The federal government is allowing air travel in and out of Canada, including to and from COVID-19 devastated nations like Brazil. Other than the travel-related industries, particularly the airlines, I’d say there’s no real benefit from such liberty.
I believe that when the coronavirus crisis began, big business was the most influential voice to have the ear of government, when it should have been the independent health-sciences community. Thus the result was resistance against an immediate halt in travel, including international flights – weeks of delay that may have translated into many additional and needless COVID-19 deaths.
When the COVID-19 crisis is over, the same common yet questionable refrain may still prevail among capitalist nation governments and corporate circles, perhaps even left as neglectful of human-health needs as before (which had resulted in the many horrible COVID-19 long-term care home deaths): Best business practices, including what’s best for the consumers, are best decided by business decision-makers.
And our government(s) too often fail to intervene, perhaps out of fear of being labelled “anti-business” in our avidly capitalist culture.
Frank Sterle Jr
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