In the wake of media stories over the weekend that hundreds of doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been dumped for being passed their "best before" date, Federal health officials are sheepishly admitting...Ho-Hum, it isn't much of a pandemic after all. Qu'elle surprise!
The country's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, says the rate of infection across Canada is about 8% in this second wave; mild even when compared to the annual "seasonal flu" outbreaks. Not anywhere near the pandemic "to end all pandemics" predicted, anticipated, perhaps even wished for by some authorities anxious to test their skills and preparedness. Sheesh! At the cost of terrifying; Nay! Scaring to death an entire country, and then having the gall to tell everyone to wait in line...No! Don't bother - We've run-out: Go home!
Interesting that fully a month into this manufactured crisis the Canadian media has begun to wake-up and do precisely the investigative leg work it should have been doing all along, instead of buying into the panic created by a rookie, inexperienced, clearly out-of-her-depths Federal Minister of Health and her Ottawa and Winnipeg based officials. If this was meant to be Minister Leona Aglukkaq's shinning hour, she has clearly missed this boat looking more often like a frightened deer caught in twin headlamps, than an accomplished federal official. What is it with those eye glasses anyway? - Hire her an image consultant please. (I digress!) Little wonder that recently it's been mostly other Ministers of the Crown rising in the House of Commons to deal with the difficult questions over this alleged pandemic.
Is it any wonder that Canadians and the public-at-large grow increasingly cynical of those they elect, the bureaucracy they hire, and the media pledged to uncovering the truth? In this case there is plenty of blame to go around. Starting with the World Health Organization anxious to press the panic button in the flame-out of the bogus Avian Flu predictions a couple of year's back. - Federal and provincial politicians and institutions eager to demonstrate preparedness after being caught with their proverbial "pants-down" over the SARS outbreak in 2003. - And, the media who failed miserably in their crucial role in a democracy to debunk the fabricated "crap" of politicians without any vision beyond their next run for re-election.
If the Auditor-General Sheila Fraser is right? (As she frequently is) Then God help us the day a real crisis erupts. Although countless millions have no doubt been spent, our Federal bureaucracy still has not managed to get a grip on the National Emergency Preparedness Plan it vowed to create in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 tragedies more than eight years ago. Amen!
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