It's Worse In Canada

David Freiheit of the Viva Frei YouTube channel is generally uneven, and even when he makes good points, you have to suffer through his vamping and mugging to get them. In the video above, the constant personal references or the whiny kids in the back seat are at least at a low enough level that you can sit through them to get the meat.

One thing that's puzzled me in general about the current phase of the COVID panic is that the late 2020 surge has largely abated worldwide, while the vaccine is being widely distributed everywhere. The chart for Canada at right reflects this. Even in California, Gov Newsom has relaxed the extra measures he imposed in December, and the Los Angeles County health department has gone even farther, allowing schools to begin reopening and allowing outdoor sports.

The attitude in the US, justified or not, is optimistic, especially given the vaccine, and in fact I think it will be very difficult for the authorities not to continue relaxing COVID measures here.

Why is it so different in Canada? The incident at a Canadian Tire outlet in Burnaby, BC, which Freiheit covers in his YouTube, is reported more fuily here with additional video. What we know from several video clips is that an obnoxious customer refused to wear a mask and refused to leave the store. Although the headline contains the allegation that the customer punched store security staff before being forcibly taken down and handcuffed, available video shows no punching before this occurred.

There are occasional incidents like this in the US, and while the antics of mask-Karens at supermarkets now and then provide amusement, nobody's been subjected to carotid holds, violent takedowns, and handcuffs. (Carotid holds in the US are extremely controversial even when used by professional, trained police officers. Store security likely hasn't received adequate training in such tactics -- the officers and their managers should probably be fired, notwithstanding any other outcome of the case.)

The store had in fact already called the Mounties, who were responding as the incident took place. As far as I can see, the security staff's response should have been simply to surround the customer without touching him for the few minutes it would take the Mounties to arrive and resolve the situation. I have a feeling this episcode will go down the memory hole just like the takedown of the Lethbridge, AB Star Wars trooper last May. (I've searched the web since then for the outcome of the promised independent investigation with no success. I e-mailed the Lethbridge paper as well, asking for any updates, but never received a reply.)

The odd thing is the contrast between how poorly the Canadian plebs is treated, vis-a-vis what appears to be the major carveout given to US TV shows produced in Canada. Two of the most popular reality shows on cable, Gold Rush and The Curse of Oak Island, are made in Canada. Nobody, but nobody, on these shows wears a mask, indoors or outdoors, with family or with outsiders or even casual visitors. The Laginas and other US figures in the Oak Island show were subject to 14-day qusrantine when they first arrived in Nova Scotia last summer, but Marty in particular clearly travels back and forth to deal with his other businesses in Michigan. He hasn't been quarantined since.

Indeed, footage shot llast summer for the show shows Nova Scotia locals being interviewed, as well as interior shots of a library, a pub, and a blacksmith shop, with no masks, no social distancing, no library or restaurant seats blocked off. (Libraries are still closed completely in California, by the way.) A tourist boat sailed around the island last summer full of passengers, no masks, no social distancing.

The same applies to Gold Rush in the Yukon. Parker Schnabel traveled to Alaska in one episode but clearly didn't have to quarantine on returning. Nobody, nobody, nobody wears a mask. For some reason, nobody connected with either show has been hospitalized or, as far as we can tell, even tested positive. Normally, just about every episode of these shows would be considered a superspreader event, but nobody's gotten sick at all.

Oh, Canada.