
December 2020
With the approaching Christmas holiday, we are receiving doom and gloom lectures and scolding from public health officials and our political leaders. All are predicting a rise in infections of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Virus, which is very likely to happen.
The CCP Virus is a term preferred by The Epoch Times, a publication founded and run by Chinese-Canadians, in place of the World Health Organization (WHO) sanctioned term COVID-19.
Sadly, I think people are reaching their limit with lockdowns and our lecturing politicians and health unit officials, none of whom are losing a cent of their generous incomes. It didn’t have to come to this bleak of an outcome.
I want to be perfectly clear that I fully support most of the health precautions that we have all been practicing. I do things like wear a mask when required, watch where I cough and sneeze, wash my hands or use hand sanitizer, especially after coughing or sneezing, sanitize common surfaces, keep my distance from people when possible, avoid social events I would normally attend and spent more time sitting on my back deck this summer than I normally would.
I still do go on the occasional short trip around southern Ontario, but always limit my contact with people along my route. I even had a vending machine pizza in Port Carling this summer, instead of getting it from a pizza shop. It was terrible, but I couldn’t resist the idea of being able to say that I ate a vending machine pizza, and I may have another next summer.
I also intend to get vaccinated when it’s available to me. I got the flu vaccine the first week they were made available, since health experts have advised it will provide some protection, given that influenza is also a coronavirus. I know this virus is a real danger and am taking precautions. Two of my cousins worked with Tony Award-winning actor Nick Cordero in the Hamilton theatre scene and are devastated by his death. My brother works in the film business in Toronto, and after being off work for several months, was able to go back to work in the summer. His current job is the COVID safety coordinator, with a HUGE budget. For the first time in movie history, there is a line item bigger than the craft services budget on this shoot. Come on, you film guys and gals know that’s true.
That said, a lot of this could have been avoided if our governments, particularly Justin Trudeau’s government, hadn’t screwed up so badly.
We were told back in January that was racist to close the borders; we were told that it was especially racist to screen and quarantine those returning to Canada from China, even when it was Chinese-Canadians, who likely got their information from family members in China, that were telling us to do this; we were told that it was racist to claim that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may have nefarious intentions for withholding information that a deadly virus had escaped from the Wuhan region of China, even when it was Chinese-Canadians telling us this information.
We were foolish not to believe that the CCP may have lied to the WHO, and then equally foolish to unquestionably follow the WHO’s recommendations, along with failing to follow the warnings and examples of the Taiwanese government, who took quick and aggressive action to contain the outbreak in their country.
As of 17 December, Taiwan has had 759 confirmed cases, and a grand total of SEVEN deaths, from the CCP Virus, according to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, out of a population of 23.83 million.
Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu chastised a reporter back in January that they were “…feeding into the conspiracy theories…” when asked about Associated Press articles citing Chinese government documents indicating that Beijing knew about the pandemic on 14 January, but withheld the information from the WHO until 20 January. Then it turned out, that was exactly what the CCP had done!
We were foolish to not actually close the borders. Public health officials lectured us that viruses don’t obey borders, that is until Trudeau did close our border, something that he is now insistent should remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Even when Trudeau finally did close the border between Canada and America, it wasn’t really closed. I’m not referring to the essential border crossing by the many truckers who are keeping the shelves at stores in Canada stocked with essential supplies, but by allowing flights to continue to enter Canada, with minimal, if any screening at the border, and only a recommendation that they self-isolate for two weeks. Does anyone remember that first flight of Canadians who were quarantined at the 8 Wing Trenton air force base? Why did we discontinue that practice?
Oh sure, we now order people returning to Canada to self-isolate, under penalty of the law and heavy fines, but it’s questionable how much compliance enforcement is actually being done, given that our law enforcement agencies have other pressing duties. All it takes is ONE person to violate a mandatory quarantine order ONCE, and we have a serious problem. We still have flights coming in on a daily basis to our major airports to this day, so is the border really closed? How many people are still crossing illegally at places like Roxham Road?
Remember when we were told as late as the end of March by Dr. Theresa Tam and Patty Hadju that masks weren’t necessary, and that they may actually increase the risk of infection? That is, until we were told we had to wear masks by early April.
We were told that masks were unnecessary for those not exhibiting any CCP Virus symptoms, “…and that non-medical masks, or poorly-fitted medical masks, won’t filter out the small airborne particles carrying the virus,” and that, “…masks could give people a false sense of security, leading them to let important hygiene measures slide.”
Now I can understand if Tam and Hadju were concerned that the few masks that we hadn’t already given to Communist China were in short supply, and they feared front-line health-care workers would have to go without, something that forced the workers to wear their masks for longer periods than was medically safe. However, if that was the reason, Tam and Hadju should have said that. That’s besides the fact that the supply masks are something that could have been easily controlled, with sale of them temporarily restricted to those in health-care professions.
We were told that the virus was not transferable to humans and it could be easily controlled, which was completely false. If they didn’t know they were telling a falsehood, then they shouldn’t have made a claim to something they didn’t know for sure; if they did know they were lying, that’s unforgivable, even if their excuse was that they didn’t want to cause a panic.
The mixed messages throughout this pandemic have been particularly infuriating, with questionable claims of following science-based evidence. Remember all the political heads that exploded when crowds packed Trinity-Bellwoods Park on May 24, on one of the first warm days of a rather crappy spring? I wasn’t there, had no interest in being there, wouldn’t have personally recommended it, and haven’t gathered in any large crowds at all this year, but does anybody remember a significant spike in infections as a result of that day? I don’t, but am willing to be proven wrong.
The Trudeau government was reckless to allow our National Emergency Strategic Stockpile to dwindle to minimal levels (you had one job Public Health Agency of Canada!), compounding the problem by shipping 16 tonnes of PPE to China back in early February, just weeks before it was badly needed in Canada.
All levels of government were foolish in failing to learn the lessons from SARS in 2003 (like Taiwan did), H1N1 in 2009, and even the MERS epidemic in 2012.
We have reports sitting on dusty shelves, like the one written as a result of the 2007 SARS Commission, which led to the creation of both Public Health Agency of Canada itself and the position of Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, currently occupied by Dr. Theresa Tam.
Dr. Tam also co-authored the 2006 report titled, “The Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan for the Health Sector,” which also sits on a dusty shelf.
We were lectured to by politicians like Justin Trudeau, Patty Hadju, and even Doug Ford, not to spend holidays with family back in the spring, only to see them do exactly that anyway. “One law for me; one law for thee.”
Bottom line, people are getting frustrated and disillusioned. We were told in March to self-isolate in our homes and lock everything down for two weeks to flatten the curve and thus not overload our hospitals, which has happened. The numbers of those infected, and even deaths, is much lower than even the most conservative of estimates by our health care experts, which don’t get me wrong, is a good thing.
It’s now December, and every province still has some degree of restriction imposed on it; some more restrictive than others. People are getting tired of isolating from their social circles and activities, and seeing their businesses and bank accounts dwindle to nothing.
Merry Christmas indeed.
A virus such as the CCP virus will likely never be eliminated, just like other coronaviruses like the common cold and influenza, but our politicians seem determined to go from “flattening the curve,” to completely wiping out the virus. The unfortunate reality is that they are only succeeding in wiping out the small businesses that are the primary source of jobs in most cities and whose owners have invested their life savings in establishing; in sentencing people to a difficult and even devastating future because they saw necessary medical procedures delayed or canceled; in destroying the mental health of those who have been locked-down into financial ruin because they lost their jobs, businesses, homes, future and hope.
Neither option may be great, but we have to ask if this “cure” is worse than the disease.
We still don’t have the number of rapid tests we need, and governments across the country have dropped the ball on contact tracing to the point that they lost all control, making it almost impossible to play catch-up.
Justin Trudeau recklessly threw our vaccine hopes behind a collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party, the very same untrustworthy CCP that caused this pandemic to get out of control in the first place, and when it fell apart, had to scramble to other vaccines for Canadians. It’s great news that we have already received our first 30,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, especially given that we were initially told it may be as long as next March, at the earliest, before we saw any.
That said, I’d still like to know what kind of a premium we had to pay to get these vaccines so quickly; vaccines that still are only a VERY small amount of what we will actually need to finally beat back this virus, with no firm date as to when we can expect an amount that will actually make a difference.
We have seen successive provincial governments underfund healthcare, including long-term care, for years and we are now suffering because of it. For the record, I also include successive federal governments who have let federal transfer payments for healthcare fall. Around 80% of the CCP Virus deaths have been in long-term care homes, with the victims having two or more comorbidities.
Canadians should also demand a public enquiry when this is all over, and some politicians and public health officials need to be held accountable for their disgraceful behaviour. Remember the glee some took in seeing Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro frog-marched off to jail for overspending on his election campaign?
I don’t remember anyone dying because of Elections Canada Act violations.
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Sources: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-faces-criticism-for-sending-16-tonnes-of-personal-protective, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/how-taiwan-is-containing-coronavirus-despite-diplomatic-isolation-by-china, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-long-term-care-cases-accounted-for-80-of-canadas-covid-19-deaths, https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/first-covid-19-vaccine-shipments-arrive-in-canada-more-en-route-1.5229455, https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hajdu-tam-face-masks-wearing-public-1.5518012, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1108537/taiwan-novel-coronavirus-covid19-confirmed-death-recovered-trend, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Taiwan, https://www.cdc.gov.tw/en, https://www.cdc.gov.tw/en, https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/coronavirus-canada-sars-1.5766021, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ottawa-had-a-playbook-for-a-coronavirus-like-pandemic-14-years-ago.