Laying it Out: If the mob wins now, what happens if COVID continues to spread?

By Scott Schmidt on February 5, 2022.

Lost in the constant coverage of this Freedom Convoy is the fact none of us — not even the group occupying downtown Ottawa, nor the politicians falling over themselves to offer support — is in control here.

And while people convince themselves that those who block the border at Coutts for days without consequence somehow lack freedom, the only thing that controls what we can and can’t do is still out there, and it’s a bold leap to assume COVID-19 is nearing its end.

But if you listen to what politicians are saying, it’s obvious they’re banking on just that.

Look at what Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Frey said this week when she spoke to the News about the blockaders at Coutts.

“People are at their wit’s end with restrictions, and I’m confident that they will end soon,” Frey said. “I look forward to Alberta being the first place in Canada to do so.”

In less than a week, Premier Jason Kenney went from saying all restrictions would likely be lifted by the end of March, to the end of February, to what is now reported to be a matter of days.

Clearly, the United Conservative strategy is to be the first jurisdiction in Canada to declare the pandemic over. Gee, when have we heard that before?

If you had any wonder whether the UCP holds remorse for its Best Summer Ever campaign, the fact they’re planning the exact strategy again should clear that right up.

You’d think Frey, after publicly denouncing restrictions ahead of last spring’s third wave and then publicly supporting her party’s deadly decisions ahead of the fourth, might be more careful about speaking in absolutes.

While Canadians waste time arguing about what these protesters want, or who organized them, or where the millions in GoFundMe money will end up, no one seems to be asking the only questions that matter.

What happens if COVID isn’t over? What happens when this isn’t the final wave? Considering Frey and Kenney’s comments come during a period when a field hospital had to be set up again, the next wave’s arrival isn’t exactly farfetched.

History shows that while members of the UCP don’t want to implement heath orders anymore than the protesters want them to, COVID-19 has repeatedly forced them to go back on their plan — even they know that to do nothing in response to a wave is to cause death.

The fact is, protesters are demanding something that simply can’t be guaranteed, and by offering support, or downright giving in to demands, members of the UCP (and several in the Conservative Party of Canada) are yet again creating a potential backfire — and every time they do it, it’s more dangerous than the last.

This column has often focused on the danger their decisions pose for public health, but the consequences go well beyond physical safety. The sheer existence of these protests is a direct result of the wishy-washy way politicians like Jason Kenney and Michaela Frey have gone about their business since COVID-19 arrived.

Frey’s anti-restriction stance has consistently given constituents permission to be angry at any effort her government takes to slow COVID’s spread. People are supposed to be angry at the virus itself, but instead they’ve become angry only at efforts to slow it — and Frey is one of the so-called leaders who made that happen.

Her words throughout this pandemic have failed to make much sense, but I’m no longer prepared to chalk up her antics to MLA immaturity — the scenarios she helps to shape are way too dangerous for that. Of course these protesters think they lack freedom even though they quite obviously have an abundance of it; politicians just like Frey have been telling them as much since the virus arrived.

Kenney suggested a few months ago that he was “done trying to predict” this virus, but it’s clear his government is revving up to do it again. Worse yet, by using that prediction as a means to end a protest, even if the only truth in that is in the optics of it, what is going to happen when COVID’s sixth wave arrives?

By backing themselves into yet another corner, no matter what the UCP decides will lead to anger. Either they’ll try to please the freedom-loving unvaccinated by doing nothing, which will infuriate pretty much everyone else — not to mention the death it will cause — or they’ll go back on their word, impose restrictions to slow the spread, and watch as this same group holds another part of the province hostage.

I’m just as guilty as anyone for paying too much attention to the Freedom Convoy, and part of me laughs at their demands — the entirety of health restrictions here are a mask mandate in public that almost no business or facility will actually enforce, and a vaccine mandate that allows the vast majority to do everything we ever could before COVID.

Blocking borders and harassing citizens in Ottawa is really nothing but a temper tantrum by a group of people who obviously can’t define the word democracy. But their tempers are dangerous, their ability to organize is impressive, and giving them reason to be even angrier the next time is a really bad idea.

The ones who legitimize their cause now are the ones who created their cause in the first place, and I can’t be the only one tired of watching them make the mess and then stand around discussing how to clean it up.

Scott Schmidt is the layout editor for the Medicine Hat News. He can be reached by email at sschmidt@medicinehatnews.com