Observations From Just Outside the Pandemic #8

Our political system is far from perfect. This should not surprise us. We all accept that no one person is perfect. Why we expect that 300 plus people sitting in a room to be collectively faultless when there is ample evidence to the contrary continues to boggle my mind.

Canadian politicians have generally been playing nice with each other. There has been little, if any, criticism of what the various levels of government have been trying to do. That friendliness may begin to erode when people start to argue about who is responsible for dealing with the debt that has been accumulated. However, in the meantime - especially when compared to some of the squabblings to the south of us - it has been delightful to see them all working together, sharing resources and information. They have even praised each other on national television!

I have been less impressed with other members of our society. Especially those who criticize the government for not being better prepared. No government in the world was ready to deal with a pandemic. I am not sure why anyone would expect that the Canadian government's crystal ball would have or could have been better than anyone else'. Yes, it would have been nice if in some huge warehouse, somewhere in Canada, the government has stockpiled hundreds of extra ventilators and thousands and thousands of masks and gowns etc. It certainly would have made life much easier and safer for folks like nurses and care aids.

 It would have been nice if the medical "experts" who are suggesting that the government erred in not having that supply available, had made such a warehouse a priority in their funding request. The fact is that every year professionals demand that the government address a myriad of issues - all of which are critically important to at least one group of people. Someone needs to decide which issue gets funding. Not enough medical experts said that a warehouse filled to the rafters with medical supplies to combat a pandemic was a priority. Why those experts thought that the government could make that decision when they could not decide how or what to prioritize remains a mystery to me.

We all knew that a pandemic was possible, perhaps even likely at some point. No one was prepared for it to happen in the spring of 2020. Not even the doctors.

In the upcoming months, other people will get on the bandwagon, pointing out all of the things the present government and all proceeding governments should have done so that we would have been more comfortable during these challenging times, so that there would have been fewer deaths, so that our economy would not have been so weakened. And in many cases, those pundits or experts will be right. In a perfect world, led by perfect leaders and supported by perfect experts all decisions will be the right ones. But that is not the world I live in. I make mistakes and I, therefore, am obliged to accept that others are allowed to make them too.

We must acknowledge that we could have, and in fact, that we need to do a better job at preparing for an unknown future. But we need to do it in such a way that allows us to collectively grow as opposed to finding fault with a handful of sadly imperfect people.