Moments after Ontario Premier Doug Ford pleaded with the federal government to approve high-speed COVID-19 testing to relieve long lineups, a federal announcement was made proclaiming the fast test had been approved.
Where there is a will, there’s a way, said Conservative leader Erin O’Toole about the announcement during Wednesday’s question period.
Canadians across the country have been waiting on a coronavirus test with a faster turnaround, but have been hogtied in endless lineups waiting for Health Canada to approve the tests.
Of course, as with anything, such a test has to be safe before it’s released to the public.
But this does not explain why other jurisdictions (15 countries) like Germany, the U.S., South Korea and India, to name a few, have approved rapid testing, some of them using it for months.
It will still take weeks to get these products in the hands of Canadians whose lives are now revolving around the pandemic minute by minute.
Who is to blame for the long lines and lack of proper massive rapid testing? Is it your municipal, provincial, or federal government?
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Is the political stripe of any party? Is it any individual political leader?
Or is it a systemically lethargic government structure so set in stone it is unable to quickly pivot and answer the immediate needs of its citizens?
While the rest of us had to react and be nimble on the fly in the face of COVID-19, it appears it was government agencies that were not able — and are still unable — to efficiently respond to this global crisis.
The first example of this was when teachers were the last to get technology up and running for our kids while the private sector was able to do so in days.
At the start of the pandemic, when supplies needed for initial testing were delivered, the premier was constantly asking why they were not testing more people sooner.
And now, six months later, when numbers are spiking and demand for testing is increasing, we finally have a rapid test that will hopefully be distributed within the next few weeks.
Just like the licence plate fiascos — both Wynne’s and Ford’s — it doesn’t seem any party can get these deeply embedded governmental mistakes corrected.
I’m not letting any leader off the hook here, but maybe we should spend more time changing the systems than the folk we elect to run them.
Scott Thompson is the host of The Scott Thompson Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML Hamilton.
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