One needs to dig deeper in analysis to understand the callousness of Barton’s question. https://twitter.com/saeedwkhan/status/1309232521310351360

Pandemic support for Canadians is creating a lot of debt.

Barton asks at what point do we halt spending.

Aghast, Freeland states the government will do what it takes to support Canadians through the crisis and work to improve circumstances in the mean time as well.

Barton’s question is not obvious. But think about the premise on which the question is based.

Apparently, there is some debt amount that is too burdensome for some Canadians to bear.

But the alternative is leaving the most vulnerable Canadians without any support.

Barton skirts the real issue. When is trying to save every life beyond the cost benefit? That’s closer to her question.

When is sheltering the homeless safely, ensuring the unemployed working poor have food & shelter & enabling women be part of the labour force too expensive?

That’s the actual question Barton is asking. Some lives are less worthy of saving. Some careers are less worthy of support. That’s the premise.

Should we switch to for-profit poor houses? That way someone could profit off the misery of the vulnerable.

Should we abandon the homeless? Many of them addicts or severely mentally ill. None worthy of public taxes to ensure their safety & security during COVid, never mind in general. They’re outcasts and less valuable humans, or so the assumption behind the question implies.

Daycare helps both parents. Because child care is a dual responsibility. But in our overtly misogynist culture, women are generally left caring for children. When’s the last time dad quit his job so mom could bring home the bacon?

So daycare is perceived as assistance for women. Women in the workforce at all levels is common. But apparently, like the post war period, not necessary? Tell that to two income families at risk of losing homes, cars, food security. Or single moms with children to feed & shelter.

What about LTC healthcare expectations. It’s not like LTC was perfectly run before COVid. Privatization has led to reduced quality service. So reduced that residents are treated worse than zoo animals. Residents are just the means to profit.

Provinces could have addressed LTC long ago. It took military reports made public to detail the depravity of for-profit healthcare. Too many, including my own family members, have died without dignity, without appropriate care and complaints have gone ignored. No more.

How many people from BIPOC communities have asked for equality before the law? How expensive is it to suppress so much talent and potential of such a large portion of Canadian society. Waiting to afford the luxury of egalitarianism produced Red Deer, AB violence last Sunday.

Police ignoring the constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful assembly and thuggish community members criminally abusing the peaceful protesters with violence. But we should wait to enforce laws and arrest criminals. Save a few bucks. It’s only BIPOC people.

They don’t really matter? Not enough to go deeply into debt. Why would Canadians want to bury our grandchildren in debt repayment? For people who don’t matter?

That’s what Rosie Barton dared to ask the Finance Minister. Why are we helping the less important people?

I don’t know if Barton holds those beliefs. I don’t care. Asking the question is reprehensible enough.

Apparently some Canadians believe we live in an “Animal Farm” reality.

All people are equal, but some are more equal than others?

Currently Canada is governed by a party that places EQUAL value on ALL human lives, not just a select few. For that reality, I’m truly grateful. I’m actually proud to be a Canadian today.

I’m proud that my national leaders place the same value on LTC residents, homeless people and BIPOC who want a fair society. The same value that business owners and the middle class enjoy. We all are in this boat together. No one will be tossed overboard to save the rest. https://twitter.com/jarogiesbrecht/status/1309326292844601345

Should single mothers be forced to choose which child they should sacrifice like in “Sophie’s Choice?”

Or do some Canadians prefer to be the callous Nazi who makes the demand for Sophie to choose because “enough is enough?”

Watch her choose.

No life is less worthy. That includes those ever so ready to force others to choose.

One of the benefits of being Canadian is universal healthcare. No one is denied.

Another is our fiscal & social capacity to ensure everyone survives COVid. No one will be forced to choose.

Just by asking the question, Barton legitimizes the option to force Sophie’s Choice on parts of the populace.

That question allows many to consider it a legitimate option to force that choice on the less fortunate, the most vulnerable.

Callous disregard for the poor and infirm is a belief supported by far right libertarians and those who consider themselves in a superior social strata. Anarcho-capitalists believe the state has no duty to provide for the less fortunate.

Apparently that belief extends to global health emergencies.

People will die from hunger, exposure, neglect, physical abuse or lack of access to medicine. Some are comfortable with that outcome, because they know it won’t be themselves who suffers.

If you are one of those human beings that considers themselves, but not others, worthy of state sponsored support during a global pandemic emergency, you should be quiet now. No one worthy of Canadian citizenship cares if you’ve determined you’ve been taxed enough.

You’re welcome to revoke your citizenship and relocate if you don’t want to contribute to universal survival efforts. But your complaints about your grandchildren’s burden fall on deaf ears.

I am one of the grandchildren gladly & proudly repaying WW2 debt, 70 years later.

My family members fought Nazi’s who forced inhuman choices on others. I’m proud of my relatives who were anti fascist. My grandfather was a Polish Catholic who fought fascism. I’m proud to contribute to the sacrifices made to ensure my life and my children’s lives were possible.

If your grandchildren are lucky enough to claim Canadian citizenship, I’d imagine they’d be proud to pay for a debt that ensured all citizens survived COVid.

To suggest otherwise would be inhuman, and fascist in nature. And criminally malevolent.

@threadreaderapp unroll please