More neighbourly reflections, for the 4th of July

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

I’m very fortunate to live in a community where an effective, early public health response to the pandemic means we are now in “phase 3” of recovery — cautious re-opening and return to the world from sheltering in place, at about two thirds the level of pre-pandemic activity. We can (physically distanced and appropriately masked) take public transit, eat in restaurants, get a hair cut and enjoy the summer outdoors. We are free to choose.

It’s a shift that’s supported by about 70% of the population, according to public opinion poll ( although the larger the community’s population, the more anxious people were found to be). And we even more in agreement that keeping our border with the US closed for all but essential travel remains a good idea for the foreseeable future, as we anxiously watch the infection rates skyrocket for our neighbours to the south. As Trevor Noah recently observed, nobody thought that “flattening the curve” meant returning to April levels of virus activity across the continent.

Here above the 49th parallel, we are occasionally given to reflecting on the differences in culture and public discourse that can arise from differences in our fundamental national commitments — on the US side, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and on the Canadian side, to peace, order and good government. This is one of those…