Update - 17th April

Yesterday, along with ridiculous new restrictions on safe outdoor activities, the Ontario government also announced that they are giving Police in Ontario the power to stop anyone who is driving, or otherwise in public, and demand proof of their reason for not being home.

There is no other way to describe this except authoritarian - literally a Police State.

Police have been given unlimited powers to stop and question citizens for any reason, and where the burden of proof has been placed on citizens to prove that they're not breaking the law, rather than the other way around.

We know that some of you might be thinking that the ends justify the means; that if it helps save lives it will be worth it, but we vehemently disagree.

Authoritarianism is never "worth it", and if you don't believe us, maybe you'll believe the Police themselves.

More than 20 Ontario Police services have already announced that they won't be enforcing this law:

Waterloo
Peterborough
Guelph
Ottawa
London
Niagara
Halton
Toronto
South Simcoe
Sault Ste. Marie
Stratford
North Bay
Barrie
Hamilton
Brantford
Kingston
Peel
Windsor
Thunder Bay
Durham

And more have been publicly announcing the same position throughout the day.

That's right, the Police themselves know that this law is so bad, and will damage their relationship with their local citizens so significantly, that they are refusing to participate.

The problem is that these Police services are only choosing to not enforce this rule.

That's a choice that they are making today, but they could change their mind at any time and start enforcing this rule.

That's why the Ontario government must repeal this rule immediately

In a free country, there is never any justification for this kind of infringement on the most basic of rights.

If you agree, please add your name to our petition and show the Ontario government they must reverse course.

Update - 15th April

In recent weeks, governments across Canada have imposed fresh lockdowns on their citizens.

Like many Canadians, we are sick of the constant moving of the goalposts.

Throughout this pandemic, our provincial governments' decision-making has been so haphazard, so arbitrary, and so off-the-cuff, that barely a week goes by without them changing the rules on us!

Worse still, some provinces are shifting the goalposts once again, and starting to tie our return to "normal" to immunity rates.

Alberta's Premier Kenney, for example, recently announced that restrictions would only start to ease once about half of Albertans are immune.

What he forgot to mention was that this goal probably won't be reached until the end of May!

Other premiers are talking about extending, or even strengthening current rules!

Did you realize that this latest lockdown was going to last for another two months, or more?

While we sit in our homes, unable to even visit our families, we are forced to watch as our southern neighbours return to life as normal across a border that has been closed for over a year.

Some might blame the lack of vaccines, but the reality is that, while the United States is ahead in vaccine distribution, they're not *that* far ahead.

They certainly haven't reached the threshold of immunity that our provincial governments are waiting for.

No, rather, the United States has realized what many of us realized a long time ago - that as soon as the most vulnerable in society are protected (and they now are!), that it's time to get back to living our lives.

We must always remember that freedoms are not privileges bestowed by the government from on high.

Freedoms are inherent, and every Canadian will always have their freedom, even if politicians sometimes try to take them away.

If you agree, please sign our petition to End The Lockdowns

Update - 2nd March

Texas and Mississippi have just announced that they are repealing all COVID-19 related restrictions, joining South Dakota, who never imposed any restrictions, and going even further than many other states who have recently returned to almost-normal such as Montana, Iowa, and Florida.

By contrast, in Canada, politicians seem addicted to their newfound powers.

Outrageous government curfews *might* be reduced by an hour in Quebec (how generous!), light weightlifting might be allowed in Alberta (good luck defining light versus heavy), while Manitobans are finally permitted to buy some Christmas decorations!

Over and over again, government modelling and predictions of doom and gloom have proven wrong, including recent predictions that new variants would see cases skyrocket once again the last month.

In reality, it's become clear that COVID-19 is primarily a seasonal disease, and with spring on the way, it's time to move on.

Of course, let's be clear, no-one is calling for a complete free for all where nobody takes any precautions whatsoever.

But, in the words of Governor Reeves, the time for government interference is over.

Individual Canadians should continue to take sensible precautions to protect themselves, people with symptoms should stay home and get tested, and those over 75 or with serious health problems should continue to be extra cautious until they're able to get a vaccine in the coming weeks.

But, whatever your opinion on whether government rules, restrictions, and mandates were justified during the last year, it's now obvious that it's time for politicians to relinquish control.

If you agree, please sign our petition to End The Lockdowns.

Update - 8th January

While politicians threatened to fine us if we had family over for Christmas, they jetted off to tropical destinations.

While we were stuck at home or risking arrest for going skating, they were relaxing on the beach.

While our small businesses were forced to close, or had to deal with such severe restrictions they might as well be closed, politicians spent their money at small businesses in other countries.

Whether it's Ministers, MPs, MLAs, Councillors, political staff, or government officials, the problem really isn't the travel, it's the hypocrisy.

How dare they tell us to sit at home, cancel travel plans, and not even go across the City to see loved ones, while they carry on as normal?

Most interestingly, if those holding daily meetings with health officials, with access to all the data they could want, feel comfortable travelling to other countries where COVID rates are higher, why can't we visit family members or shop at a local store?

Let's be clear: no-one is calling for a complete free for all - realistically we probably won't be back to normal normal until later this year.

But with some basic, sensible precautions, we could return to something much closer to normal than where we are right now.

If you agree, please sign our petition to End The Lockdowns and End The Hypocrisy.

Update - 8th December

Jason Kenney just cancelled Christmas in Alberta.

Yep, no social gatherings allowed, indoor or outdoor, and all restaurants, bars, cafes, fitness centers, recreation centres, gyms, and many more must close for at least the next four weeks.

In July, Jason Kenney said:

"We can't enforce our way out of the pandemic."

Now, he's trying to enforce his way out of the pandemic.

Yes, there are more cases now than in July, and yes that means Albertans should take more personal responsibility and care.

But that doesn't change the truth of his July statement that government mandates are not the solution to this problem.

If you agree with July Premier Kenney rather than December Premier Kenney, please sign our petition to End The Lockdowns.

Update - 26th November

Adam Skelly, owner of Adamson Barbecue was arrested today for continuing to open his Adamson Barbecue restaurant.

The restaurant's locks were also changed overnight in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent him from opening.

This has all gone far too far.

People are just trying to protect their livelihoods and their businesses.

Restaurants are still allowed to open safely in Alberta, why not elsewhere?

Update - 23rd November

This afternoon, in Alberta a "Cabinet Committee", made up of only a handful of senior ministers will meet to decide whether Albertans will face further COVID-19 related restrictions on their lives, livelihoods, and rights, as has already happened in other provinces.

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of our primary concerns has been the risk of moving targets - that the goalposts for "success" set by governments would be constantly shifted to the point where success is impossible and failure (and therefore greater restrictions) are inevitable.

The original goal was to "flatten the curve", remember - though as you'll see below, we had concerns about even that original plan.

But for now, let's focus on the original "flatten the curve" plan, and compare the plan to what actually happened - particularly in Alberta.

On April 8, 2020, the Alberta Government released its first models, predicting a "probable" peak of 818 COVID-19 hospitalizations occurring in late May.

By April 28, 2020, it was apparent that the early models were embarrassingly wrong, so they tried again.

On April 28, 2020, the province released updated models, this time giving themselves some room for error with an elevated, probable, and low prediction.

As it turned out, even the revised best-case scenario prediction was very wrong - by about four times.

Today, you will find a disclaimer on the Alberta Government's COVID-19 stats site saying that the models are "not intended to be a predictor of day-to-day increases in hospitalization rates" and that "no updated models are being planned at this time."

Ok, but, then, what are they intended to be?

And, if we're not relying on models anymore, what are we relying on for current decision making?

This is an important question, as cases are increasing again, and the provincial government has started mandating further restrictions.

Instead of "flattening the curve"; we have - at staggering socioeconomic expense - squished it so hard that we succeeded only in delaying the inevitable into winter.

We are not experiencing a second wave, only a first wave deferred by 8 months, to a time when being sick is far more dangerous.

Lockdowns are not a viable strategy and will only destroy any remaining hopes of survival for local businesses.

It's time to demand better.

It's time to End The Lockdown.

Update - 13th May

The province's first set of projections on the number of infections, number of hospitalizations, and the number of patients requiring intensive care were so dramatically overstated that they had to release an entirely new set of projections three weeks later.

But even that second lowered set of projects have proven to be far too high.

Alberta has over 8,000 acute care beds, and had set aside about 2,000 of them specifically for COVID-19 patients.

The province's absolute best-case scenario projected there would be 300 people in hospital with COVID right now.

In reality, there are only 59.

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Tomorrow, the rest of the province will begin to slowly re-open Alberta's now devastated economy, but Calgary is being left out.

After being told they would likely be allowed to open tomorrow, bars, restaurants, hairdressers and such have been preparing their businesses to welcome customers in a safe manner.

Instead, this afternoon, at the last minute, after many (often very expensive) preparations have been made, they've had the rug pulled out from under them again.

For bars and restaurants, which must stock perishable goods, this is even worse than if they'd just been told they couldn't open in the first place.

In the words of one industry insider:

Do they any idea what they just did to hundreds of small businesses in Calgary who believed them when they were told that an opening was coming tomorrow?

I owned a pub for five years. You don’t simply turn on a light switch and open the doors after having been closed for months.

What few business owners remained, just took what few dollars they may have left in order to deep clean their places, put up new barriers, pay staff for meetings in order to bring in new policies, buy and prep thousands in perishable stock and likely advertise their partial reopenings.

Why believe this government and prep for any re-opening now? An owner will have no idea until the last damn second if the re-opening is actually allowed or not. They can’t prep for that! They have already learned the price they will pay for believing the government on this.

Many are saying to hell with it today and they didn’t need to.

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End The Lockdown

When the world entered Lockdown six weeks ago we didn't know much about the size of the threat posed by COVID-19.

Without that information, a short Lockdown may well have been justified while we got a handle on the situation. 

In fact, that is precisely how the initial Lockdown was justified by health officials and politicians - as a way to buy time to prepare the government and the healthcare system to handle the sick.

It's vital to remember that the plan was to "flatten the curve".

Health officials knew then - and still know now - that flattening the curve does not reduce the total number of people who will get infected.

It *is* true that if our healthcare systems were going to be over capacity, then flattening the curve would reduce the total number of deaths by ensuring that everyone who needs treatment would be able to access it.

But, if healthcare systems are not exceeding capacity (and they aren't), then flattening the curve doesn't save lives either.

Some people have struggled with this concept as they see the low number of infections being reported each day and think that means we are "beating" the virus.

But we are not beating the virus.

Remember fewer infections now doesn't mean fewer infections in total, it means we are simply delaying infections out to future weeks and months.

In fact, a Lockdown would not reduce the total number of infections or the total number of deaths unless we totally quarantined the entire world for 18 months or more until we have a vaccine or a cure.

No credible expert is proposing that kind of extended Lockdown, because even they realize the incredible damage the Lockdown is doing to the world's economy.

Record high unemployment, businesses shut down permanently, livelihoods, savings, retirement funds gone, and - in recent days - signs that the food chain may even be starting to breakdown.

Many people have said that the economic impacts of the cure may well be worse than the disease.

But, even putting aside the economy, the long-run health effects of the Lockdown will almost certainly be worse than the health effects of the disease.

The Lockdown has discouraged many from accessing hospitals and primary healthcare, putting people at risk from conditions that could be easily treated if detected early, but are deadly if not.

This "leave it until after the pandemic" mentality will cost many lives that might otherwise have been saved.

In poorer countries, the stakes are even higher - an economic crash means greater poverty and less money for the basic necessities of life like food and clean drinking water.

As the former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan said, "the biggest enemy of health is poverty."

All around the world, governments are "updating" their models, retroactively trying to hide the fact that the spread of the disease has been far less dramatic, and far less damaging, than even their "best case" scenarios predicted.

At the same time, governments are now shifting the goalposts, trying to justify the policies they adopted by changing how they measure success, and changing the conditions under which a Lockdown will end.

No longer are they claiming that the Lockdown was designed to ensure the healthcare system didn't go over capacity, they're now claiming the Lockdown is a key part of tackling the spread of the disease in the longterm.

That is counter to everything they said to justify entering the Lockdown.

Do they really think we can't remember what they said just 6 weeks ago?

If anything, hospitals being under-capacity is actually a sign that the Lockdown is working *too well*, as it means we are pushing too many infections to the future, meaning our economy will be crippled for far longer than would otherwise be required.

The simple fact is that had we known 6 weeks ago what we know now, we would have never entered a Lockdown in the first place.

We would have dealt with this virus the same way we have dealt with viruses in the past - improved personal hygiene, enhanced cleaning, protection of the vulnerable, voluntary social distancing, limited travel, and general conscientiousness.

While their approach has been controversial in the media, that's the approach the experts in Sweden took and though they had more cases in the initial days of the outbreak, they didn't destroy their economy and are now on track to have roughly the same number of total infections as countries that implemented a full Lockdown.

Yes, of course, hindsight is 2020, which is why a short Lockdown was probably initially justified.

But now that we have more information, now that we have that hindsight, it's time to change course.

Let us be clear, we are not proposing a full and immediate return to "normal", especially for those who are vulnerable.

It will take time to get back to completely normal.

But, with the simple precautions mentioned above, we can now return to something relatively close to normal, without the crippling economic damage we have seen in the last 6 weeks.

It is now time to End The Lockdown.

If you agree, please sign this petition to End The Lockdown, and then share it with your friends.