We’re all grounded
Even before this public health crisis smashed our daily lives like a wrecking ball nearly a year ago (seems like only yesterday), it was obvious to everyone paying attention that our society was rapidly stratifying into the have and have nots. Back in the early 2010s, Occupy Wall Street’s famous slogan, “We are the 99 per cent” captured the sentiment succinctly, and it’s only become more pronounced as the years progressed.
On the one side, there are tons of . . .
companies reaping enormous benefits by “disrupting” their chosen industry, from food delivery to taxis to hotels. The Ubers and Airbnbs of the world might have slapped a friendly shellac on their business models, but the way they turn a profit is by skirting labour codes, municipal ordinances and other laws. In addition, there are the behemoths of telecommunications like Google or Amazon, who control frighteningly large swathes of the internet backbone that makes life possible for modern Canadians.
On the other end of the equation are the “gig economy” workers, the people working in our meat-packing facilities and the souls toiling away in our sprawling long-term care network. The little guys and gals.
Over the course of this public health crisis, the brunt of the risk has been thrust onto the latter group as the former have hoarded obscene profits.
Long-term care facilities, some for-profit, are where the majority of deaths have occurred but there have been significant outbreaks at large industrial workplaces as well, such food processing sites and warehouses. On Dec. 18, Tom Blackwell reported in the National Post that four Amazon fulfillment centres close to the Pearson International Airport had a combined 400 cases of COVID-19.
These large, privately-owned workplaces have also avoided most of the shutdowns and restrictions that have been thrust on small businesses over the course of the pandemic.
This was the case in the latest four-week lockdown announcement from François Legault on Jan. 6, where the premier asked very nicely for large manufacturing facilities to focus on work that’s “essential.” Not an order to scale back or even a firm demand, just a request.
The average citizen however, can’t be trusted to venture outside in the evening. Restaurants can’t open but Cargill and Olymel can pump out as many hot dogs and chicken nuggets as their corporate overlords desire. Local shops can’t serve a limited amount of customers but Amazon can put their army of workers at risk to meet the added demand for goods.
Even before this public health crisis, it was apparent that the game was rigged in favour of the multinational corporations and their lapdogs but the fault lines in our society have become even more pronounced in recent months. Those that have the luxury of working from home likely can’t comprehend the existential dread felt by someone that was laid off for months in 2020, only to be shut down again in the new year. Everyone that had Christmas celebrations via Zoom exploded with righteous anger last week when they found out their elected officials had jetted off for the beach.
And now a curfew, treating 8.5 million Quebecers like a bunch of middle-schoolers.
To state the obvious, this restriction will disproportionately affect low-income people. Those that own property or even a small backyard will be able to at least stretch their legs past 8 p.m., while apartment-dwellers can’t even venture out on the sidewalk for a smoke (unless they take a dog with them).
Why 8 p.m. and not 9 or 10 like the curfews enacted in other countries? The choice is completely arbitrary.
Quebec’s top doc even admitted that there are no studies showing that a curfew is effective. Other public health officials have pointed out that it could actually be dangerous, since people are forced to shop for essentials in a smaller window of time, leading to more crowded stores. There are also other social harms exacerbated by confining people to their homes for nine hours a day, from suicide to domestic abuse.
Rural areas like ours have largely avoided any significant outbreaks (knock on wood) but we’re placed under the same restrictions as those in downtown Montreal. We need to stay safe, but it’s clear that some businesses have been favoured over others, and both federal and provincial governments have been consistently caught with their pants down. The danger is real and there are plenty of things that the CAQ could have opted for instead of a curfew, like widespread rapid testing and increasing ventilation in classrooms. Keeping people at home for a month will be much less effective if it isn’t done in combination with these kinds of measures.
This latest rule changes come across more like a PR stunt, a way for the government to look tough without actually keeping people safe.
Caleb Nickerson
