Canadians may be cautious about locking down this time

Key Takeaways:

• More than 40% of Ontarians have already pledged to defy public health orders urging them to cancel Christmas dinner.

Fearing a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, provincial governments are imposing restrictions reminiscent of the panicked first weeks of the pandemic.

Quebec ordered the closure of all bars, theatres, casinos, gyms, and spas, quickly followed by similar measures in British Columbia.

Suppose there is one significant difference between this and previous lockdowns. In that case, it is being imposed on an almost universally vaccinated adult population that is proving to be increasingly sceptical of government general health orders.

In a current Forum Research poll, up to 42% of Ontarians said they would still gather with extended family this Christmas, despite Ontario’s top doctor Kieran Moore recommending that Christmas dinners with older family members be held outside and with masks.

Earlier this month, 72% of respondents to a Maru Public Opinion poll said they would not change their travel plans due to Omicron. Furthermore, most of those polled (54%) said they were unconcerned about contracting the variant.

According to an Ipsos poll released last week, 56% of Canadians would support an Omicron lockdown, a decrease from 69% in July. However, as a percentage of the population, that translates to an additional five million Canadians opposing the lockdown.

According to a Leger poll conducted in early December, 68% of respondents were okay with a return to social distancing, a lower figure than the 80% seen in previous polls.

“I don’t think Canadians are looking forward to having to go back there,” said Leger’s Christian Bourque at the time.

Earlier this month, experts told the that they were sceptical of Canada eventually adopting a European-style mandatory vaccination regime.

The national broadcaster also aired a recent column by Bianca Mugyenyi, director of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, in which she referred to Canadian travel bans on southern Africa as evidence of “contempt for Africans.”

Source: national post

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