Ontario Premier Doug Ford faced swift backlash last Friday when he announced plans to extend the COVID-19 measures in his province. After a public thrashing by medical professionals and law enforcement, his government retracted the new guidelines the following day.
Yahoo Canada reported that Ford sought to close playgrounds and give new powers to police to “randomly stop any pedestrian” to inquire about their home address or where they’re headed. But the report noted many residents said they would not comply with the rules.
Toronto police tweeted Saturday morning that they would not follow the new enforcement. The department said it will “continue to engage and enforce equitably and effectively, recognizing always that we must inspire public trust.”
Dr. Andrew Baback Boozary tweeted:
“Just so that everyone is clear on the public policy lens — Ontario desperately needed a public health/evidence informed response and we got a police state where anyone can be stopped to show their address. This is a human rights calamity none of us could have predicted.”
On 5 January, the Trends Journal ran the article, “COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS; COMPLETE POLICY FAILURES,” which looked into how ineffective COVID-19 mandates have proven to be.
On 6 April, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that the country was facing a “very serious” third wave of infections, Al Jazeera reported.
David Moscrop, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa, penned an op-ed in the Washington Post calling for Ford to step down. Moscrop wrote:
“Ford was never fit to be premier of Ontario… The pandemic didn’t reveal that; it just bathed it in the garish light of emergency. Both before his time in provincial politics and since, he has shown no distinction other than his extraordinary capacity to alienate, divide, and fail.”
TRENDPOST: As with most lockdown orders imposed on entire populations that have been dictated by politicians, ignored are the facts of who is dying from the virus and why. In Ontario, where Mr. Ford ordered people to “stay home because the situation is extremely serious and we need to hunker down right now,” some 88 percent of the virus victims are over 70 years of age.
In addition, over the past year, of a population of 14 million, there were 7,520 registered COVID deaths in Ontario over the course of a year or 0.0537 percent.
Thus, rather than take measures to protect those who are most vulnerable, instead, millions of lives and livelihoods are being destroyed by draconian rules that have proven ineffective.
