On that long ago Halloween Night when I was nine years old, I pinched myself in order to be convinced that I really WAS in an orphanage.
I could not believe that I was there when both my parents, though separated, were alive; could not believe that I could no longer run up the street where we lived to visit my much beloved, cookie-dispensing Aunt Edie.
The disappointing premier
The pinch hurt, and the piteous cries of the two little sisters who were brought to the institution on the same night as me and my three siblings—who eventually cried themselves to sleep—were heartbreakingly real.
Many, many moons later, I sometimes want to pinch myself to prove that we’re all really living in an upside down, topsy-turvy world, where governments seem to be deliberately punishing the very people they were elected to serve.
Now the cries heard through long nights are not from emotionally traumatized little orphan girls, but from people unable to sleep at 2 and 3 a.m., worried about where their governments are taking them.
Some of these cries in emails are enough to break the human heart.
Here in the Province of Ontario we are in the third Lockdown—with more restrictions from ‘Conservative’ Premier Doug Ford said to be on the way. The first one came in March 2020, cutting people off from church attendance. The second on Boxing Day, when Ford moved back the closure notice from Christmas Eve. The third current one, at midnight on Good Friday.
The disappointing premier claims to be turning to the lockdowns to protect the masses from Covid-19 and its coming variations.
Liquor stores must be immune to the pandemic because they’re all still open
I get that, but not what he’s doing to Ontario—not long ago, the economic engine of Canada—before the myriad bankruptcies of small businesses, including restaurants, barbershops, hair salons, etc.
All churches are either closed or restricted to 15% of their original attendees.
Liquor stores must be immune to the pandemic because they’re all still open.
In the Province next door, authorities have moved a Montreal city-wide curfew from 9:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Montreal, Canada’s second largest and most cosmopolitan city!
Neighbors are turning against neighbors, friends against friends, family members squabbling about social distancing and mask wearing; lonely people living alone more lonely now than ever before.
Were it not for the reality that our little Yorkie dog, ‘Yankee’ needs walks, no one would ever leave this house because of neighbors demanding to know “Have you had your vaxx yet?”
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If one wants to see with their own eyes what the premiers of Ontario, Quebec and government leaders in many other places are doing to them psychologically, they just need to look in a mirror.
Hair that badly needs cutting, deep lines of worry etched on all faces seen without masks.
School children cut off from direct social interaction with peers are committing suicide!
“With Ontario's latest lockdown and stay-at-home order enacted by the Ford government comes a new restriction: Big Box, dollar, and other stores which have been permitted to remain open because they sell "essential goods" are now forbidden from selling items deemed "non-essential." The logic is that cordoning off "non-essential" goods will encourage more people to stay home and buy their goods online from smaller companies. (Post Millennial, April 8, 2021)
“Food, toiletries, and pharmaceutical items are still available for purchase. However, many other items people use on a daily basis are not.
“Lightbulbs, for example, have been deemed "non-essential." So have other electrical supplies, such as extension cables and the power bars people likely depend on as they work from home.
“The lamps and electronics one would use those lightbulbs and power cords with are also forbidden. So are video games, TVs, computer accessories, speakers, and related equipment.
“Clothing from underwear to outwear has also been deemed "non-essential."
“Although food can still be purchased, anything one might require to prepare and eat it can not be, including coffee makers, microwaves, cups, plates, bakeware, and food storage containers.
“Sporting equipment, hiking gear, yoga mats, kiddie pools, and anything else that enables one to maintain their fitness routine while the gyms remain closed are also "non-essential" according to the Ford government.
“Office and school supplies are also deemed "non-essential," including pens and pencils. Children's colouring supplies and crafts are also off-limits.
“Along with colouring supplies, entire toy departments have been blocked off as well.
“Although human toys are not allowed, pet toys ARE permissible under the new order.”
“Ford says there will be 'further restrictions moving forward.’ (Orillia Matters, April 6, 2021)
“'This variant is moving hour-by-hour, day-by-day so we have to move with it and be nimble and be quick and that’s what we’re doing,' says Ford
“But we’re going to have further restrictions moving forward, very very quickly. And again we have to focus on where we see the problem,” he said.
“He noted there are three problem areas representing about 60 per cent of the COVID-19 cases — York, Peel and Toronto.
"When you have an inferno going on somewhere you have to turn the hoses there, you have to continue doing the whole province, but we’re really focussing on the hot areas and we’ll be sending mobile units into those hot areas and these companies to make sure that we target those and hopefully once we do that we’re going to see the numbers come down," he said.
He said the government will be "very clear tomorrow".
“He mentioned big employers and neighbourhoods in the target areas would be targeted. It's not clear if the further measures will affect the whole province.”
Back in the day, who ever would have thought that a premier elected on a Conservative vote would do significant more harm to the once thriving Province of Ontario than the New Democrat Party’s Premier Bob Rae, or Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne under whose watch the elderly had to choose between paying for hydro bills or groceries?
Lockdown Premier Doug Ford seems to be the puppet of the same provincial health officials under whose watch long care homes were running in scandalous shape before the virus ever hit.
Some say that Ford has moved behind the cover of Christianity through CFP’s once close friend Canada Christian College founder Charles McVety. (Possibly more on this later).
Meanwhile, this is my prediction about when the current lockdown in Ontario will come to an end.
Not in the first week of May as was hinted by Ford when he called for the third Lockdown—but only at the end of June when school children are out for the usual summer break.
Ford does not want in-person schooling for Ontario children, and that unfortunately is how he will achieve it.
This premier continues to turn a deaf ear to those crying out that his lockdowns are hurting the people who voted for him.
Many are looking forward to the day when Premier Doug Ford and his Lockdowns are locked out of Ontario.
Judi McLeod——Bio and Archives
-- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
On that long ago Halloween Night when I was nine years old, I pinched myself in order to be convinced that I really WAS in an orphanage.
I could not believe that I was there when both my parents, though separated, were alive; could not believe that I could no longer run up the street where we lived to visit my much beloved, cookie-dispensing Aunt Edie.
