TORONTO —
From lockdown to shutdown to circuit breaker to emergency break, jurisdictions across the country have been using different buzzwords to describe periods of tightened COVID-19 restrictions.
But are those terms supposed to mean different things? And how is the general public expected to understand them?
Experts say inconsistent public health messaging in parts of Canada has plagued the country’s handling of the pandemic since COVID-19 first started circulating here.
And they say recent developments, including Ontario’s move to a province-wide “emergency-break shutdown” that still allows some businesses and religious services to operate at reduced capacity, is breeding confusion rather than solving a problem.
Shana MacDonald, a communications expert with the University of Waterloo, worries that some of Canada’s pandemic messaging – and Ontario’s specifically – is becoming “more ineffective by the day.”
She says the Ontario government is “playing politics with words” when using terms like lockdown and shutdown, but not implementing measures that would force people to stay home, as the labels imply.
“I think it’s exacerbating the fatigue and you’re seeing public sentiment becoming quite frustrated and restless,” MacDonald said. “And we’re not as forgiving as we might have been a year ago when the feeling was ‘we’re all in this together.’
“The government is saying something … but it actually doesn’t mean it in practice. And that’s where the confusion comes in.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday he was “pulling the emergency break” on the entire province with a new shutdown period that will begin Saturday and last for at least one month.
Non-essential retail will still operate at 25 per cent capacity, while indoor weddings, funerals and religious services can go ahead with a 15 per cent capacity limit.
Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease expert with McMaster University, says Ontario’s plan sounds more like a lockdown than a shutdown, which is meant by definition to be more drastic.
The word shutdown was previously used to describe the stay-at-home measures implemented in the province after Christmas that led to a significant decrease in COVID cases.
Chagla says the definition of lockdown versus shutdown has changed depending on who’s using the terms.
“I don’t think we’re supposed to know what they mean,” Chagla said. “In the grand scheme, it’s that this is some sort of societal closure. … It’s a little bit confusing obviously. It’s such a moving target.”
Ontario isn’t the only jurisdiction tightening restrictions as COVID cases rise.
Quebec announced Wednesday that three of its cities would enter a new 10-day lockdown phase that would close schools and non-essential businesses, while B.C. began a circuit breaker this week that cancelled indoor exercise classes and closed restaurants, pubs and bars to indoor dining.
Chagla says Ontario’s shutdown could result in slowing transmission in certain areas, but it likely won’t do much to halt spread in workplaces that remain open. He added that lives of essential workers, the segment of the population driving transmission now, won’t change much with the new measures.
There also won’t be many significant changes for those already living in the province’s “grey zones” like Peel and Toronto, says Krishana Sankar, the science communication lead for the online platform COVID-19 Resources Canada.
Sankar says even she’s been confused by terminology regarding lockdowns.
“Trying to understand the differences in what each of these mean has been extremely frustrating and challenging for all of us,” she said.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said Thursday that the province decided to go with a shutdown versus full stay-at-home orders in order to lessen the impact on peoples’ mental health.
But MacDonald worries the confusion will breed more pandemic fatigue among a population that’s “already completely saturated and exhausted.”
“What’s happening is people are tuning out, not even trying to keep up with the messaging, which keeps changing,” she said. “And so the danger is people will lose public trust and start making their own rules.”
Chagla agrees people are “feeling defeated,” adding that confusion about what’s allowed and what isn’t tends to arise whenever a province updates its restrictive framework.
He says it would help for jurisdictions to spell out lower-risk activities that people can take part in, such as small outdoor gatherings safely spaced apart, rather than hammering home what they can’t do.
“Consistency (in messaging) is helpful but as part of the restrictions … we need to take care of people and let them do things safely,” he said.
– With files from Adina Bresge.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2021.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
