by Harvey Oberfeld
December 6, 2020
Law-abiding and rule-respecting British Columbians are suffering: we can’t gather with family and friends; we can’t play hockey or soccer or even curl in groups; we can’t visit loved ones in hospital or long-term care homes; our kids can’t have birthday parties; we can’t worship in church/temples/mosques/synagogues or even attend weddings/funerals; and, it’s looking like they won’t want us to celebrate Christmas, New Year or Hanukkah with those in our social circle either.
BC is hurting.
Tens of thousands of British Columbians are out of jobs or getting only reduced work hours or have had their businesses shut down or so severely restricted, they are facing obliteration …or have already failed.
This is the result of Public Health Orders imposed on us for weeks now, weekly announced with great solemnity by Public Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
And if government bureaucrats or police catch you … a FEW of you together …violating their strictures, YOU will get heavily fined and punished.
Unless you get hundreds together, gather to PARTY on Granville Street or rally hundreds to PROTEST something … whether here or even thousands of miles away … and then BC looks the other way!
Police will even assist your marshalling/gathering … just call it a rally … and then no limits on how many can congregate, no masks required, no distancing enforced and not likely anyone, not even the organizer(s), will face tickets, charges or fines at all.
Why?
For the same reason I believe a few weeks ago, Dr. Henry and the BC government imposed a highly restrictive Public Health Order all the way from Vancouver to Hope, rather than zero in on the particular areas where Covid was running totally amok … in Fraser Health, and especially South Surrey.
Because the BC government is weak: afraid to identify/offend specific regional, geographical or ethnic communities where large numbers are ignoring/thumbing their noses at the rules the rest of is are following.
We can understand … although not like it … when No-Maskers (people most of us regard as ignorant, misdirected, or just wackos, egged on by anarchists) hold rallies deliberately violating Public Health Orders.
BUT when hundreds of BC citizens ignore the movement and gathering restrictions the rest of us have been respecting, enduring and hurting under so much for so long, and mass together, shoulder to shoulder to hold a rally, complete with shouting and speeches … they are thumbing their noses at the government and their fellow British Columbians.
Saturday, HUNDREDS turned out in Vancouver to rally on behalf of farmers in the Punjab, involved in a dispute with the Indian government. ( http://Large crowds turn out for 2nd B.C. convoy supporting Indian farmers | Globalnews.ca)
And this was the SECOND such rally in less than a week …. also drawing HUNDREDS (https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/second-car-rally-farmers-india-cloverdale-to-vancouver).
Just think of everything Dr Henry and Dix have told us about how Covid can spread: from one to another, in social gatherings, on transit, in groceries, restaurants, in shops, in offices, and in schools.
How many British Columbians will get Covid as a result of these rallies; how many will require hospitalization; how many will die ???????
How many tickets were issued? Were organizers charged? Was there a free pass policy?
If THEY can gather outside in large numbers with impunity to protest, why can’t WE gather outside in large numbers to play sports, celebrate our family events, holidays?
People ARE watching!
BC officials are sending MIXED MESSAGES by allowing one set of rules for some (enforcements ignored) and a stricter set of rules for the rest of us (rules enforced).
The result will be NO ONE will pay attention any more … and Dr Henry and Dix will both lose credibility.
And THEY will be helping Covid spread.
