[QUOTE=mev;21574235]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.[/QUOTE
Hi Mev, I saw your question at the but was busy and or didnt want to answer without a real keyboard and dealing with autocorrect frustrations etc.
Again, Happy has done a very good job of describing the situation, as well as his follow up comments that very much reflect my views. I thank him again for taking the time to put all of it down.
He is on the opposite side of the country to where I am, but my wife and I have old friends in British Columbia (where Happy is) and I can assure you that his views are common. I can also relate his coomments to my experience between my province, Quebec and the neighbouring province, Ontario.
What Happy wrote pretty much sums it up-- especially the main idea that while of course there are regional differences between provinces, the main point is that there has been a consensus across the country that proven, established steps are the only way to reduce and control this situation.
On the whole, the political message across the country has always been that we know that A, B and C etc steps are how we will approach things, and that once we begin to control the numbers, keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, follow established and proven protocols such as social distancing and mask wearing in close quarters to other people, at that point can we logically begin to open up things.
However, it has always been stressed at all levels, that this is a fluid situation, and that we all have a collective responsibility to follow these simple rules IN ORDER for us to return to a more normal situation.
One example of the common political message are the premiers of Ontario and Quebec. Politically and culturally, Ontario and Quebec are very different, but from the start of this, both premiers (which I imagine are like Governors of individual states in the USA) have given a very similar straight forward view of what we were dealing with.
The underlying message of everyones responsibility to work together to deal with this situation and to stop it becoming like in Italy or New York or whatever, came from both of these provincial leaders.
Of course, in some areas where there have been very few cases, its normal for people to wonder why this is continuing, and openings of services etc have tended to happen earlier in these regions.
and yes, due to education and general knowledge factors, there is a small percentage of people who behave as though nothing is happening, I see them every week when I do grocery shopping for my elderly parents.
But all in all, the overall understanding and collective message that comes from all levels of leadership, means that on the whole, there is a very high percentage of people who understand why and how we MUST deal with this situation.
As Happy alluded to, there is no need to debate how to reinvent the wheel here, we know what we need to do and how to do it responsibly.