We did not have masks and protective gear, nor the capability to manufacture them. Then we learned we had no domestic vaccine production nor the means to produce one. We discovered that the warehousing environments of our seniors were appalling, toxic and terminal. Hospitals are still overwhelmed. Crucial lifesaving diagnostic tests and surgeries are postponed, some indefinitely.
The provincial premiers say the solution is for the federal government to cough up more money. Lots of it, no strings or conditions attached. Health care is an exclusive provincial practice. While asking for more federal funding, premiers in British Columbia, Québec, Ontario and Saskatchewan have lately sent cash to their citizens as pre-election offerings, rebates on licence plate fees, or forgone billions in revenue on gasoline taxes and other fees. Alberta is the only province without a sales tax and yet wants more of my federal tax contribution.