It seems like this was the week that the pandemic became more real to people.

On Wednesday, the province took steps to inhibit travel throughout the Outaouais, snarling traffic on the inter-provincial bridges from Ottawa, Renfrew and Pembroke, turning away any commuter without a good excuse to be on the road.

While the provincial government had already asked cottagers to stay at home, putting cops on the bridges was a strong signal that this was less of a polite suggestion and more of a edict with the full weight of Quebec City behind it.

Pontiac’s Warden Jane Toller, along with her peers across the region had been asking for some kind of travel restrictions before this, but even they were surprised by the the timing of this temporary infringement of civil liberties. Their colleagues at the lower levels of municipal government were caught even more unawares and have voiced their displeasure at not being consulted. Even the mayor of Ottawa was blindsided by the abrupt change in the landscape.

The announcement of the closures was made Wednesday morning and enacted at noon, giving commuters hardly any warning that they were going to be hitting unusually heavy traffic on their way home.

Was it too much to ask that provincial authorities give people some advanced notice that they’re actually going to follow through on their “directives”? Say 24 hours notice to warn the cross-border beer and grocery shoppers that Quebec City means business?

If someone has to travel to Ontario and didn’t have any proof that they “need” to (no business card or ID badge), how do they prove to authorities that they have the right to travel 20 minutes down the road? Do the numerous essential service workers that commute across the border need to face uncertainty and wait in line because the province can’t be bothered to give anyone a heads up?

Moreover, was it also too much to ask that the police officers conducting these checkpoints wear masks or respect the two metre guideline that the government has been drilling in our heads for the past few weeks? There’s plenty of photo evidence to show that the people tasked with serving and protecting the populace were possibly doing as much harm as they were trying to prevent. Hastily enacted rules almost guarantee shoddy enforcement.

It’s true that large swathes of Quebec were already shut down by provincial edict with a similar lack of notice, but the northern highways carry far fewer daily commuters than the numerous bridges in the national capital region and the Pontiac.

And it’s not only the Quebec/Ontario border, people from Bristol aren’t allowed to get their gas in Quyon now, as the borders of these rolling checkpoints have been arbitrarily drawn at the MRC limits.

What an inefficient use of taxpayer resources.

It’s admirable to want to contain people’s movement during a pandemic and especially to hold scofflaws to account. There’s no shortage of stories about people breaking the provincial quarantine mandates to get groceries in Pembroke or go for a run to Tims. These are the people who deserve the fines that the government has recently rolled out.

On the other hand, there are plenty of people that either work or receive necessary services across the river who will be inconvenienced for the time being.

In times of crisis, government powers expand exponentially and it’s only when the dust settles that everyone realizes how far the line in the sand has moved.

For example, the last meeting of the MRC council was essentially held in-camera. The mayors and their bureaucratic counterparts were able to meet by teleconference, but it was apparently too much work to add three reporters to the conference call. The press were given less than 24 hours notice of the change of plans and the warden acted as the interpreter of what took place. A public health crisis that has been going on for several weeks isn’t an excuse, from the MRC or from any municipal council. There are plenty of workarounds that would ensure citizens can witness the decisions their elected officials are making.

Transparency and effective communication from the people in power is more important now than ever before, from cabinet ministers right down to municipal councillors.

Let’s hope that common sense isn’t a casualty in the fight against this virus.

Caleb Nickerson