How are we going to pay for the best summer ever?

 

How are we going to pay for the best summer ever?

 The year 2020 is blurred in my mind. In the beginning, a new provincial government announced that we were going to trim the fat off and make the Alberta economy more efficient, reduce taxes and all will be happily heading to a brighter future. It was easy to do. A few major cuts to all the budgets and voila, Albertans were going to do more work, for less pay, have fewer services, and be happy. Schools, hospitals, municipalities, people on social assistance lost income, and many lost their jobs. Doctors had community meetings to warn us they would have to move and nurses were checking jobs in other provinces. Threats to do away with the RCMP demoralized even the police force. For the time being, police budgets were cut, and the expense added to the municipal tax burden. That is what the governments call heavy lifting. 

Before we could react, a pandemic hit us like a ton of bricks. People, especially those living in under-funded care facilities, were dying. It would have gone unnoticed like some other less reported disasters, but those were parents and grandparents of voters. Measures to slow down the spread of the new disease had to be taken, and we realized who was important in our society. People who do things with their hands become “essential workers.” The majority of the population understood now how vital are healthcare workers, teachers, drivers, food producers and so many more. It is the low and minimum earners, the people with two or three jobs who were forced to risk life and keep working. 

Others, like hospitality, the restaurant industry, and related workers, were simply let go to figure out for themselves how to go on living. The Federal government, partially fearing riots and mass discontent, stepped in to help, borrowing or “printing” money to do so. All the major parties supported the measures, but many people, more to the Right than the Right, began protesting.

A new industry sprang up on the internet, people publishing made-up stories claiming that COVID is a hoax, that wearing masks and later, getting vaccinated is an infringement on their constitutional rights and that the hoax makes money for the rich drug companies and computer billionaires. They claimed that the vaccine is a vehicle carrying a Nanochip which will enable the government to trace people who wish to hide their whereabouts. Investigations about the source of the damaging misinformation, done by MIT, recently revealed some previously unknown sources of the anti-vax campaign. Using Facebook, it originated from Kosovo and Macedonia assumingly designed to destabilize the Western political system. The originators were using Christian fundamentalist names.

 When I was young an old woman told me: if you are going to tell a lie, make it a good one. If it’s truly unbelievable, people will fall for it. The whole freedom argument against protecting ourselves from COVID sounds like one. While the fight was going on, I followed strict doctor’s orders and remained isolated until a new lie surfaced, this time one that I wanted to believe. I remember the Premier unveiling a billboard promising Alberta the best summer ever. My intellect screamed, Stampede, no restrictions or contact tracing? Man, you are going to kill us! Yet after over a year of isolation, my emotions said, trust the guy, he probably checked things out. I forgot that when you get something you should ask the question, how are we going to pay for it. Now thousands of my fellow Albertans are paying for it in the worst way. People who were wearing hats “Best summer ever” are overcrowding ICU beds causing all other sick people to go without proper care.

I am back to isolation, but it’s not that bad. I sit in my studio overlooking some of the best views possible. The flowers are giving way to a fall picture. Dark green fir trees providing background to all shades of orange and yellow. In the last two days, I saw below me a mother moose with a young one, a brown-black bear, many deer, and smaller animals. Some are very attractive, black and white, yet smell pretty bad, sometimes. Some politicians do that at times, on the higher levels.

God provided me with what looks like heaven. I am vaccinated and only have to follow a few easy steps to stay safe. My son who works on pipeline construction calls. He follows some Tik-Tok news and believes that Bill Gates is trying to kill him with the jab. It’s a screwed-up world.

It occurs to me that politicians were not classified as essential workers. Many other highly paid positions were not. Some of them work for very high income but would have a hard time answering the question, what do you do for a living. Ask for a description, not for a title.

My friend Jack asked me about some government workers who make his life miserable demanding useless papers and slowing production. I explained about politicians promising to create jobs where there is no need. They don’t get sent home when times are tough. However, we will have surplus workers in the future.

 I watch inflation creeping up on us, especially on food, and I wonder. Will the government remember to pull back some of the money they dished out before it’s too late?

The idea was to inject money when the economy slowed and tax it back from where it’s not benefiting society. Make our money work for us and pull it back. Will they do it now?

Hundreds of Albertans and now Saskatchewan people are paying with their lives for a political game that failed. From my studio I ask; will we use this opportunity to fix our economy’s failures? Or will it just be another session of blah, blah, blah while leaders are vacationing.

Disclaimer: I accumulated all the above from news and published interviews. Some politicians are the best people I know.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.