hard paper copies of this supplement should be sent to every MPP, MP and municipal politician in the province, and it should be widely and freely distributed to the public.
Elizabeth Guthrie, Toronto
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