For nearly six months, Dr. Bonnie Henry simply abolished religious liberty in British Columbia. Her edict permitted people to meet for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in the church basement, but that same number of people could not meet in the much larger church to pray. It wasn’t about regulating meetings, but banning worship.
When the matter was brought before the courts, the judge shrugged his shoulders. Yes, the order violated all of the fundamental freedoms listed in the Charter of Rights, but in an emergency the public health officials could do whatever they wanted, independent of changing circumstances or variance between regions.
A few weeks ago in Ontario, the government announced that thousands of cheering fans could sit cheek-by-largely-unmasked-jowl at a Maple Leafs game, but a 10-person diner in Kapuskasing could serve only half that number. What was the point of that, which had no basis in public health?
Could it be that the government, by strangling the diners and cafés of Ontario for a few extra weeks, wished to remind the tens of thousands of restaurateurs in the province that their livelihood was in the power of the state to grant or withhold?
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