When Calgary police with their tasers drawn arrested a 21-year-old man after he refused to leave a skating rink and give his name recently, it was just the latest example of how ridiculous some pandemic measures can be.
Far from showing the value of an expansive state, the pandemic keeps demonstrating how inept big government can be. It is not the fault of police when a silly rule, such as Alberta’s ban on outdoor gatherings, is enforced. Politicians are to blame for making the silly rules in the first place.
Whether it is a Winnipeg church fined thousands of dollars for holding services in a parking lot where attendees were in separate cars — with the windows rolled up — or the city of Ottawa facing more severe restrictions because the virus is rampaging through greater Toronto, or a teen fined for playing basketball by himself, it’s hard to have confidence in how our leaders are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, the idea that the “state is back” has been celebrated as if we’ve arrived at the end of history. The Atlantic magazine ran an article in March that carried the headline, “There Are No Libertarians in an Epidemic.” Toronto Star columnist Heather Mallick argued that in the years to come the value of big government will “become more apparent to Canadians than ever.”
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