(This column was published in the North Shore News on May 7, 2003)
Sadly, the feds don't protect the public
By Leo Knight
WITH the SARS scare seemingly abating, the time for recriminations has begun.
Not the least of which has to include the question: "How did this get so out of hand?"
Out of hand, in Toronto at least.
It would seem that the chief Vancouver medical health officer John Blatherwick and his staff, not to mention the dedicated people at the Centre for Disease Control, did an outstanding job of isolating suspected cases and keeping this city safe despite our large Asian community and the direct links with Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China where the virus came from.
Fortunately we saw neither the related deaths from the virus nor the blatant racism so evident in Toronto when cab drivers wouldn't pick up Chinese people from hospitals and most residents wouldn't eat in Chinese restaurants.
The reality, as it turned out, is that when proper infection control measures are taken in hospitals, the virus can be contained, much like any other virulent communicable disease.
The bizarre fear fallout, primarily created by the media and not contained by an ineffectual government, seems to have been far more damaging than the disease itself.
The SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) scare caused as yet undetermined damage to the economy of the Ontario capital and the country as a result.
But, consider if you will, what might happen if, say, a disaffected Middle Eastern young man with a design on terror, decided to try a different type of suicide and homicide attack?
Suppose he injected himself with the SARS virus or Ebola or something equally hideous, instead of strapping some TNT to his waist, and spent a few days riding around the New York or Toronto subway system.
Not only would the potential death rate be significantly higher than 9/11, but the damage to the infrastructure, as evidenced in Toronto in the past month, would be far greater.
And, talk about the terror effect! Then what if there were 19 such men as were involved in the 9/11 attacks on the United States?
When 9/11 happened, it showed us even the unthinkable is suddenly a potential threat.
And this brings me to the way we have dealt with potential threats.
At airports across the country we have been treated to a variety of so-called security measures that have nothing to do with security and everything to do with making the travelling public think the government is actually doing something about security.
Over the past year and a half we have seen seizures of nail clippers, passengers forced to power up laptops and other assorted electrical devices and airline gate employees asking for identification prior to boarding.
I won't even bother to address the stupidity of seizing things like nail clippers.
I have spoken in the past about the charade of forcing passengers to power up electronic devices when proper training on interpreting screening equipment is all that is necessary.
I suppose I should add that Transport Canada no longer requires passengers play out this particular charade.
Now they do a swab over the edges of laptops for some inexplicable reason.
Ostensibly seeking traces of explosive material, yet they don't swab the area needed to be touched to implant the
plastique.
But what of that photo identification presentation at the airline gates? Well, in Toronto, when fully enveloped in the SARS over-reaction, passengers were appearing at the gates wearing surgical type masks, displaying their passports or driver's licences and being waved on the aircraft.
Likely, it is still happening.
So, if the presentation of photo identification in the wake of 9/11 is an appropriate security measure, how is it that travellers were not being asked to lower their mask to actually compare a face to a photo?
All this really shows is just how ineffectual the federal government has been in virtually everything it has done since the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
It's sad really. The first and primary duty of any government is to provide protection for its citizens.
Word came from Ottawa this week that a new art show is going to Shawinigan, the Prime Minister's riding. It's going to cost the taxpayer $900,000 just to move it there.
We don't yet know the cost of the spanking new centre the collection will be housed in.
One can almost envision the stampede of beer-bellied tavern inhabitants in Shawinigan, rushing past the Chretien-bestowed majestic fountain in the river, to view the latest prime ministerial gift to his community.
Really, Shawinigan is hardly a bastion of culture in this country, now is it?
Governing is about choices. For a change, I'd like to see this government make some good ones.
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