Covid Journal, February 3, 2021
The Continued Inequality of Covid ‘Lockdowns’
‘Stay in Place’ requirements have a completely different rulebook if you’re a big box company lining the coffers of provincial leaders.
According to Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, roughly 41% of all operating big box stores were found to be in violation of lockdown requirements.
Even though it’s the Ministry of Labour that’s doing the inspections, I suggest that if they find violations, they should just force a shutdown of the store being inspected. Until further notice. OR … maybe a $1,000,000 fine for any business larger than 20 employees.
On a personal note, I refuse to shop at Loblaws or related stores (Shopper’s, No Frills, etc) any more. I was in a Loblaws yesterday and it seems like they are intentionally skipping on bringing in cashiers and opening up more registers. This results in larger lineups than necessary and then, of course, helps elevate tension throughout the store. It seems like they’re intentionally trying to empower people with ‘step behind THAT line’ bullshit and allowing tin-pot bullying to run rampant from entry-level employee right up to management.
JUST HIRE A FEW MORE CASHIERS, PLEASE!
I left my cart and went to a small, local business … something I should have done in the first place.
With that in mind, it’s time to level the playing field and make sure we’re doing everything we can to help small businesses and non-profits survive this mess. I implore you to TRY to purchase what you can from local suppliers and shops so that Loblaws and CostCo and WalMart won’t be able to turn us into economic servants.
Note: I still loathe the word ‘lockdown’ because I’m not a prisoner and I don’t have a warden overlooking my every move.
Or do I?
Everyone’s Talking About Vaccines
I was watching ‘Spy Game’ a couple of days ago (great movie!) and one of the more memorable quotes that Robert Redford used was “When did Noah build the Ark? Before the storm. Before the storm.”
It’s time to start Canada’s own version of Ark building.
A ‘Made in Canada’ PUBLIC solution would go a long way to dispelling anyone’s concerns about pharmaceuticals, and vaccines in particular. Such an organization should have several components to its mandate:
- A readily available list of ingredients and trained experts that can speak to the (minimal) effects of these ingredients
- ZERO profits being or a full cost-recovery program to ensure that our public health system isn’t being gouged by private companies
- An easy-to-use public ‘adverse reactions’ database that people can use and access
- A proactive system of adjusting products based on response to adverse reactions
I firmly believe that we’ll be able to eliminate Covid with a public vaccine, but more importantly, we’ll address any concerns / protest / conspiracy as it relates to vaccines. I know I’ll be first in line with my sleeve rolled up advocating for universal treatment.
With this in mind, there are glimmers of hope that some Canadian companies and public-private organizations will soon be distributing a ‘Made in Canada’ vaccine.
Sadly, for a most so-called ‘pundits’ that want to blame the Liberals, it won’t be soon enough.
Critics fail to understand that leaving issues that are of national security to a handful of private companies is a recipe for disaster and yes, will suck any political structure into its vortex, but we have to evolve from that way of thinking.
Ending our reliance on third parties for items of national security should be our first priority as our country and economy start to stabilize.
Let’s talk about so many other pharmaceutical products – including other vaccines – that should be nationalize or at least produced in Canada with reasonable production targets.
And, let’s not stop there.
Let’s address the food chain in Canada and how so many things we buy today are ‘imported’ by so-and-so, but nothing seems to be made here, despite having one of the more enviable arrays of farmland in the world.
Don’t let the naysayers try to convince you it can’t be done. We have the power, the people and the quality of land to make it happen. ALL YEAR ROUND.
Please try to understand where this comes from: because ALL of our lives have been so drastically altered, we ALL have to start thinking differently about how to approach things. The ‘standard rules’ of capitalism need to be put aside just as long as we’re all told to stand aside and watch so many incompetent people continue to pander to special interest groups.