The in the latter half of November, it appeared that a plague of misinformation and conspiracy fuelled anti-masking may have taken root here in Canada. By now the story of the lone restauranteur who decided to defy public health guidelines because of a google search he did gained national headlines.
However, that turned out not to be the case. The restaurants on the front lines, the ones who’s livelihoods are being threatened with bankruptcy, the ones with a lot to lose due to these restrictions, didn’t flock to his support.
The Toronto Star published a poll of Ontario’s opinion of this entire fiasco as well. Surprise, surprise, a great majority are not on side with his actions:
By accounts even his much toted gofundme, support is from outside the province.
So what does this all say?
It says that we in Ontario are taking this pandemic seriously. Our restaurants and small business, are demonstrating the epitome of fortitude in the face of adversity. Indeed they are holding many of us up as we work our way through this crisis.
They deserve our support and gratitude. Ordering take out where you can, and curbside shopping where you can. Standing in the weather to go inside socially distanced for small businesses where applicable.
As well, we could use rules that make more sense to support our small businesses. Lockdown restrictions in two regions which only serve to penalise small businesses as citizens are still free to cross streets or drive down highways to shop in different regions make no sense.
Ontarians are proving that they are compassionate, understanding and educated people when it comes to these pandemic restrictions. They should make sense to us in return.
Joel MacLeod.ca 