Well, it’s happened.
It appears that now there’s a COVID case that’s been confirmed in the MRC. I say appears because the news wasn’t revealed through formal channels. The woman who tested positive, who works for the local health authority in a “hot zone”, announced that fact through social media. It’s definitely the. . .
fastest way to reach the most people, and hats off to this lady for her honesty. It couldn’t have been easy, but now hopefully anyone that was in contact with her or her family can go get tested and nip this thing in the bud. Fingers crossed that everyone involved stays healthy.
Earlier in the pandemic, local officials had to push CISSSO to provide a detailed breakdown of where the viral cases were being confirmed. What exists currently isn’t a huge improvement, but it’s better than nothing. When it comes to confirming cases in smaller communities, they tend to err on the side of anonymity, so as not to stigmatize or single out.
As the province begins to ride out this second wave, which seems to be centralized in Montreal, Quebec City and the surrounding areas, the pinch on our society will be immense. These areas have already been elevated to “orange” zones and if things continue to go pear-shaped, there could be a second phase of lockdowns.
The good news is that François Legault and his CAQ compadres have a solution. A way to create jobs in the public sector with a net benefit for everyone.
That’s right, just when cases are picking back up, schools are getting shut down and businesses are teetering on the edge of destruction, the province announced Monday that they will greatly expand the Office québécois de la langue française and hire more humourless bureaucrats to police language laws.
No, seriously.
Quebec’s language czar, Simon Jolin-Barrette, the ghoul who cut immigration in the midst of a labour shortage only to desperately seek out immigrants to staff the province’s long-term care facilities once the pandemic hit, is leading the charge for more restrictions.
The Official Office of Language scolds will be receiving their biggest budget boost since the 90s, a cool $5 million, which will be used to hire about 50 new staff over the coming months. Considering the length and breadth of pandemic aid programs, a few million is really just a drop in the bucket. However, pandering to linguistic zealots when our province has the highest rate of COVID deaths and infections in the country is more than a little tone deaf, not that Commandant Jolin-Barrette has let that stop him in the past.
He said that these new staff would be used to “help” small businesses conform to the language charter. Of the 50 new staff they’re looking for, 11 will be hired to specifically to enforce signage laws. Jolin-Barrette probably has a different perspective than many entrepreneurs in the area, but measuring the size of letters on sandwich boards doesn’t sound like a productive use of public money.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise. The minister and his colleagues rode into the National Assembly with an overwhelming majority mandate.
However, if these hall monitors want to “help” a business owner comply with their overbearing rules, they’ll have to put on a mask and keep their distance. If they want to wag a finger at someone for saying ‘Bonjour, hi” then they will have to sanitize their hands first.
Caleb Nickerson
