A new poll shows that almost a third of Canadians still plan on celebrating the holidays with their loved ones despite coronavirus public health advisories which currently prohibit gatherings. 

According to the Angus Reid Institute, 30% of Canadians plan on gathering with family and friends over Christmas. 

Meanwhile, 10% of people said they will be going to do their holiday celebrations outside of their own communities.  

When broken down provincially, Quebec and Alberta have the highest number of respondents who reported that they will attend Christmas gatherings regardless of the health orders. 

In both provinces, nearly 35% of those polled said they plan to celebrate with others. As for Ontario, a slightly fewer 27% reported that they will do so. 

Despite hopes to see family and friends, Canadians are also overwhelmingly concerned about catching the virus from an acquaintance who is infected. According to the poll, 80% of Canadians reported that they were worried about catching the coronavirus. 

So far, both several provinces have announced measures that would prohibit holiday gatherings. 

In Quebec, Premier François Legault reversed a prior plan to allow residents to meet with loved ones for two days.  

“It’s not realistic to think we will succeed in reducing the progress of the virus by Christmas,” he announced.

“I am announcing the two days foreseen for Christmas (gatherings) will be cancelled. We sincerely hoped the situation would get better but it has not.”

Instead, residents currently living in red zones will be prohibited from having gatherings, while those in orange and yellow zones can have groups of ten and six people, respectively. 

Meanwhile in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford has asked Canadians to say goodbye to gatherings altogether. According to current orders, Ontarians are being told to only celebrate with those in their own households or if living alone, to join one additional household. 

Recently, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has also told residents in the province to avoid family gatherings this season and has extended pandemic restrictions until January 8th. 

The Trudeau government spent $570 million on foreign-made hand sanitizer during the pandemic while Canadian companies retooled their operations and produced sanitizer for free.

According to CBC, companies across Canada answered Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plea to help meet the hand sanitizer shortage in the spring. However, as these companies produced sanitizer at no-cost, they later learned that the government opted to purchase from foreign companies instead. 

Of the $570 million, $252 million went to BYD Canada Co., a Chinese company with only a handful of employees in Canada.

For people like the CEO of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery Tyler Dyck, the payments to foreign suppliers feels like an insult.

“It really is like a sucker punch in the gut,” Dyck said.

“You are bypassing people that have done the right thing from Day 1.”

Dyck’s company heeded the calls by the prime minister to produce hand sanitizer, and spent about $200,000 producing it for Canadians. 

“For our family … it’s the thing that made us feel more proud than anything.” 

In total, the Trudeau government spent $5.6 billion on personal protective equipment (PPE). Because of the pandemic and a lack of PPE supply, much of that PPE purchased by the government was bought at prices inflated by over 380%.

In the early stages of the pandemic, it was revealed that Canada’s emergency supply of PPE had been allowed to get dangerously low. The decision to ship medical products to China also exacerbated Canada’s PPE shortage.

An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that there was “apparent unfairness” in shutting down small businesses while letting large retailers remain open during the second wave of the coronavirus. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Superior Court Justice Frederick Myers made the ruling during a speedy injunction initiated by Canadian Appliance Source LP against the province’s public health orders. 

“I have little understanding of the public interest assessment behind the COVID-19 regulatory regime,” ruled Justice Myers. 

“Everyone sees the apparent unfairness of small stores closing while big box stores remain open.”

Appliance Source took the issue to court after it was ordered to close its doors in Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton in accordance with the Ford government’s new coronavirus lockdown regime. 

The company was expecting to make $27 million in sales in the province for December but now the company is arguing that the closures will cost the company millions. 

“This case involves the public interest and not just the private concerns of the applicant and its customers in its showrooms. Has the government made a policy choice to favour a small number of very large stores to contain risks while people do necessary shopping?” wrote Justice Myers. 

“There appears to be a battle for the hearts and minds of the public between public health advocates and others with different priorities.”