Thought of the Day - May 5 2021 - Meanwhile in Ontario

Today I have several stories from Ontario for you.

Sign Wars

Probably many of you are familiar with this first one which has been reported around the world. It started as a battle between two businesses in the town of Listowel, Ontario - Speedy Glass and Dairy Queen (DQ) - and has since spread to thousands of signs across the town and the surrounding area.

It is great to see people pursuing light-hearted distraction in these trying times.

Federal Election

On Monday I received what I first thought was a prank call. It turned out to be from Elections Canada, they were checking to see if we wanted to "volunteer" for the upcoming Federal Election. While nothing has been announced to the general public, they are gearing up for a "probable" election in September. I guess this is unsurprising given the successes minority provincial governments saw last year with the end-of-summer elections, and in theory, by then the Federal target of 75% of Canadians being fully vaccinated should have been met and the "great reopening" will be underway.

On a side note, if you have a yen to vote for replacement Burnaby councillors in June, I would be happy to serve you at Bill Copeland on the 16th or Charles Rummel on election day.

Military Hospital Established

Last weekend the Canadian Armed Forces finished the setup of the first of three military hospitals (MHUs) in Ontario. An 84-bed field hospital at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is now accepting recovering COVID-19 patients. The second MHU is being constructed for Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) just beside Hamilton General. It should be operational at the end of the month.

In addition, the military is transporting relief medical personnel from Newfoundland. The first team arrived last week and are stationed in Toronto, and the second team from the Island arrived today in Brampton.

That said, given their current hospitalizations per capita are almost on par with Ontario and active case rates are more than double that of Ontario, it is actually Alberta that needs the help now.

Cheers

Cliff