Coronavirus shows Canadians it’s time to end our Made in China addiction

Victoria Day long weekend, as we enter into what is traditionally considered the unofficial start of summer, I like what I see.

With the warmer temperatures I like to sit on my deck, have a drink, enjoy the sun and watch my neighborhood. It makes me happy to see activity.  I see things that I would normally not have payed attention too.

I see children playing in the street, neighbors mowing their lawns, planting gardens and bringing their camping trailers home from storage. I like the neighborhood smell of Alberta beef, pork and chicken on smoker’s and BBQ’s. I like the sound of conversation and laughter around my community as people come out of seclusion.

I like seeing commerce in my neighborhood.  Three houses down a contractor is doing the roof on a neighbor’s house. He has an assistant and they have a rental trailer for debris.

Another neighbor had a load of gravel delivered and rented a bobcat to spread it. As much as the noise of the roofers banging their hammers and the beep, beep, beep of the bobcat would normally be very annoying when working from home, it has become the sound of life emerging. The sound of people working, living life and getting on with it. I love the sound of activity, commerce, movement of people and some kind normal.  It’s good to see money starting to flow and people getting back to life.

But we shouldn’t let our guard down. We have all made sacrifices in the past months. We must stay diligent and continue showing empathy, kindness, patience, cooperation and understanding but get on with work and life.

During seclusion Canadians have learned a lot about our country and about ourselves. We learned that long term seniors care in this country needs to be regulated.  Seniors deserve to live their twilight years in safety, security and in dignity. Not as a part of a corporation, where decisions are driven on profits not what is best for our senior citizens. 

The stories and statistics coming out of senior’s homes are disturbing and angering to Canadians. Given that all of us, young and old, are aging and some of us will inevitably end up in long term care, we will hold the government accountable on this issue. Seniors care needs a regulatory body and oversight.

We learned there are conservative premiers with strong leadership skills in Canada. Many embraced the challenge and demonstrated strong ability’s during this pandemic. Premiers who patiently guided an inexperienced and incapable cottage coward. I wish an adult would take Trudeau’s seemingly limitless Bank of Canada debit card away and shutdown his spending.

We will all be watching Mr. Ford to see if he follows through on his commitment to turn Ontario back into a manufacturing powerhouse.

We have seen the knowledge, skills, intelligence, dedication and leadership of our provincial chief medical officers. Well done – you continue to give us hope and faith. 

Our health care professionals, doctors, nurses, licensed practical nurses, hospital cleaners and a lot of other people who work in hospitals from the administrators to the janitors – thank you.

Thank you to the truck drivers who work hard every day. They work more than their pay and its about time they were recognized.

It’s the truck drivers in diesel powered big rigs who move medical supplies, food and goods around this country. If its in your house it was delivered by a diesel-powered truck. Let’s all say a thank you for their professionalism, safety, time and commitment. They send it down the line.

We learned that Canada has no strategic reserve of medical supplies, food, medication or even oil in Canada. Nor do we have a plan beyond begging other countries for help or asking industry to retrofit and convert their manufacturing to suit our requirements. We have no plan and are dependent on foreign manufacturing from places like China.

This makes us very vulnerable.  We must acknowledge how vulnerable we are and how dependent we are on foreign countries supply chains.  World trade increases competitiveness in the marketplace and reduces costs to the customer, but it should never be done at the expense of the health and safety of our citizens. Canadians do not trust China nor do we want to be involved with and dependent on China any longer.

The flood of Saudi and Russian oil coming into the North American market during the crisis was a deliberate dumping by unfriendly dictatorships who are seeking to drive our five oil producing provinces and one territory out of business. This act of aggression had the sole purpose of controlling the market and gaining market share.

Once Canadian producers are bankrupt, OPEC would triple and quadruple their prices making billions of dollars on the backs of hard-working innocent Canadians while our oil is locked in the ground.

The Made in China addiction and foreign oil addiction need to end immediately. We need Made In Canada by Canadians for Canadians.

We need to end foreign imports of oil. Canada needs oil and it may as well be supplied by Canadians. Made in Canada. Produced in Canada. Purchased in Canada.  Make Canadian and buy Canadian. End the dependence on foreign supply chains and foreign oil.

As Canadian oil is locked in the ground and jobs are lost, a foreign oil worker is hired. Canada develops oil and gas with the highest environmental standards, labour standards and human rights in the world. Embrace it. Be proud of it.

Elizabeth May’s lies have been exposed. The green movement has been keeping First Nations in a permanent state of poverty. The Green movement is dead. We can trust oil to heat our homes and fuel our cars and deliver our goods in times of need. Oil is gaining strength and is our future for decades to come.