When governments fail us....

 When governments fail us, we must fill in the gap.

When the AIDS pandemic was decimating sub Saharan Africa, European and Western governments turned a blind eye for the most part, comfortable leaving millions to die and their children orphaned....18 million AIDS orphans.

As a relatively naive, affluent Canadian, I was blissfully unaware of all the factors that led so many countries to be resource poor with no real publicly funded education or health care system. Countries become failed states when they cannot or do not educate their children or provide the basics in health care and food security. Governments and many other global organizations did not believe that developing countries could be helped. Then good intentioned people stepped in and changed all that. Multi-billion dollar funds were created to combat poverty, HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB. The United Nations, as a result of an immense amount of public pressure stepped in to create the Millennium Development Goals and tremendous progress was made. People from resource rich countries, assisting citizens in resource poor countries.

A force for good was created. Many forces for good. Bracelet of Hope is part of that force.

Some people may think it is a bit of a stretch to focus so much time and money for the betterment of marginalized populations who live thousands and thousands of miles away. Maybe. But our world will not be good and just and safe as long as the wealthy ignore those in need and especially when the wealthy are part of the reason there are vulnerable populations who struggle to survive.

So, this I do not get. Perhaps you can justify having no concern for other countries that struggle but how can you justify ignoring the suffering in your own back yard?

Bill 247 pushed for 10 paid sick days of personal emergency leave, a very important requirement if we are to stomp out COVID-19 in short order. A strongly recommended and endorsed course of action which our top scientists and advisors have been pleading for for months. Fifty-five conservative MPP's voted against this Bill.

This time, I am racing happily to the end of a limb. Tear me off, shoot me down, hack at the limb but I will never, ever support this type of dangerous conservative stance. Extreme conservative ideologies present a danger to our world.

When will we finally understand that in a province or country or continent where inequalities are ignored leaving privileged people safe and secure while allowing the marginalized, racialized and vulnerable to be left on the sidelines creates an unjust and unsafe society where none of us are completely free and all of us are at risk; at risk for pandemics, at risk for climate disintegration and at risk for civil unrest. It's a moral degradation that we can no longer afford to tolerate.

A thirteen year old girl died of COVID-19 in Brampton last week. On what conservative high ground is it OK to leave thousands more at risk?

I would like to find a list of the MPP's who voted against this bill but there won't be time today. There is a pandemic out there that has doubled or tripled our workload in health care. Good luck mounting a response in this state exhaustion.

If you have time today and you feel inclined please find out who they are. Write them letters. Ask them to justify their stance. Remind them of all the essential workers and their families who will die in the coming weeks because of their lack of compassion and utter lack of wisdom.

Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green.... I don't care. We need to make this right as citizens of this province even if it means that we push for this government to move aside.

Anne-Marie

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And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-