Is anyone else annoyed that Justin Trudeau is spending Easter weekend at his cottage in Quebec with his wife, children, mother, and staff? Once again, he is playing “Do as I Say and not as I do.”
The rest of us, however, have been implored to practice social distancing. To stay away from anyone that does not live with us, especially those over the age of 70, restrict travel to essential trips, stay away from our cottages, avoid congregating in groups of more than five, and limit trips across the Ontario/Quebec border to essential ones.
With his weekend jaunt, Trudeau has broken all the rules he has imposed on us. He crossed the Ontario/Quebec border, went to his cottage, and is spending time with those not in his immediate family, including his 71-year-old mother.
In the meantime, most of us are complying with the social distancing rules. You can see it in the deserted roadways, parking lots, and parks, as well as the direction arrows and other limitations in the grocery stores. Chats with neighbours are from the ends of our respective driveways. Socializing with friends and family is achieved through Zoom “meetings” or Facebook video chats. Our evening walks are eerie, like walking through a ghost town. Not that I have experienced a ghost town, but I can imagine.
Our three sons and 4 grandchildren do not live with us so we have only seen them on videos or from a distance of 6 feet for almost a month now. This has been very confusing for the grandchildren as they don’t understand why they cannot visit, play with, snuggle, and hug this Grandma or their other grandparents. We have resisted taking trips to our cottage, located in a remote area of Ontario. We have limited our exposure to others by reducing grocery shopping to once a week and forgoing other shopping altogether. Even my 60th birthday was regulated by social distancing rules.
Like most other residents of Canada, we have been following these recommendations AS REQUESTED BY OUR GOVERNMENT, yet our leader is not practicing social distancing. Instead, he is playing “Do as I Say and not as I do.”
This is not a good way to lead a country through turbulent times, especially if you expect us to follow the rules.
Photo credit from feature image (top of page) to Markus Spiske and Pexels
