Government Giving Quarantine Exemptions To NHL Players While ‘Regular’ Canadians Face Punishment Is A Disgrace

OpinionSpencerFernando

A nakedly political decision that underscores the hypocrisy of those who claim they’re ‘following the science,’ and demonstrates that we lack basic ironclad ‘rights.’

Are you a highly-paid NHL player?

If not, then you are subjected to quarantine rules if you travel.

But if you are, then you’re in luck!

The rules no longer apply to you!

“BREAKING: The federal government has approved a travel exemption for the final 2 rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs that would allow NHL teams to cross the Canada-US border without quarantining. Players and club personnel will be subject to enhanced public health measures.”

“NHL players and team personnel will cross the border using private planes, and will be subject to pre and post-arrival testing in addition to daily COVID-19 tests. The players will have to live in a modified quarantine bubble and there will be no contact with the general public.”

Here’s what Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said in a statement:

NHL #COVID19 Protocol statement

“Following careful review by public health officials at all levels of government, a National Interest Exemption has been approved to allow the next round of the @NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs to be played in Flag of Canada & Flag of United States. (1/5)”

https://twitter.com/marcomendicino/status/1401598488253771777

“This decision was made in conjunction with @GovCanHealth, with the approval of provincial and municipal public health officials, including Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta. (2/5)”

“The NHL’s COVID Playoff Protocol will permit cross-border travel that is safeguarded by strict quarantining, a bubble, daily testing and a comprehensive protocol that will apply to all travelling NHL players and personnel. (3/5)”

“Incoming players and club personnel from the Flag of United States to Flag of Canada will be subject to pre and post-arrival daily testing. Furthermore, they will be required to quarantine at pre-approved hotels and arenas. (4/5)”

https://twitter.com/marcomendicino/status/1401598493102424075

“In addition to NHL’s COVID Protocol, NHL players and personnel will have to abide by all local public health rules. We continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation on both sides of the border. We will not hesitate to take further public health measures where necessary. (5/5)”

A disgrace

Mendicino can talk all he wants and try to make this seem reasonable.

But it’s a disgrace.

It is rank hypocrisy, and is a nakedly political decision.

This isn’t ‘following the science,’ this is about trying to get votes, and giving rights to some highly-paid NHL players, while denying those rights to Canadians.

Again, if you have a ‘right’ to travel, and then that right is suspended for you, but given to someone based on the whim of politicians, you don’t have rights at all.

And, as you can see below, people who have families across the border are pointing out how hypocritical this is:

“So lifting the unscientific, arbitrary and cost-prohibitive quarantine for FAMILIES whose mental health is suffering isn’t in your “national interest”….. but a hockey game is? My fiancé spent Christmas Day ALONE. #LoveisNotTourism #FamilyisEssential #OpenTheBorderJune22”

https://twitter.com/KT_Ellington/status/1401628686768644097

Mendicino also claimed this could be done because of rising vaccination rates:

“We’ve come a long way from where we were just two months ago, let alone a year ago. And it’s thanks to the extraordinary work of our frontline healthcare workers and Canadians themselves who are taking up vaccines at an accelerated rate.”

Of course, that raises the question of why then would restrictions not be lifted for everyone?

Two-Tier Citizenship

If you’re thinking and feeling that on a gut-level, this feels completely ‘off’ and ‘wrong,’ you are 100% correct.

The idea that some NHL players are going to be exempted from the rules, while Canadians can be punished is a disgrace.

In fact, the federal government recently increased the fine for those who evade the quarantine hotels, with it now reaching $5000.

This situation, where we see two sets of rules, is a disturbing example of the rise of ‘Two-Tier Citizenship’ in Canada.

If you support a cause that politicians like, or if you are a politician, a big company that can afford to lobby politicians, a wealthy athlete, or a member of the ‘ruling class,’ then the rules don’t apply to you.

But if you are a ‘regular’ Canadians, AKA the vast majority of people in the country, then you are subject to the rules, and can be heavily punished if you break them.

Consider the many Canadians arrested for trying to hold a Church service, or for trying to keep their businesses open, or for holding a protest politicians disagreed with.

Where are their exemptions?

Where was the leniency or ‘accommodation’ for them?

They must not have been ‘special’ enough, and there must not have been enough votes to be had in defending their rights.

Hypocrisy across the political spectrum

We continue to see a growing gap between regular Canadians (all of us outside the ‘ruling class), and politicians of many partisan stripes who continue to act with such brazen hypocrisy and contempt for the Canadian People.

Consider that the governments of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec also joined the feds in signing off on this hypocrisy, giving rights to NHL players that are denied to the vast majority of their own Citizens.

Remember also that for months and months we have watched Canadians be subjected to draconian lockdowns, even as flights carrying many infected people were let into the country.

Rather than simply lift the restrictions and let people be free to choose their own level of risk, we see this hypocritical two-tier piecemeal approach where the ruling class constantly seeks to remind us that there are rules for some, but not for all.

The Canadian People must find more courage

This disgraceful hypocrisy in Canada comes as most of the US is opened up.

Watching the end of the Jets-Habs game, and seeing when they switched to covering the Golden Knights vs the Avalanche was like watching an alternate universe.

Fully packed arena.

Few if any masks.

No social distancing.

People going on with life as normal.

The return of gathering and vitality.

Meanwhile, much of Canada remains locked down, many are still stuck in fearful and submissive mindset, and some even cheer on the exemptions for athletes, unable to see what it means for their own place in the societal pecking order.

Canadians need to show much more strength and courage, or our ‘leaders’ will continue to shove their hypocrisy in our face and expect us to look the other way like weak and submissive fools.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – YouTube

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