A common-sense ray of light

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/12/2020 (1991 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Brian Pallister has received a lot of press in the last few weeks — most notably when his recent emotional news conference even showed up on CNN. People are not used to seeing a politician’s heart on his sleeve. The press conference resounded globally, but not necessarily so much here in Manitoba. Why?

Pallister acknowledged his recent lack of popularity, and yet his message was widely applauded. In other words, we in Manitoba decided to shoot the messenger while accepting the message.

Globally, politicians have been forced to impose any number of anti-COVID restrictions, just as we have witnessed here in Manitoba.

New York has closed religious facilities, just like we have. Los Angeles and Tel Aviv have imposed total lockdowns, just like us. Greece, France, Vietnam, China and Italy have imposed tight restrictions on tourism, as we have. Saskatchewan closed recreational facilities — the same as us. In other words, there’s nothing new here. We are not uniquely over-the-top in our closures.

Along these lines, enough with the nonsense about right-wing versus left-wing leadership on this, as well as the female versus male leadership. Germany and Denmark, both led by women, are experiencing huge outbreaks. New York and California, both led by Democratic males, are in lockdown. Enough with the anger and partisanship.

We are all exhausted by the coronavirus and its countless implications. We’ve had enough with the memes and the “we’re all in this together” stuff. With Christmas looming, we all want to get together with friends and family. Due to the particularly egregious nature of this virus, interpersonal relationships are going to take a beating this year.

We can be mad about it. We can blame whoever we want. Some want to see Pallister as the agent of our discontent. He is not to blame for COVID. I think he has made a couple of missteps — more in communications than tangibles.

By the way, I was pleased to see the premier’s movement on re-opening so-called “drive-in” church services, provided they follow stringent health regulations.

Even though the province won a recent court case pertaining to a previous drive-in religious service, and therefore could have kept the policy in place, it appears as though either common sense or evidence ruled the day.

While not a churchgoer am I, to weigh in on the religious elements of this issue seems like a straw man argument. Simply, to attend a church service with other members of your family, while remaining enclosed in your vehicle, seems like a relatively low-risk concept. After all, you’re living and driving with these people already.

To follow the logic, can you imagine if we ticketed people at fast-food drive-thru restaurants based on the same logic? Or ticketed folks stopped at a traffic light? The same principles apply.

For some time, I have been calling for the province of Manitoba to release the COVID outbreak details just as Saskatchewan has. We need to know where Manitobans are contracting this pernicious virus and act accordingly. This information will also allow us to begin the process of re-opening our economy.

As I like to ask, if one restaurant has a COVID outbreak, does this mean we must close all restaurants? Or dental offices? Or barbershops? The answer, of course, should be “no.” Too often, in our rush to save lives, the answer has been to shut everything down, facts be damned. We are not alone in this rush, but the time has come to begin the more-difficult process of reopening.

I like the concept of re-opening while maintaining strict anti-COVID measures. This seems to me to be our best way forward. It’s a “trust but verify” approach that strikes me as reasonable and measured. In making the decision to allow drive-in churches to resume their services, it appears as though we have made a big step along these lines.