It's the end of 2022 and the world is still witnessing new heights of Covid absurdity and fear-mongering authoritarianism coming from government figures.
Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam has issued a new public health announcement for the Christmas holidays, which comes in the form of a 2-minute interview with "Mrs. Clause" from the "North Pole". In it, children are warned that they could be on Santa's "naughty list" if they don't get the Covid-19 vaccine and mask up. Adults too are told that they won't make the "nice list" if they don't have their boosters.
Dr. Tam begins the video with the "good news" that the vast majority of Canadians have made the nice list this year after having been vaccinated.
And "Mrs. Claus" responds: "It just warms my heart to see everyone in Canada, especially kids, working so hard to keep the holidays safe..." The suggestion is that the minority of citizens who remain unvaccinated or without their boosters are "naughty".
Mrs. Claus then informs the children that she and Santa are "both up do date with our vaccinations, including Covid boosters and flu shots." This is the holiday image Canada wants to convey to impressionable young children - that coronavirus now threatens the mythical North Pole, apparently.
From there the Christmas message goes into the kind of guilt-tripping rhetoric we've all come to expect from the Canadian government, and its top health official who is the equivalent of Dr. Fauci.
"I always tell Santa to make a list and check it twice," Mrs. Claus says, and goes through the "list" by telling children to "stay up to date on your vaccinations" as well as "wear a mask... and make sure it's nice and snug."
Dr. Tam follows by telling families that if they gather for the holidays, "open a door, or a window" to let fresh air in.
All of this might actually be a step up for Canada when compared to the first couple years of the pandemic, given that across major cities there were strict curfews severely hindering freedom of movement, and not even relatives could visit family members after dark on fear of being ticketed by police.
