As much as Justin Trudeau has been criticized for holding an election during a pandemic, it could be to his benefit. At the very least, it won’t hurt him.
Erin O’Toole, on the other hand, has embraced a “Liberal light” platform to the consternation of his most libertarian supporters. That support appears to be drifting to the People’s Party of Canada. The fourth wave has become a boon for Maxime Bernier, who happily holds the monopoly on the anti-vax vote, not to mention anti-immigrant and anti-government.
Bernier, ala Trump, sends a subliminal message of, “Let's blow things up.” This is strangely appealing to many people.
It doesn’t help that O’Toole has wandered further and further into Trudeau’s liberal policy workshop – a dangerous place for any conservative to be. Indeed, O’Toole could be called a New Democrat (gasp!) if he were running against the Jean Chretien/Paul Martin Liberals of decades past.
But such are the times. The Canadian public is not thinking monetarily at the moment, and could care less if the books will be balanced in 10 or 20 years. Most Canadians are preoccupied with a pandemic, and their message is quite clear: Do everything you can to prevent a fifth wave.
In today's environment, that’s no easy task. How to overcome the anti-science sentiment that pervades an ever-growing minority of citizens? How to foster trust in government and institutions that uphold our society? How to safely shut down the Internet? (kidding... kind of...)
There still remains a vaccine-reticent population that asks, What about my personal freedom? Isn’t it my right to not wear a mask or refuse a vaccination?
You do have rights, but only to an extent. Freedoms that harm society are curtailed for a reason. It’s for the same reason you can’t drink and drive without penalty. Mandatory masking and vaccinations are about protecting the vulnerable, saving our healthcare system, and getting our society back to normal.
Believe it or not, we've been through this all before... Back in 1919, Toronto’s medical officer of health ordered mass inoculations to prevent the spread of smallpox in schools. Smallpox was a real threat to children and adults... Thousands of Canadians died from this deadly disease, yet there was strong resistance.
The anti-vaxxers even had their own Anti-Vaccination League, a group so effective that it took two more decades for the disease to be eliminated in Canada. By the 1970s, it had been eradicated worldwide. Thanks to vaccination campaigns, we no longer require smallpox vaccinations.
It’s hard to believe, but vaccines have been around for over 200 years (the smallpox vaccine was discovered in 1796). The covid-19 vaccine technology, although different, has been in development for decades. Today our science is so much more advanced, yet many of us still act like we’re in the Middle Ages.
In conclusion (was I talking about the election?), I’ll leave you with a little poem that was published in Canada’s national newspaper in 1919, but still resonates today:
Vaccination is vexation,
Smallpox is much worse;
The former leads to irritation,
The latter to a hearse.
A little dark, but prescient nonetheless.... Please, have a safe and happy election.
