{"id":1380,"date":"2020-12-31T13:28:27","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T18:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/31\/banana-bread-and-the-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2020-12-31T13:28:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T18:28:27","slug":"banana-bread-and-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/31\/banana-bread-and-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Banana Bread and the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I live in a non-descript semidetached on a quiet short cul de sac in west end Toronto. As I peered off my porch this morning, testing the air, I noticed four construction bins dotting the street.  Its happened. My neighbours have stated \u201cthe hell with banana bread, we are on to renovations! We are so bored in lockdown! \u201d   Such are the \u2018first world\u201d problems of some in the midst of a pandemic. But only some. In fact ,the few, not the many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we know? We know according to Public Health Ontario that Covid-19 infections are found at three times the rate in the most \u201cdiverse neighbourhoods\u201d. (\u201cDiverse neighbourhoods\u201d such a polite term to mean \u201cnot white\u201d) We know that hospitalizations of people sick with the virus is three times higher in diverse neighbourhoods, ICU admittance four times higher and death rates twice as high.
https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/-\/media\/documents\/ncov\/epi\/2020\/06\/covid-19-epi-diversity.pdf?la=en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What else do we know? We know that health care professionals particularly those working directly with patients, like nurses for instance , are at great risk of contracting Covid-19. Unsurprisingly those in the lowest pay bracket of the health sector find themselves at higher risk. A study seeking to find the 100 occupations of people most at risk found primary school teachers, personal care aides, grocery and retail workers, hairdressers, taxi and Uber drivers\u2026 Let\u2019s just say those people who find their names on Ontario\u2019s sunshine list are underrepresented on this list of those most at risk. https:\/\/www.visualcapitalist.com\/the-front-line-visualizing-the-occupations-with-the-highest-covid-19-risk\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And guess what, those who live in \u201cdiverse neighbourhoods\u201d , those on the list of workers most at risk don\u2019t have the luxury of working from home. They are not worried about the banana bread being too dry nor do they have a house to renovate. They often are members of what we term the \u201cworking poor\u201d. They may be called \u201cessential workers\u201d by our government but only some are offered childcare to ease the burden of work, or additional hazard pay in the form of an hourly top up and only those essential workers who have unions and collective agreements receive sick days to use if they dare decide not to work while waiting for a Covid test. Those who receive these extra \u201cperks\u201d are those in occupations needed to care for those of us who work from home. https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/gta\/2020\/12\/30\/city-looks-to-provide-emergency-child-care-to-essential-workers-during-post-holiday-remote-learning-week.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


This is to say nothing of seniors, particularly those warehoused in substandard, relatively unregulated private senior care homes. Isolated in their homes often in their rooms, alone, no visits from anyone permitted. For a brief time, only for a fleeting moment of this pandemic, some not the many,  liberated by Canadian Armed Forces until they were consigned back to government bluster and indifference.https:\/\/torontolife.com\/city\/how-ontarios-long-term-care-homes-became-houses-of-horror\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Covid-19 weighs on already precarious lives the response of the government has been to focus on business, the economy. In his daily dog and pony show pressers Premier Ford in all his tiresome folksiness laments the plight of the small businessperson. After his now ritual opening \u201cmy friends\u201d and of course after he tells us how hard he is working, \u201con the phones day and night\u201d he tells us about the concern he has for the small businesses on the precipice of disaster. Never a mention of the more than 4,500 people who have died in the Province. Nary a mention of the rising daily increase in the number of deaths, just yesterday December 29th<\/sup>\u2013 30th<\/sup>an increase of 194%. https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/-\/media\/documents\/ncov\/epi\/2020\/covid-19-daily-epi-summary-report.pdf?la=en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why this callousness from the government \u201cfor the people\u201d?  I can think of a few reasons.  Here are two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where one sits is where one stands. Ford, like a certain soon to be former president of the United States, inherited a family business. The Premier runs Deco Labels. His prowess ,or lack thereof , as a businessman is stuff of another missive, but it is clear that his experience as an owner of a company is where he sits and where he stands. Deco Label has two branches. One in Ontario and one in Illinois employing over 200 staff. It is from that vantage point he is speaking, and we well know everything about the Premier is about him. He forgets that \u201cMom and Pop\u201d ventures, community establishments are owned by people If he just worried about people he would provide for them until the rainy day passed and they could pick up with their business from where they left. He would be able to focus on the rest of those bearing the brunt of the pandemic. Sadly, this is not within him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first met a Minister of Children, Community and Social Services of this government  I was the Province\u2019s Child Advocate.  I was told by the Minister and their Chief of Staff  \u201cour government is interested in a few things. Cutting red tape.  Opening up the economy. Smaller deficit.  We aren\u2019t much interested in children (sic people).  We might do a few things, but they won\u2019t make the news\u201d. This it turns out was prophetic and despite a coat of charm in recent times after the ouster of Dean French and his crew the government has not changed course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billions of dollars provided to Ontario by the Federal Government for Covid response unspent.  Protection from civil litigation for private for-profit Seniors homes. A debacle with flu vaccines. A pause in Covid-19 vaccinations for a holiday break.  Testing line ups, delays and chaos. Nothing done in over 8 months to protect seniors\u2026..We are living the consequences of the government\u2019s obsession with business in its first year and a half and struggling to live through the government\u2019s inability to learn and change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government feels that focussing on people is not good politics in tough times. It ties itself in knots obfuscating, spinning, messaging avoiding responsibility and accountability. Not a new strategy in todays politics but exacerbated in a crisis and taken to new heights by this government. It breeds and fosters cynicism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I write Ontario\u2019s Minister of Finance returns early from his vacation in St Barts.  Whether he is ousted from Cabinet or not, perhaps jettisoned to the Ministry of Tourism , the apparent Siberia for disgraced Ministers, is neither here nor there.  Whatever happens will be an exercise in damage control and spin. Only when the Minister\u2019s trip and social media ruse came to the public attention did the Premier care to \u201cmy friends..\u201d the Province.  Not of course when the Premier first learned about it, nor when the very Minister attended Cabinet meetings from St Bart\u2019s using a green screen beknown to the Premier to hide his whereabouts.  The situation symbolic of the governments approach to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gap between most of us and our government is now a chasm.  We are alone in this pandemic.  Perhaps yes as residents of the province \u201cin this together\u201d but abandoned by government.  We truly as Dylan sang \u201con our own with no direction from home\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would good look like. Simple really. The old Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) said \u201cPeople Before Profit\u201d. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this framework we can establish a role for government that ensures the rights for one are the rights for all Ontarians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can establish a well-being budgeting process that demonstrates, implements and measures all activities of government in terms of how it supports our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can establish a well being impact assessment process that would demand every step taken by government and its bureaucracy is assessed as to how it does and could enhance the well-being of Ontarians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can conduct our politics differently with transparency, honesty, integrity. We can modernize our institutions of democracy connecting them to citizens beyond elections<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is opportunity in the maelstrom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its 2021. We can do this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I live in a non-descript semidetached on a quiet short cul de sac in west end Toronto. As I peered off my porch this morning, testing the air, I noticed four construction bins dotting the street.  Its happened. My neighbours have stated \u201cthe hell with banana bread, we are on to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-socio-politics","tag-onpoli-covid-19-theelman"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}