Will we ever be free? Canadians are questioning the end of the lockdowns

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

It has been weeks and weeks now that every time I commute through certain neighbourhoods, I see enormously long line ups of predominantly young people either in front of schools, government housing, or just a community building and at first, I would wonder why; what and who could have these youths waiting so patiently.

I wondered, could it be free ice cream, pizza, fries, or even some bigger incentives like an automobile up for grabs. What is it? I thought aloud to myself I must find out.

Recently at Keele and Eglington, I saw the line up again. This time I decided to dig deeper and to my surprise I was told that these hundreds of youths were eagerly waiting their turn to get an injection that supposedly would allow them to go back to life as they knew it before March of 2020 here in Toronto.

For these youths going back to normal life could be a long-lost dream considering what Stats Canada is saying.

According to their report released October 20, 2020, earlier on in the pandemic, post-secondary crowd source survey respondents said they were very or extremely concerned about their financial situation – even after the announcement of the Canadian Emergency Student Benefits (CESB).

• Using up savings – 73% (before CESB); 61% (after CESB)
• Paying for tuition next term – 56% (before CESB); 48% (after CESB)
• Having to take on more student debt – 73% (before CESB); 61% (after CESB)

It is not hard to imagine that these youths are under all kinds of pressure financially as we see by this report, and emotional too, one can just imagine.

It is no wonder when asked their opinion on the injection almost 60% of Canadians age 15-24 said they are very likely to get a vaccine when it became available and from the looks of things that time has come.

If what Ipsos polls are saying is true, many countries are drinking the Kool-aid of pessimism when it comes to believing that things will return to normal.

About a few months into this ugly situation most countries were optimistic about getting back on track. But according to an Ipsos poll done a year ago this optimism has continuously declined in about half the countries polled since March 12^th -14^th, as citizens appear to be settling in for the long haul.

In a survey of 28,000 people across fifteen countries conducted from April 2^nd to 4^th, the respondents most negative about a recovery by June are in Japan (19%), the United Kingdom (27%), and Australia (32%).On the other end, those most optimistic about a June recovery are in Vietnam (92%), Brazil (85%) and Mexico (84%).

The biggest changes we have seen in opinions since mid-March about June recoveries have been in countries where optimism has declined. This is led by Canada down 25 percentage points, followed by France (-23), Italy, Japan and the U.K. (-22).

It is no wonder why Canada is heading the list in accepting this as normal. Just look around and the answers are in front of the world to see. Canadians are now living in one of the most lockdown and injection peddling countries in the universe.

I use the word injection simply because what has been pushed on the public is not a vaccine. A vaccine has years of hurdles to jump before it can be approved.

An experimental injection on the other hand may be approved in cases of emergencies. Like my editor would say. “Please do your research,” and you will see why, especially in Canada the lockdowns and forced emergency actions have no end.