Until now, I have not truly expanded on the global crisis we’re experiencing with the Wuhan Virus/coronavirus/COVID-19. I have interacted on social media, as I always do, but other than prolonged phone calls in which the topic is front and center, I have not gone into depths of what is happening.
That changes today. It has been broiling within for a while, but I am compelled to write about it, because living in Canada is becoming a tenuous and untenable situation.
While 80 countries have now restricted travel in one form or another, Canada is not among them. The USA was first, restricting travelers from China back in January, expanding it to Europe, the UK, and Ireland just days ago. Italy, an epicentre of the virus, is on lockdown, as is Spain, and other European countries.
But Justin Trudeau has not done anything. On Twitter, travelers returning to Canada are recording their journeys through Customs and Immigration, where some receive a pamphlet instructing them on how to self-isolate, and most are only being asked if they’ve travelled to China, Italy, or Iran.
The government announced last week that “enhanced screening measures” are in place. A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister, Bill Blair, stated on March 12, “[e]nhanced screening and detection processes have been added to the Canada Border Services Agency’s robust border measures at all international airports, as well as land border, ferry, and rail ports of entry,” Power said. Particular attention will be paid to travelers from China, Iran or Italy.” (Bloomberg News, March 12 2020).
The problem is that there are no screening or detection measures at Canadian airports. The majority of those reporting in on social media are stating that they were not asked any questions, especially about potential symptoms, and most of them are walking in without problems.
Trudeau, whose wife contracted the virus in London, continues to allude to more drastic measures, but has continued to do nothing.
And flights continue to arrive from China, Europe, the USA, and other countries affected by the virus, across Canada, multiple times daily.
The latest statement is to inform the public that cruise season is going to be delayed to July. Really? That’s it? Trudeau and his ministers have “warned” (even strongly warned) Canadians not to travel.
But the mass closures worldwide – Disneyland, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, museums, events, every major sports league, to name a few – prove that people do not always make the right decisions. More often than not, humans do what they’ve always done: what they want to, need to, or are scheduled to do. The closing of Disney alone proves that people cannot make their own decisions (a point I have tried to drive home to supporters of the Liberal government defending the Trudeau inaction by putting the onus on self-government).
The term we have heard lately is “flatten the curve.” In essence, this means to stop the spread of the virus, flattening its increase by measures that will help contain it so it can be treated, not spread.
Other countries are actively flattening the curve by locking down. It has been working for them too.
Canada is open for travelers via land and air, multiple times daily. Just today March 15, four flights from Shanghai are scheduled to land in Vancouver alone. I’m sure this is repeating itself in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, and other major airports across the country. Flights from China, Europe, even Iran are coming to Canada because virus-ridden countries are no longer desirable for those who live there. But Canada? Welcome to you, and your microbes too!
By his inaction, or unwillingness, to contain the virus, Justin Trudeau has made each and every one of us sitting ducks. We must either quarantine 24/7 (not always practical or possible for everyone), or risk coming into contact with infected travelers from all over the world, including epicentres of the Wuhan virus.
While our elected officials are on paid leave for five weeks, we are fighting the insanity of hoarders in stores, who are inexplicably preparing for the apocalypse. Just going out to buy the staples one needs to replenish becomes a risky venture, because there’s no doubt we are being exposed to TrudeauTravelers from abroad who will NOT quarantine (or don’t know that they should).
While he sits in his cushy lap of luxury, lackeys doing his shopping and errands, still getting paid, Justin Trudeau is allowing tens of millions of Canadians to risk exposure, isolating us from our more vulnerable relatives in case we’ve picked it up and are carriers, and is increasing Wuhan Virus risks for us all.
The Jewish funeral home here in Montreal, Paperman and Sons, has pinned a notice to their web page, stating that funerals will be restricted to immediate family only.
Think about that: in a time of grieving, when mourners most need to be surrounded by those who can provide comfort, the risks are too great and families are isolated from their extended circles. And while that is a wise decision to be made (kudos to Paperman), it is going to be in place for the foreseeable future. After all, if travelers continue to land in Montreal, many of them either infected or carriers, the unknown is too dangerous to risk.
Never before have I felt so furious, so helpless, so exposed, so trapped, and so frustrated with any government as I am with the Trudeau Liberals.
If this doesn’t PROVE how incompetent, lazy, unfit, dangerous, absent he is, what will? Deaths by the hundreds? You know that’s next; I can’t see Canada escaping it, with continued exposure.
Trudeau has done a lot of things with which I have disagreed, politically. He has done things that are bad, damaging, even dangerous to the country, and to Canada’s future on the world stage.
But now, he is playing Chinese Roulette with our very lives, because he has refused to restrict international travel.
All one need do is read the accounts on social media, from people who have landed in various airports, with no screening at all. It is downright puzzling as to why our airports are being allowed to become hubs teeming with virus microbes traveling with passengers coming to our shores.
While Trudeau sits at home, taking selfies and pulling in his salary, people like my kid are losing jobs. The company for which my son works (on a contract basis) has terminated his contract because there is just no work. Their events are canceled, their supplies are not coming in from China, and the offices remain closed.
It’s time to throw Trudeau out and replace him with a government comprised of responsible adults who aren’t in the job for the free booze, the glory, the glamour, the paparazzi, and the international trips meeting the world’s celebrities from all walks of life.
It’s time to replace this government with one that works for the people of Canada.
Trudeau is killing Canada. He may even be responsible for actual Canadian deaths, if this explodes as it has in Italy and China.
He has to go.
We’ve had enough.