The Ontario government came in with stiffer stay-at-home measures Friday and then, just as fast as they came in, backtracked on some of those directives.
With an overwhelming renouncement from many of the province’s police forces, the government walked back the ability for them to question people why they’re out of the house and where they live.
The other outcry was closing playgrounds. That too has been walked back.
The problem with many of these measures is they are so full of holes and exceptions, like Swiss cheese. The government is floundering instead of taking a hard line, regardless of the outcry from the keyboard warriors and special interest groups.
And even with the laws on the books, the local officials are wimpish to enforce them, preaching their education message 13 months into the pandemic instead of holding bad actors to account. If you knew you weren’t going to get slapped with a ticket, why would you bother following the rules?
Not only does the government bear part of the blame, the public does too. What part of the words “stay at home” do not make sense? Stay at home does not mean trucking your kid off to the local playground. Stay at home doesn’t mean having friends over for back yard drinks or hosting children’s birthday parties in your house. It means stay at home!
The virus can only spread by people moving around. If the public would have taken a hard and serious line against coronavirus in the early days instead of crying that somehow their rights are violated for wearing a piece of cloth on their face or having to stay in a place they spend hundreds of dollars on every month, we likely wouldn’t be in the position we are today.
I’m Bill Kingston.