Guest column: Ontario’s election season is upon us

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It is very easy to be critical. And it’s relatively easy to be skeptical.

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Therefore, approaching an assessment of our provincial government’s timeline to break free from COVID-19 is quite straightforward, both critical and skeptical.

Do not misunderstand. I will be among the many millions in this province and country willing to silently applaud the apparent end of the almost two years of this pandemic and its deadly consequences.

But I can’t cheer out loud because it’s hard for me to forget those friends and colleagues who died from the virus.

I will mute the cheering cheering button and hit the skeptic button instead because I still don’t think this COVID-19 disaster is really over.

The model of the Spanish flu from 1917 to 1921 hangs as an opaque guide to the pattern that this current pandemic followed.

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Large numbers of Canadians are not yet fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, the virus continues to proliferate in many less fortunate countries around the world, thus offering endless possibilities for variants and a possible fifth wave.

Americans certainly seem to believe that life has returned to normal. You can see large crowds attending various sporting events. Yet every day, more than 1,000 Americans continue to die from COVID-19.

Of course, returning to normal in the United States with moderate double vaccination rates is a pale shadow of vaccination levels in both Ontario and Canada. For that, we should be grateful.

However, my skepticism relates more to the provincial timeline of freedom from pandemic restrictions in Ontario. You see, Ontario must have a provincial election by June 2, 2022.

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Is it possible that Prime Minister Doug Ford and his administration are actively moving forward in removing restrictions to assure voters that “now that we are almost back to normal, your prime minister and his response to COVID-19 should not be rewarded for your vote? “

So excited will many of the unvaccinated be that by March 28, 2022, they declare that they have defeated the virus without supposedly risking their lives with two doses of vaccine.

In fact, even as of February 7, 2022, the unvaccinated and unmasked are free to enter Ontario’s low spots such as strip clubs, bathhouses, and sex clubs.

When Prime Minister Ford made the recent announcement to ease restrictions, accompanied by Provincial Health Minister Christine Elliott and Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer, he warned that going forward “all decisions will be based on key indicators as well. as in the advice of the person in charge of health. Dr. Kieran Moore “.

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But my sense of history warns me to anticipate more illness and death from COVID-19 before we are truly free from this plague.

In fairness, although he stumbled often, I believe our prime minister and his team did a respectable job of handling an unpredictable, dangerous and protracted crisis.

Once again, it’s easy to be critical and argue that neither the provincial nor the federal government got off to a great start once the COVID-19 virus was identified.

I suspect that most of us didn’t take the threat seriously until our favorite restaurants and bars closed.

Looking back, it is clear that in September 2019, COVID-19 had been identified in Wuhan, China, but it took our governments until March 2020 to respond. By then, they were reacting almost chaotically for solutions to horrific deaths in long-term care facilities.

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Regardless, in case you missed it, Ontario’s election campaign has already started.

Conservatives have been attacking the New Democrats and their opposition to some road near Toronto stance. In response, the NDP alleges that Ford favored his friends during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frankly, until Highway 3 in our area has four lanes from Windsor to Leamington, I couldn’t care less about the NDP’s opposition to another highway from Toronto to the north of GTA.

At this point, I anticipate that Ford and his Conservative party will win the next election.

However, if the key COVID-19 indicators begin to move up once again, then we might respectfully ask whether Ford and his government are at least prepared to re-impose restrictions.

Personally, I plan to continue wearing masks, social distancing, hand washing, and perhaps a third shot of the vaccine.

Lloyd Brown-John is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Windsor. He can be reached at [email protected].