Canada had a few pluses that the USA did not have. Canada's government budget was at a huge surplus. Thus, they new they could give money away without crippling the economy.
Another key difference, Prime Minister Trudeau's wife (Sophie) became sick / ill after testing positive for Covid-19 when she returned from an award ceremony in Europe. The same award ceremony that had a few celebrities become very ill from Covid-19 in which they required hospitalization.
Prime Minister, his wife and their children were then quarantine in their home with her in isolation and under medical care in a different section of their home. That all by itself, gave Trudeau a different perspective about Covid-19.
Another key difference, Prime Minister Trudeau did
not make face mask wearing a political thing and he trusted / follow the science (advice) of his health administration all the way down to the prime minister of the each provinces.
The most notable difference was the nursing homes. They quickly determine early in the Pandemic that they need help from the
military to manage them. Thus, they pushed aside the private owners for many weeks early in the Pandemic. In addition, they realized via a quick investigation that the staff tended to be ethnic minorities, extremely under pay in which many have 2 - 3 jobs at other nursing homes (making it easy to spread the disease) and less training
or not enough training to deal with infectious diseases.
In fact, I remember they quickly "triple" the pay of the nursing home staff, changed the training programs to include infectious diseases, hired more medically trained nurses and quickly got PPE supplies into the nursing homes...all of which made a huge difference.
They actually had job fairs in a Pandemic in several provinces that included free / small fee education programs that would lead into full-time jobs (triple pay) in nursing homes.
Also, I remember the daily news briefings live on TV in which the Prime Ministers of each provinces would show videos of socially irresponsible citizens (show their faces) at beaches, parks and large social gatherings...
They shamed those people and often said they were disgusted in their behaviour. They wanted all of Canada to know whom these people were. They even went after the people whom returned back from the USA in their campers and parking in the parking lots of Walmart, grocery stores, malls to do last minute shopping without wearing a face mask...
- They shamed them too and used the power of peer pressure to enforce social responsibility.
It was a strong and stark difference between the USA and Canada in which Canada used fear / shame to get people to wear face masks, social distancing and less large gatherings. In fact, the Prime Minister Trudeau's coronavirus news briefings were
all outside and he was not surrounding by people behind him...standing shoulder to shoulder unlike those early March / April news briefings in the USA with President Trump being indoors and with key administration / medical individuals behind him standing
should to shoulder.
- Simply, leadership behaviour is another key difference...arguably the biggest difference.
Also, you noted...Canada is not as dense with its population although the cities are crowded (e.g. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Québec City).
People are more spread out and there are less multiple families living in the same communities.
- There's also another key difference...the Indigenous Canadian communities. They went into full tilt protection mode.
Many closed their roads from outsiders and quickly got in PPE and trained nurses. They knew how vulnerable they were to these types of diseases in comparison to other cultures. Simply, they're more scared than others and they have a historical experience with diseases brought into their communities from the Europeans that they have
not forgotten.
Simply, they understand that diseases can be used intentionally in warfare...a weapon to decrease the population and gain more of their land. Also, I know for fact that the Indigenous Canadian communities got the word out fast to the Indigenous American communities in the North to do the same...a lot of wealth in the USA lands between these two communities...high traffic and pipeline building territory.
- I personally was in conference calls with my elders and distant family members in South Dakota about the Covid-19 threat.
Sadly, the Indigenous American communities in the southwest are being hit heavily with Covid-19. I know friends that have died in Canada and the USA from Covid-19...
vultures quickly contacted their families about any land they may have owned.
https://theconversation.com/indigen...d-risk-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-142027
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/ne...nous-peoples-are-excluded-covid-19-statistics
https://time.com/5808257/indigenous-communities-coronavirus-impact/
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