Mount Hope-Hamilton International Airport. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
March 2021
Some people are all too happy to heap scorn and condemnation on Mark Machin, former Chef Executive Officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), for traveling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during this pandemic. I have no idea whether his reasoning of “deeply personal” reasons is a valid one or not, but given that it’s not illegal to travel, does it really matter?
Sure, one could argue that this is a case of a man of privilege traveling to a country that many of us could never afford to go to, jumping ahead in the line for vaccines, while many of us have to stay locked in our homes waiting for our turn to come some time later this year. I don’t look at it that way.
The scorn and condemnation should be on our governments, particularly Justin Trudeau’s government. Part of the reason this is even an issue is Trudeau’s complete incompetence in securing our borders and getting vaccines into the hands of provincial officials so they can get the vaccines into the arms of Canadians.
As of 27 February, approximately 2.86% of the population had received at least one dose of the vaccine, putting Canada in 43rd place amongst other countries, when it comes to doses administered per 100 people, behind Croatia, Romania and Barbados.
This is absolutely pathetic and we should not celebrate it. Israel has fully vaccinated 32% of their population, 80% of whom are 60 or older.
The United States will vaccinate more people by lunch today, just today, than we have in total (approximately 1.55 million doses per day, compared to approximately 1.1 million Canadians in total). They have vaccinated 20% of their population with at least one shot.
I’m fed-up with the Liberal talking point that we have secured commitments for enough vaccines so that every Canadian who wants a vaccine will have one by September. Firstly, commitments for vaccines and vaccines actually going into the arms of Canadians are two entirely separate things. Secondly, September is still 6 months away. That’s way too long for Canadians to have to wait.
As for Machin’s “deeply personal” reasons, let’s suppose it was for a moment that it was for a life-saving medical procedure; one that Machin would have to wait several more months to receive in Canada. Does that change the equation?
While it’s tragic that people have died because of this dreadful virus, how many people have died as a result of delayed medical procedures or treatments because of the pandemic? How many illness and diseases have gone undiagnosed because people are too scared of the virus to go to their doctor or to a hospital, when they normally would go without much hesitation?
How many people have seen their health decline or have died, by suicide or natural causes, due to stresses from financial ruin brought about by the constant lock-downs and/or the uncertainty of when we can all return to normal?
These people are also casualties of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Virus at worse, or collateral damage at best, but they will never be counted as such.
I believe we have reached a point where the cure is worse than the disease. The lockdowns have served their purpose of keeping the infection rates down enough so as to overwhelm our hospitals. They were never meant to completely wipe-out the CCP Virus, which seems to be the only goal of our health unit officials and our politicians.
Just like the other well-known coronavirus out there, the annual flu, we will likely never completely eradicate the CCP Virus. We may have to learn to live with it in perpetuity.
Let’s end the lockdowns, open the borders, stop unnecessarily terrifying people, and carry on with our lives. Until we have enough of the population vaccinated, we should maintain all the safety protocols we’ve been following the past year and take appropriate care of our elderly.
Even after we’ve been vaccinated, we still should remember to wash our hands regularly, don’t cough or sneeze in other people’s faces, and stay home if you are sick. Just like every other cold and flu season.
Sources: https://financialpost.com/news/fp-street/canadas-finance-ministry-calls-report-of-cppib-ceos-overseas-trip-for-covid-shot-very-troubling, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56035306, https://abcnews.go.com/International/countries-learn-israels-covid-vaccine-rollout/story?id=75930083, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html, https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/canada-missed-chance-to-help-homegrown-vaccines-move-quickly-last-spring-developers-1.5319088, LILLEY: New vaccine announcement may impact election timing | Toronto Sun, Liberal MP falsely accused MP Rempel Garner of spreading “vaccine hesitancy” | True North (tnc.news).
