Amanda Williams
The COVID Strategic Choices Group is an interdisciplinary task force whose goal is to identify and assess different strategies to manage the pandemic until vaccines are fully deployed. The Group suggests that Canada will likely experience a 3rd wave in the spring without a fundamental change in strategy. Building the Canadian Shield is the Group’s approach, designed to shield Canadians and the economy from both COVID and the unintended consequences of the fight against COVID.
The Group aims to save 5,000 lives, create 320,000 jobs and generate $37B of economic growth in 2021, with the expected vaccination of 3M of the most vulnerable Canadians. Vaccination of the 200-300 thousand truckers and 25-50 thousand essential workers who make up most US-Canada land-border crossings are also part of the plan.
The group admits the strategy is not guaranteed to succeed; however, “Success will allow Canadians, within a few weeks, to take back collective control of their lives, their hospitals, their business, and their communities.”
Cited from the Global Canada Working Paper, dated December 23rd, 2020, “Canada is a high-trust society with an engaged citizenry. The strong majority of Canadians support provincial and Federal government actions against COVID. Although there have been some anti-mask and anti-regulation protests, the COVID response has not yet become generally polarized or politicized.”
This is a bold statement for Global Canada to make considering the following:
- Ontarians have been protesting against lockdowns every Saturday in Toronto since March/April 2020
- Ontario MPP Randy Hillier has opposed many of the lockdown measures since May 2020
- In July 2020, Belinda Karahalios was ousted from the PC caucus after voting against Bill 195
- A group of parents supported by Stand Up Canada and Stand4Thee initiated citizens’ arrests against mayors in Ontario to defend the children who have and still suffer from COVID measures not limited to but including eating disorders and suicide
- The Melbourne Model, an aggressive approach used by Victoria State Australia, was analyzed and considered by the Group. The Melbourne lockdown is regarded as one of the worst violations of civil liberties, as reported in the Daily UK
- On December 10th, 2020, The Justice Centre filed a lawsuit challenging sections of the Public Health Act and Orders in Manitoba, claiming lockdown measures are not justified violations of the Charter-protected freedoms of conscience, religion, expression, and peaceful assembly
- The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is filing court actions in five provinces to end the Charter-violating lockdowns
- An international group of lawyers is preparing to sue the World Health Organization (WHO) over damages inflicted on large parts of the population by the coronavirus lockdowns
The COVID Strategic Choices Group states that members who serve in their individual capacity do not represent any organization, and are independent of any government; however, some affiliates are worth noting. One member is the SVP of Bell Corporate Services Canada, the parent company of Bell Media, which owns and runs 30 CTV television stations across Canada. Mainstream media is responsible for projecting unnecessary fear into Canadians’ hearts and minds using COVID cases and deaths, with minimal context. Global-Canada who houses the Strategic Choices Group, has Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation listed as a supporter. The Gates Foundation has invested millions of dollars in vaccines and would receive financial gain with this strategy enforced.
Building the Canadian Shield is less than promising for a few reasons:
- The strategy’s success is based on the assumption that Canadians are willing to be vaccinated when the vaccine does not prevent transmission and is not yet proven safe or effective.
- The goal to achieve less than one new case per million population is unattainable without proper testing. The PCR test is not designed to detect ANY illness or disease and is responsible for the high number of false positives.
- Current lockdown measures do not pass the OAKES test. Lockdowns restrict access to essential health services, including screenings, treatments, and surgeries resulting in death. Lockdowns have also caused: increased suicides, drug overdoses, domestic violence, child abuse, mental illnesses, hunger, poverty, and the loss of jobs and businesses.
Considering the Group’s name, there seems to be a lack of choices with their approach. Building the Canadian Shield consists of a hard 4–6-week lockdown, restricting non-essential flights, travel between provincial borders, increased isolation, and massive quick testing of asymptomatic people until near-zero COVID levels are reached.
The report is based on epidemiological and economic modelling, including expected vaccinations and inaccurate case numbers, making the entire strategy illogical and irrelevant. Potentially, this strategy could have citizens locked down for much longer than expected. In conclusion, the 17-page report provides few details on the Group’s plan to create $37B in economic growth, providing a false sense of hope for those whose lives have already been destroyed by lockdowns as well as those still hanging on by a thread.
