Covid 19: Valuing Lives over Profit

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says; “Normality as it was before’ won’t come back until there’s a vaccine”. So we could possibly be looking at an entire year of doing what we’re doing.

Here in Canada, and in particular Vancouver, we are flattening the curve. Social distancing is proving to be effective and our recovery rate is the highest in the nation. Don’t get me wrong, I still think too many people are out and about in my neighbourhood. If it were up to me, families and individuals would have certain days they could shop and certain times of the day they could go for walks. Maybe based on your postal code or street addresses. Mind you, I say this because I work on the front lines in mental health and addiction, so I am a little bit paranoid. Either way, things are going well here even though there probably won’t be an end in sight anytime soon.

I am very impressed with how so many individuals and companies have stepped up and helped out. Local micro-breweries are re-tooling their production facilities to make hand sanitizer, textile companies are making face masks and people are volunteering in record numbers. We still need to do better when it comes to our most vulnerable populations and for all those who live in poverty, but overall we are seeing unprecedented change in societies the world over. My hope is that these changes will be lasting. I have been very impressed with how quickly the Canadian Government has rolled out income support for those unable to work due to the virus. This package is by no means ideal and many have been left out, but honestly for this government to begin paying people in a matter of weeks (rather than the months, sometimes years it normally takes for them to implement change) is nothing short of a miracle. I was on hold once for 2.5 hours, only for the government 1–800 operator to inform me that this is the old phone number and that they haven’t updated their website yet. So this……this is the stuff of legend.

What this is starting to look like is a form of Universal Income and I am very optimistic that it will remain in place after this is all over. Bailout packages for small companies rather than banks is equally encouraging. Paying 75% of wages so that others can get back to work. So seeing as how many companies are operating at a loss just to manufacture maks and parts for ventilators and the government is subsidizing people and companies left, right and centre, why, when this is all said and done can we not continue to do these things. Maybe for once we can make our first consideration people rather than profit.

There are certain things that we may not go back to doing. I think entertainment is going to change for good. Some of the first places to close were bars and restaurants. We have already made huge sacrifices to the way we socialize. My daughter had a social distancing Birthday just the other day. Her friends came and wrote Happy Birthday in coloured chalk on the sidewalk in front of our building and dropped presents through the door. Relatives came over and we stood six feet apart outside singing happy birthday while she blew out the candles on the cake. Then they left. No handshakes, hugs or anything else. I know that I am speaking with people I haven’t heard from in years and mostly by video calling. I did very little online shopping in the past, but I have ordered six different items in the space of 2 weeks. People are driving less, cooking at home more and being creative in ways that they probably never thought they could be.

Prior to all of this madness, we were overworked and underpaid. Everyone had a side hustle or at the very least a 2nd job and you had to take out a loan to fill up your car with gas.

We have slowed down, we are taking the time to get to truly know ourselves and one another. People who were once forced to show up to the office whether they needed to or not, are now successfully working from home and actually being more productive. We are proving that the essential workers in our society are not hedge fund managers and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies but rather, healthcare workers, sanitation workers, grocery store workers, cops, firemen, paramedics, truckers and the list goes on. Also we are seeing the earth start to heal itself. With less air travel, driving and production the air is starting to clear and the oceans are seeing whales and other species returning to their breeding and hunting grounds.

Kids are going to virtual classrooms to learn. Our relationship, my relationship with the government has changed. What I used to see as only a bloated and wasteful system that discriminated against the poor and working class and gave tax exemptions to the ultra rich, I now see as a system in place that is completely necessary to maintain communication, organize and mobilize and distribute payments to those that need it during this pandemic.Our provinces are working in cooperation with one another and even neighbours who never got along in the past are sharing PPE and other resources. The U.S. on the other hand has egocentric, racist, reality TV host in charge and just told the WHO to go piss up a rope. Way to go Don! Also, let’s not be in the same hurry that he is to re-open for business. A good example of this would be the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic which killed 50,000,000 people. When the world came through the other side of that hell, and the end of the First World War, folks went a little bit crazy and really, who could blame them. However, that lack of restraint and the enormous amount of credit that was made available by the U.S. after the war and the fact that the Americans were the only ones to hang on to the gold standard, eventually led to speculation and consequently the stock market crash of 1929. This was followed by the Great Depression, which led us into the 2nd World War and so on and so forth.

So the decisions we make now will do much to determine how well we will recover and how ready we’ll be for the next outbreak. Whenever people brought up things like Universal Income, we were told that it was either impossible or would take a herculean effort in order to make it work. We know this now to not be the case. We have witnessed our respective governments tackle this pandemic in different ways. Honestly, I think Canada’s response has been outstanding. Trump on the other hand decided to defund his Department directly responsible for the Pandemic response last year (probably because he couldn’t figure out a way to monetize it for his own benefit).

Either way, whenever we do reopen the country, let’s please do it slowly and gradually. Let’s worry about getting children back to school in maybe a staggered fashion. Let’s make sure that those who live in poverty are safe and healthy and that they should be the beneficiaries of the $2000 per month. Let’s make sure that we connect every single regugee, undocumented worker, temporary foreign worker and anyone else who has fallen through the cracks. And while we are at it, would this not be the ideal time to make good on every single recommendation from the Truth and Reconciliation report? I mean the Indigenous people of Canada have been waiting longer than anyone else for help, let’s make sure that they get it this time around. All I’m trying to say is that if we are starting over, let’s not just rebuild for those with the most privilege, let’s rebuild for everyone and worry about satisfying stakeholders and stockholders later…..or never!

We are doing a good job so far, let’s be remembered for something other than hoarding toilet paper during a global crisis.