EDITORIAL: Tone down the pandemic politics

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Political decisions absolutely matter right now. We’d like to pretend otherwise — that somehow every pandemic decision is nothing but a measured consideration of the facts and science.

But we all know this isn’t true. Politicians are looking at the issue through a variety of prisms, including raw politics.

Even some of the things our public health officials say are clearly filtered through a public relations perspective that comes with its own tinge of politics.

Then again, in some respects, that’s how it should be. Canada shouldn’t be governed by unaccountable technocrats, whatever their field.

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Our leaders are elected by us and they answer to us. It’s how the system works. It’s called politics.

That said, we could do with less of the political sniping.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has without a doubt stumbled on a number of his pandemic files.

Managing the pandemic has primarily been a provincial issue, with the feds only responsible for a few matters. These include borders and vaccine procurement. Yet these are both issues that the Liberal government has made serious mistakes on.

It’s important to call them out on their mistakes — and citizens, media and other politicians should be doing just that.

Then again, it’s important this is done with a view to improving our pandemic response — saving lives and ending lockdowns as soon as possible.

It shouldn’t be done just for the sake of crass political sniping. That’s not what Canadians want or need right now.

The feds have made mistakes and Canada’s Premiers certainly have as well.

But in some cases — like when it comes to Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford — these two sides get caught in a blame game that seems to be all about scoring points against the other while failing to advance the broader issue.

It’s time to drop any attempts to score political wins and instead constructively criticize with a view to getting us out of this mess.

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Ending the pandemic responsibly is far more important and noble than keeping an eye on ballot box opinion polling.

Besides, the voter will ultimately reward those leaders who focus on the task at hand.

It’s time to tone down the pandemic politics.