If the federal government feels compelled to invoke extraordinary powers under the Emergencies Act to enforce social distancing, what would that say about us as citizens?
The prime minister is a father of three young children and he’s spent the past week trying to mind the kids while working from home. So that rising note of frustration in his voice as he addressed the nation this morning is something he comes by honestly.
“Enough is enough,” he said, citing a spate of reports over the weekend that many Canadians are still congregating and communing beyond their immediate households, despite loud and repeated warnings about the danger of spreading COVID-19.
“Go home. And stay home. This is what we all need to be doing. And we’re going to make sure this happens — whether by educating people more on the risks, or by enforcing the rules, if that’s needed.”
In that moment, Justin Trudeau sounded like a dad trying to drive on a very busy highway while glancing in the rearview at the kids in the backseat acting up: Don’t make me come back there.
Old enough to know better
But kids are kids, and most of the people Trudeau was talking about — the ones flouting the guidelines in place to keep this pandemic from becoming much, much worse — are of voting age.
This situation is deadly serious, with the potential to affect the lives and welfare of each and every living Canadian. And the consequences that are being threatened, either implicitly or explicitly, are heavy and draconian.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says nothing that could help is ‘off the table,’ when it comes to enforcing self-isolation rules. 1:00
What Trudeau is asking his fellow Canadians to do is act like responsible adults — to take responsibility for their own actions and their duty to each other as citizens.
Ideally, a warning would be enough to get that message across. But Trudeau’s comments today were the third such warning the federal government has delivered in successive days, following simila