Some of us are starting to see a pattern. The economy is a mess. Well, of course it is, and we need look no farther than the pandemic for something to blame.
Things were percolating along nicely before COVID hit. We could afford both rent and groceries, with the occasional tank of gas. Not now.
A growing number of us get more – and timelier – health-care advice from our hairdresser than from anyone with medical credentials, and consider Dr. Google our primary care physician. We find it easier to get a vet appointment for our pet iguana than medical care for our children. And a visit to the emergency department can take so long that we are tempted to bring along a picnic lunch, a couple of books and a change of clothes.
It was never that way before COVID.
Look at what has happened to small-town Ontario. We have people panhandling in front of the grocery store and sleeping on the floors in public washrooms. We never had that before COVID.
Then there is speeding. It seems everyone forgot how to drive during the pandemic.
Reality check. The economy was not in perfect shape before the pandemic. The cost of borrowing money was so low that people were getting in over their heads with mortgages and other debt, and they were oblivious to warnings that interest rates would rise. Which they did.
The cost of real estate in Canada’s big cities began climbing into the stratosphere a long time ago, ever since our housing market became an investment commodity. Like a virus, what happened in Vancouver inevitably spread to Toronto and other cities. It was inevitable the situation would spread here, too. And it did.
As for health care, the present shortage of nurses has its roots in the hospital budget cuts of past decades, and the staff cuts that resulted, as well as simple demographics. The post-war baby boomers are hitting retirement age in large numbers – that includes nurses – and there is no one to replace them. The timing coincided with COVID but would have happened anyway.
As for the people panhandling on our main streets – rural Ontario has always had homelessness and poverty, and substance abuse and crime have never been just urban problems. In rural areas, a lot has been invisible – people couch-surf, and know who to hit for a handout. COVID may have made issues more visible, but it did not create them.
And then there are the speeders. Some of us did get accustomed to driving on near-empty streets during the pandemic, but the speed limits on those streets did not change.
In this area, the range of vehicles using the roads remained wide throughout the pandemic – everything from mini-cars to giant pieces of farm equipment, from electric scooters silently sneaking up on pedestrians, to horse-drawn wagons, from pickup trucks to tractor-trailers. There may be more of them out there now that COVID is over, but the variety demands extra care, especially this time of year. It always did.
The pandemic was a dramatic event that had a profound impact on our society. Mental health and social services supports, always in short supply especially in rural areas, became nearly impossible to access. Even informal supports on which people depended – church services and groups, visits with friends, even trips to the barber or hairdresser – ceased.
The result was that a lot of formerly invisible problems came into focus; fault lines widened; minor issues became serious. The pandemic acted like a magnifying glass.
What we need to do now is take action on the issues the pandemic revealed.
There will be no quick fixes. Most of the problems we are now battling were not created overnight, but are the result of years – decades – of inaction and abuse. Correcting them will take determination and co-operation on the part of all levels of government, along with the kind of planning that sees further than the next election and involves both the public and private sectors.
Step number one – stop blaming COVID.
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Pauline Kerr is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter currently working for Midwestern Newspapers. She can be reached at pkerr@midwesternnewspapers.com.
