I am disappointed with my fellow Canadians who choose not to get vaccinated, for various personal reasons each have expressed.
These individuals could be relatives, friends, neighbours, young and old and come from all walks of life, but even after conversations and education on the matter, they continue to hold strong against vaccination.
I have lost a brother to COVID-19 who was living in a nursing home in Toronto. Both my father in Toronto and father-in-law in Calgary, who were living in personal homes, died from COVID contracted from in-home health-care providers.
The government should mandate vaccinations for all Canadians, and if they do not have the political willpower to do this, then at least target the health-care sector who, by profession, are there to save lives and not endangering the sick and vulnerable.
If individuals choose not to get vaccinated, they should have to purchase a health insurance policy to cover costs if they get sick with COVID.
Why should fellow Canadians have to not only deal with the selfishness of individuals who choose not to be vaccinated, but have to pay for their misguided decisions as they fill up our hospitals and stress out are dedicated health care professionals?
Then there is this, from an Ontario resident:
I guess the above describes what happens in a society led by political cowards, those who rule by fear of offending their traditional bases of support. I guess they haven't gotten the memo that when it comes to Covid-19, the tide has definitely turned.
I don't know if it's political cowardice, Lorne, or incompetence. Maybe it's both. Politics no longer draws the A-list talent we experienced in the past. It's all technocrats, petty administrators today. I won't recycle the Pierre versus Justin comparison. Look at Dion and Ignatieff - no natural leaders there. Harper, Scheer and O'Toole, ditto.
ReplyDeleteToday's governance has become hidebound, incapable of rising to the challenges of the day. That leaves us trapped in a neoliberal order that has lost most of what utility it may have once provided. Look at the party platforms. They're all pitching endless growth.
I've been tossing around the idea of how we might adapt our constitution to the realities of the Anthropocene. We could enshrine the Precautionary Principle as foundational. Some provision establishing the public interest as government's prime responsibility. Measures that can help bolster social cohesion through positive nationalism.
Maybe it was just a result of growing up in the aftermath of a world war but I recall being taught that we had obligations to our nation and countrymen. I just don't see that unspoken yet understood sense of duty today. It's every man/woman for him/herself.
I think until fairly recently in our history, we assumed that government existed to protect and serve the people. With our politics' slow and seemingly inexorable devolution into soulless leadership, I assume many people have noticed whose interests they really serve today. A recent poll indicated an unhealthy distrust of government, and the slide toward alienation continues apace.
DeleteAnd I agree, far too many people today have no sense of duty to country and fellow citizens. Perhaps this is a result of societal atomization facilitated by the internet.