Dr. Modry makes some excellent points, and he's certainly right about some things, all of them pertaining to the medical field. He's not an economist, and his arrogance in that area is overwhelming, and his source material is from The Fraser Institute, an organisation that spews forth economic "research" that is anything but. They don't submit their work for peer review and only self publish because their work is opinion based and not actual research. I happen to know Dr.Modry personally, and his economic beliefs are rooted in a perspective that is severely biased due to his wealth. His opinion about lockdowns is rooted not in concern for others but instead as seeing people as means of production, and no matter what, the production-economy must continue unabated primarily to serve the needs of the wealthy.
The anti-mask stance confuses me, the medical community is now pretty much close to 100% in agreement on the efficacy of masks with regards to Covid19. It's now known that i'ts spread through oral and nasal emissions.
Many of the non-directly-medical side effects he's referring to (mental health of children, divorce, etc) are tied to economic stress. Even if lockdowns aren't necessary for this pandemic, they could be required for an even more serious emergency, and if we can't cope, we need to make systemic changes.
Alberta is becoming a have-not province, and was on it's way there long before the pandemic. We've staunchly refused to diversify our economy and have completely ignored the growing shift away from oil based energy. This was a systemic issue that has nothing to do with pandemics and should be addressed, but the UCP government refuses. They have hedged all of our bets on the oil and gas industry.
Recently, the premier gave a speech about a Venezuelan family that "escaped socialism" but he didn't take the time to listen to the person he talked to. They left their home country in 1989 because they'd based their entire economy on oil, and the collapse of the industry (the bust, in boom and bust) had pushed the country deep into recession. The family moved to Montreal and eventually to Alberta, and here they are again, in the same predicament. Living in an economy based solely on oil and gas, riding a crashing wave. Alberta's woes have nothing to do with Trudeau, or any other federal government. We had years and years of "Alberta friendly" governments, which Kenney was actually a minister within, and they did nothing to solve the issue. Why not? Because they rightly saw it as a provincial issue, an oversight to lessen the dependence on non-renewable energy.
So, yes, I agree with Dr. Mondry on many of his medical points, mostly that we need enough capacity in the system to deal with both a medical emergency and keeping regular treatments and interventions available and the system is not completely overwhelmed, yet. But I don't agree with his opinions regarding the reasons why Alberta is faltering economically, and the possible solutions to the issue. Dive deeper into the Fraser Institute's policy stance for Alberta and it's all about horrendous austerity. Even right-leaning economists now admit that austerity measures are not a means to economic recovery, and in fact exacerbate recessions. The IMF published a report based on their internal research of examining the austerity that they imposed on nations needing to borrow from the fund, and several years ago admitted that the austerity measures were a complete failure.
The acceleration of corporate tax cuts in Alberta will reduce government funding at a critical time when Albertans require more services than ever. Those cuts have not resulted in job growth, and will not. Tax cuts are well down the list of effective job creation strategies. Jobs are not created by companies. They're created by demand. If we don't increase the demand for goods and services, companies will not invest to fill that demand. Companies don't invest in employment growth or productive capacity unless there is a demand gap they're trying to fill. Putting money into the hands of consumers is the #1 way to create jobs. Examining commercial growth trends and demand gaps is right after that. An example is renewable energy. People the world over at all levels, from governments down to individuals are demanding renewable energy sources. Non-oil-producing nations are all tired of being held hostage and are not only seeking to battle climate change, but create greater economic stability by getting off the oil price roller-coaster.
So it's true that Alberta has had difficulties thanks to the pandemic, but the reason we're faring worse than other provinces has nothing to do with Covid. It's because of 40 years of refusing to see the future that was staring us in the face the entire time.