Leadership lacking in Manitoba as COVID-19 cases surge, Omicron spreads, say bewildered experts
CBC
Andrea Carlson was preparing to host a small Christmas Day gathering with members of her extended family.
She abruptly cancelled those plans after Manitoba's top doctor implored everyone to curtail their holiday gathering plans Friday.
Manitoba reported a pandemic-high 742 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, with Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin pointing to the rapid transmission of the Omicron variant fuelling the high case counts.
Instead of gathering with loved ones, Carlson will celebrate with her immediate family of three, connect with extended family via Zoom and drive around to deliver the 15 pounds of turkey she is cooking.
"I'm really sad. I'm tired, but it's the right thing to do," Carlson said.
Dee Pearson isn't changing her family's Christmas plans.
"I get the whole COVID thing but you just don't know when the last time is you're going to be with your family, so that's why we are going to continue to go on," Pearson said.
Larry Tornborough isn't changing his Christmas plans either.
He will be watching football and eating turkey with his friend, but believes the province shouldn't have opened things up as quickly as it did.
"They should have left it as it was … all they've got is people going haywire," Tornborough said.
"One day it's on. One day it's off. You don't know what to do."
What's missing is "authentic leadership" from Premier Heather Stefanson, says Dr. Eric Jacobsohn, an intensive care physician at St. Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.
Stefanson wasn't part of Friday's press conference — virtually or in person.
Health Minister Audrey Gordon defended the premier's absence.
Intelligence regarding foreign interference sometimes didn't make it to the prime minister's desk in 2021 because Canada's spy agency and the prime minister's national security adviser didn't always see eye to eye on the nature of the threat, according to a recent report from one of Canada's intelligence watchdogs.