Juno News - April 12, 2020


How much of our freedom will the coronavirus cost us？


Episode Stats

Length

4 minutes

Words per Minute

128.53972

Word Count

637

Sentence Count

33


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Toronto Mayor John Tory is apparently calling on police and bylaw officers to issue more tickets
00:00:11.360 as part of the stricter enforcement of current physical distancing orders.
00:00:17.760 The RCMP have apparently been asked to do more enforcement of the Quarantine Act.
00:00:24.720 The Mounties say they can visit homes to ensure anyone entering Canada is self-isolating for a minimum of 14 days.
00:00:34.400 According to their statement, violations under the Act could result in fines of up to $750,000 and imprisonment of up to six months.
00:00:46.960 They also said that would be a last resort, of course.
00:00:50.620 If George Orwell were not already dead, he could use all of this as a foundation for an updated version of 1984.
00:01:00.420 This week in Ottawa, a bylaw officer tried to ticket a father walking with his daughter in a park.
00:01:07.500 They were ordered out of the park, and they were complying when some sort of confrontation occurred.
00:01:13.800 What that jumped-up little toad thought he was accomplishing, we'll never actually know.
00:01:21.500 Meanwhile, the Public Safety Minister is asking Corrections Canada to release as many prisoners as can be arranged.
00:01:29.880 Theoretically, non-violent ones.
00:01:32.100 Judges in Ontario have already taken it upon themselves to release people who would normally be sent to jail to await trial,
00:01:42.240 even though they stand accused of committing violent offenses.
00:01:48.480 Evidently, you can go to jail and be fined a lot of money if you fail to quarantine yourself after traveling,
00:01:55.660 but if you've already committed an actual crime, the system will try and release you.
00:02:03.800 And perish the thought, you don't observe the appropriate social distancing rules in John Tory's Toronto,
00:02:11.480 lest the wrath of the Toronto Police Service descend upon you.
00:02:17.120 Life in Canada is getting more bizarre, to say the least, by the day.
00:02:22.000 And it's not just Canada.
00:02:24.560 What about that video that went viral of the police in Philadelphia dragging a man off the subway for not wearing a mask?
00:02:33.960 It's bizarre, really.
00:02:35.980 But, and perhaps more bizarre, is the difference between our Prime Minister and the President of the United States.
00:02:43.320 Donald Trump wants desperately to get his country back to work, and to unleash the American economy.
00:02:50.580 He said this week that he expects the U.S. economy will be back up and running by May.
00:02:58.460 Justin Trudeau, on the other hand, said this week that he hopes some Canadians will be able to go back to work sometime this summer,
00:03:07.540 and Canada won't be back to normal until there is a vaccine against the coronavirus,
00:03:13.760 which likely will be more than a year away.
00:03:16.520 It's difficult to imagine how many small businesses will still be around after all that time.
00:03:26.000 Yeah, the coronavirus is very contagious.
00:03:30.020 Yes, we should all do what we can to mitigate the risks of the contagion.
00:03:35.040 But, how much is too much?
00:03:37.860 Where is the point of diminishing returns in all of this?
00:03:44.360 How much of our freedom should we be forced to relinquish to the power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats
00:03:51.060 who are convinced they know what's good for us?
00:03:56.540 Every year, thousands of people die from seasonal flu.
00:03:59.800 Usually, it is because they have underlying health conditions that allow the flu to attack their diminished immune systems.
00:04:08.120 That would appear to be the same with the coronavirus.
00:04:12.060 Thus far, we haven't seen as many deaths from the coronavirus as we normally see during the average flu season.
00:04:20.220 Yet, we don't normally suspend our freedoms, empower police to do outrageous enforcement,
00:04:27.960 release convicted criminals from jail sentences,
00:04:31.680 prematurely paralyze the economy,
00:04:34.420 and force many small businesses and individuals into economic hardship and maybe even bankruptcy.
00:04:42.800 Life is tough enough, and not without risk at the best of times.
00:04:47.500 But, is there any logic to making the cure worse than the disease?
00:04:54.860 For True North, I'm Leo Knight.