By Pepper Parr
May 3rd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
If we were wondering how deeply felt the opposition to the current Stay at Home order is – the signs appearing on Burlington lawns might be a hint.
The Gazette published pictures of the way people chose t gather at Spencer Smith Park on the weekend.
Then we heard about the signs – there are two that we are aware of in the city.
The organization behind the signs has a web site – this is a cute one.
www.NoMoreLockdowns.ca
It is going to take a significantly different approach to change the way people behave – Council will have its hands full with this one.
Asked for comment earlier today, the Parks and Recreation department has yet to respond; they handle park related issues.
Do you want to be alive in 2022? Do you want to see your family, hug them next Mother’s Father’s day and birthdays, weddings and Funerals when they have died of Covid ? If you don’t then continue your selfish actions, say good bye Now- ‘There is still time Brother’
– No Thinking, Intelligent Canadian is supporting you and your dangerous actions to all. You do not deserve my time to listen nor my respect .
Everyone commenting here seems to be conflating “No Lock Downs” with “No Public Health Measures.” I don’t know what this stupid sign is, and I can’t be bothered wasting my time visiting the website. What I do know is that if everyone would wear a mask and stay 2m apart, and if you’re sick, stay home, we wouldn’t need these lock downs on our businesses and institutions. The transmission is happening between people who can’t or won’t follow these simple guidelines. And it doesn’t help public sentiment and unity when retired boomers scream in righteous indignation at people contributing to the economy and trying to give their children some measure of quality of life through this ongoing, years-long fiasco from their ivory towers.
Hear Hear !!
What exactly have retired people done to upset you?
I referenced retired “boomers” specifically, who as a collective generation selfishly exploded the debt-to-GDP ratio, destroyed our environment and unscrupulously underinvested in infrastructure and social services for decades. All of which was indicative of their me-first attitude, and one that has now effectively destroyed social solidarity and replaced it with a cult of individualism. And now, as people are losing their jobs and businesses, suffering the tremendous challenges that have been hoisted upon the working class, and even dying in field hospitals in parking lots, the boomers are complaining about lawn signs. Other than that, nothing really George.
Sadly, ingrained selfishness cannot be overcome by reason. These people are no different from those who follow Qanon and other of similar ilk. They just don’t care about their fellow citizens.
Perhaps these people should be charged with a hate crime, since they obviously hate their fellow citizens under the guise of asserting personal rights. Some even claim these rights are personally assigned to them by God. Fine, but why so much effort to influence others with signs and websites? At least, why not shut up and just enjoy the satisfaction of knowing they are better and smarter than everyone else. Oh, and stay home.
I have someone on our street with this sign. I would like to put up a sign to counter it, that says No More Covid Idiots!
Do it, Steve !
Let’s not be the silent majority.
We need to push back against those idiots
There are more than two signs in my neighbourhood alone.
Another sign said ” Masks are Child Abuse”….hard to imagine this kind of ignorance when a 13 yr old died from Covid on the previous weekend. I could not believe what I was seeing in our city.
If they know of another way to overcome the pandemic, maybe the geniuses with the lawn signs would tell the rest of us.
“Then we heard about the signs – there are two that we are aware of in the city”.
Wow, in a city of approximately 200,000 people you find two households with signs on their lawn. Certainly not statistically significant but in Canada we ALWAYS make a mountain out of mole hill.
Just checked out their website. These people are just like opposition parties in our parliaments. Shout and scream against a policy but offer absolutely no solution to the problem – in this instance the spreading of the virus.
These people should be ashamed of themselves. On their website they show a video clip of Dr Tam from October 2020 taken out of context where she says there is no need to wear a mask outside.
We are all tired of these restrictions, but until the vast majority are vaccinated we will get wave after wave of illness and death.
Stand up against their misinformation !
David is right when he says to stand up against their misinformation–they’ve got it wrong!
But then, Dave being Dave, couldn’t resist taking a partisan shot “Just like the opposition parties in our parliaments–shout and scream against a policy but offer no solution”. Hello Dave–the role of opposition parties in our democracy is to criticize the policies of the government. Perhaps these opponents to the lockdowns are more like the federal government–they are giving bad advice: Dr. Tam DID say one year ago that she didn’t think masks were necessary; the federal government says it has “tough” border restrictions (they don’t. Brian Lilley reported this morning that 5159 people tested positive after arriving by plane, 1, 411 when they conducted the test after arriving home–40% of the total were variants of concern); an increasing number of doctors are speaking out against the unconcionable 4 month delay in getting both shots of vaccine, particularly among seniors and others with weakened immune systems.
This health crisis is EVERYONE’S responsibility–the public and the governments of the day–and EVERYONE has been screwing up!
You really need to stop reading inferences into comments that are not there. I said “opposition parties”. All of them. Not one or another. Not a partisan comment, OK?
And yes it is their job to constructively criticize the government’s policies. Constructively criticizing means to offer alternative policies.
A clarification- Dr Tam is not a member of the government. She is a civil servant.
As with everything in life pretty much every situation is fluid. Advice from Dr Tam, from the CDC, from the WHO from governments has changed as as circumstances changed.
Yes, I agree with you both provincial (all) and federal governments have made and continue to make mistakes. I agree the borders, international and interprovincial should have been and still should be closed to non-commerce traffic.
I fail to see how the 4 month delay in providing second vaccine shots is unconcionable. If the vaccine is not available because the manufacturers are not keeping up with demand, which is the situation, who is to blame. Answer nobody. The manufacturers are not holding back deliberately. The Canadian government has absolutely no control over the manufacturing process. Yes the delay is unfortunate. What can be done, Phil?
David, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you don’t understand the importance of getting that second shot in a timely manner when the individual has a compromised or weakened immune system. That second shot consolidates the immune response and gives those people a “fighting chance” of getting a moderate immune response from the vaccination program–this was already known by medical experts even before the pandemic and was used with flu shots, pneumonia shots, shingles vaccines. Preliminary data from the UK (apparently ignored by the co-opted NACI) shows the drop off in antibody response after 5 weeks is particularly significant in this cohort. While some younger seniors may have relatively healthy immune systems, that is increasingly less true in the 75 year-old and older cohort. This is what I find truly unconcionable in the delay of the second dose.
The delay MAY (and I use that word advisedly) work for healthy adults–NACI is gambling; the UK studies they are relying on in their recommendation use data that has not been peer-reviewed (not scientifically validated) and a few of their citations included no data whatsoever. As the one doctor from NACI stated at the time of the delay recommendation, we wouldn’t be doing this if we had enough vaccine.
And why do we have the shortage of vaccine? The problems that exist with the procurement process seem to be a series of mistakes at the federal level. Trudeau initially placed all his eggs in the Sinovax basket and when the Chinese cancelled out, he was left to scramble. His vaunted portfolio of vaccines is more reflective of a last-minute desperate attempt to secure vaccines by signing with several suppliers and hoping a few came through. The federal government certainly did not licence the production in Canada from these suppliers. Could we have produced the vaccines in Canada–there are conflicting reports on this?
OK Last word from me on this. Thanks for the benefit of the doubt, but not needed. As a 68 year old with chronic atrial flutter, a pacemaker and type 2 diabetes I fully cognizant of the risks of not being vaccinated or even partially vaccinated.
I note Spain today implemented the same level of time delay between 1st and 2nd doses. I believe my July 24th scheduled 2nd shot will likely end up being brought forward to the beginning of June.
Your characterization of the federal government’s Plan B after the Chinese screwed us is not fair. Canada ordered/purchased the most vaccines on a per capita basis and an amount 3 times our population. Our government, the EU and others were let down by the manufacturer’s who failed to meet their commitments.
You have said it is a government opposition’s role to criticize the government. I said yes, but constructively criticize and offer alternative policies. Here is a headline from the BBC today with a link to the report.
India Covid: Opposition calls for full national lockdown
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56976214
Aa a government opposition criticize and offer alternatives !
Lastly, there was no way for the vaccine to be manufactured in Canada in the huge quantity needed. No facilities existed, and still don’t. Yes, facilities are now in process to be built. Back then and now we as a country are at the the mercy of the vaccine manufacturers for our supplies. It would not have mattered what party was in power, Liberal or PC, the situation would have been the same.
Perhaps the answer is that people who choose not to have any lockdowns or wear masks sign a binding agreement that they will not access any medical care should they develop Covid 19?