None of us really knew what COVID-19 was going to do, so at least at the beginning, logic dictated that it was better to err on the side of caution.
Boy, how time flies, March 2024 marks the four-year anniversary since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic. I remember those long lineups outside at Costco and watching every cart come out with toilet paper. And then the Christmas that wasn’t because we weren’t allowed to gather at home. It was a very strange and difficult period for all of us.
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Was it all really necessary?
While it’s pretty obvious that most of the restrictions were well-intentioned (we will get back to some of those that weren’t later), many of the reactions and responses to COVID were ineffective or did more harm than good.
The pandemic, of course, didn’t come with an instruction manual, and none of us really knew what was going to happen so at least at the beginning, logic dictated that it was better to err on the side of caution. No one wanted to see harm to themselves and others due to illness especially if it was preventable.
I think it’s worth looking back on the decisions that were made to reflect on the impacts of these policies, and to think about why we didn’t adapt better to changing information. Every decision made brought consequences — some good, some bad. I recall being supportive of some of the decisions at the time.
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But then came the adverse social and economic effects. And it was the unintended consequences, it seems, that were the most harmful. The most unfortunate of which was the bitter division that was stoked at a personal level between friends, families and co-workers.
It is obvious to me that some government policies made an already bad situation worse, without any regard for the consequences.
One of the most detrimental, in my mind, was the shutting down of schools and subsequent implementation of very limited online remote learning sessions. This might have made sense for a period of weeks, but as it extended to months and even years, it should have been obvious that the limited risk of COVID to children was outweighed by the certainty of losing important opportunities for learning and socialization. We are now seeing the harmful effects that this caused socially, mentally and academically for our students. The implications of this setback will be felt for years to come.
Other decisions were clearly not evidence-based leaving an impression that both federal and provincial governments were generating policy “on the fly,” to seem to be doing something.
Policies that simply made no sense were the mandatory early closures of public venues like bars, restaurants and theatres. This implied the absurd notion that the COVID-19 virus was on a schedule and more active at certain times of the day. The pandemic took a dreadful toll on the hospitality sector and most establishments still have not recovered.
The drastic restriction on headcounts at outdoor gatherings and sporting events also seemed quite excessive. It became obvious very quickly the COVID virus generally did not spread outdoors, but governments were slow to incorporate that fact into their decision-making process, even in some cases requiring masking outdoors long after it was obvious that it had no effect.
Even the gathering restrictions at home took on a draconian theme — not being able to check in on or assist relatives seemed almost counter-productive. I personally lamented not being able to see my granddaughter for months.
These mistakes mostly came from a place of excess caution, being slow to adapt, and being worried about seeming soft on COVID, in that sense they are understandable. However, let’s get back to some bad policies that didn’t come from a place of caution, but indeed came from a much darker place.
At the federal level, the Liberal Party gleefully used COVID as an opportunity to divide. Rather than convince people to get vaccinated, for political purposes they demonized the unvaccinated, and in the 2021 campaign they promoted policies to further restrict people who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons, for the sole reason of portraying Conservatives as soft on COVID. They of course never implemented these policies after the election, it was all political theatre to divide Canadians.
Also at the federal level, the Liberals were at best asleep at the switch when some people took the opportunity of the panic to get rich.
We know the implementation and management of the travel ban, specifically the ArriveCan app was an unmitigated disaster. It was mired with scandalous cost overruns and suspicious procurement irregularities and in the end it didn’t even perform properly. Many travellers were incorrectly forced to quarantine and incurred fines. Canada’s Auditor General weighed in out of concern for Canadian taxpayers declaring the boondoggle a ”glaring disregard for basic management practises.”
So after it was all said and done my conclusion is that some pandemic policies that seemed prudent initially didn’t adapt to changing information. Ultimately our governments went too far. What started out as wise precautions eventually cascaded to restrictions that eluded common sense and did more harm than good, particularly when it came to the impact on children kept out of school.
Fortunately, experience can be an excellent teacher. The question is…did we learn from our experience?
Perhaps we did. But did our governments?
— Kevin Klein is a former Tory cabinet minister, a former city councillor and a former Winnipeg Sun publisher.
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