By Taran Dhoofar, Ashley Fong, and Tiffany Lee
The Canadian government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been controversial during these unprecedented times. Many important actions have been delayed and due to this, have caused an uncontrollable spread of the virus amongst its citizens. Not only has this endangered the well-being of nearly 40 million people, but has also greatly affected the economy. Today, more than a year after the virus was discovered, the Canadian government’s poor actions have led to 843,000 people becoming infected, while countries such as Australia and New Zealand, under adequate management, have nearly eradicated the virus from within their borders.
To begin, important legislation such as closing borders should have been implemented earlier in order to prevent the virus from spreading to Canada. For example, international borders were not closed until mid-March, although people were still allowed to travel to and enter the country from Europe and other places where the spread of the virus was becoming notoriously bad. Countries like New Zealand enforced government-mandated two-week quarantines with frequent COVID testing to citizens re-entering the country and non-essential travel was strictly prohibited. As well, anyone that was not a New Zealand citizen was prohibited from entering the country, regardless of whether or not they tested positive for the virus. As a result, they were able to flatten the curve and lift restrictions in mere months while Canada seems to be fighting a never-ending battle.
Screening measures at airports should not have been taken lightly and two-week quarantine periods should have been enforced by the government rather than leaving individuals to self-quarantine since many people would not follow these rules.
Lastly, lifting restrictions during the summer, even while case numbers were dwindling was not a good decision. This encouraged people to gather together after being apart for months, which brought case numbers to all-time highs in the fall, bringing us back to square one.
The government’s actions have also negatively impacted small businesses. Every time the country enters another lockdown, small businesses are forced to close their doors, while still having to pay for rent, which has caused many of them to go bankrupt and close indefinitely. The government’s actions in helping small businesses have not been effective and the government doesn’t seem to be working towards coming up with a plan that will benefit small businesses.
Many small business owners find it unfair that they cannot open their doors if social-distancing measures are put into place as big-box stores that sell similar items are allowed. Big-box stores can afford to have their services shut down for a few months, so the government should allow small businesses to open their doors with strict social distancing and protective measures while big-box stores, arguably breeding grounds for viruses like this, remain closed.
If the government were to have taken proper control measures and adequate actions earlier on, the spread of the virus would have been maintained and fewer jobs would’ve been lost as a result. Fewer people would have contracted the virus and our country would be a safer place today.
Titan Times 