At the risk of being too political, I am curious of one aspect from the Canadian's who have identified as such in this string.
How much do you see more of a unified "Canadian" approach/attitude to the virus vs. a province by province approach?
The reason I ask is in my bike travels through Canada, I noticed at least as much different regional attitudes as I have in the USA. For example, people in Alberta frustrated why things are written with both English/French when they don't see French-speaking people there; or people in Atlantic Canada with a different attitude towards Federal Government intervention than elsewhere, differences between attitudes in a more urban places like Toronto or Vancouver vs. more rural areas, Quebec in general, etc. My understanding is also that a large part of the delivery of health services is by province even when following national laws. So I could easily see differences in how aggressively Covid-19 measures are put in place or endorsed depending on the province. Particularly if the hardest hit areas are initially more localized.
I realize it is hard to completely generalized, just as it is difficult to generalize for the USA. However, some of what I see in the US are a fair amount of dependence on individual states - and then differences in that response among those states depending on how hard the virus has hit - as well as some more general politics. For example, in my part of TX, I saw things initially taken fairly seriously but a quicker "relaxation" when it seemed like the greater New York area was harder hit. That has been followed by a much strong surge of virus in TX, though not (yet or hopefully) at the peaks seen by NYC.
In that US response, I see a fair amount of regionalism / state differences
- . I'm curious to what extent that is also true between different Canadian provinces, particularly since I've perceived more regionalism/differences on other topics in my Canadian travels.
- It is a bit hard to generalize since even throughout the US, you'll see some of every attitude in all the states.
There is definitely regional differences and the response has been controlled at the provincial level but all the provinces have basically signed on to the national strategy that has come from WHO recommendations. The differences in response are more to do with opening/closing phases dependent on when provinces hit safe/dangerous target levels but I think, behind the scenes, there has been a lot of cross checking and coordination.
We have covidiots here too but there is a greater social pressure to toe the line for the good of all. For example, Albertans really hate Trudeau and are very conservative in nature (the current Fed Gov is liberal) but follow the strategy regardless. In general we did not turn it into a political issue. If anything, we politicized it by creating an intense sense of national pride in coming together as Canadians and supporting each other.
Because we (as a nation) quickly accepted reality and the WHO guidelines and got on with doing what was needed to combat the issue I don't think I could emphasize how bizarre the US situation looks from the outside. Still arguing if it's real or a hoax, how serious it is, whether it will magically disappear or even primary stuff like how viruses are transmitted- its like re inventing the wheel instead of driving the car to safety.