Over the Top Hurricane Warning Video From Ottawa Warns Canadians to Stay Home

Over the Top Hurricane Warning Video From Ottawa Warns Canadians to Stay Home

June 17, 2021 ctn_admin

OPINION

Boy, does our federal government hate travel.

For 15 months, we’ve been getting hammered with messages about the evils of travel, even though Ottawa admits that travel accounts for only a tiny amount of COVID-19.

We’ve been bombarded with TV spots and social media posts warning us to cower inside our homes lest we bring the pandemic down upon grandma and grandpa.

So why, then, do we have the government of Canada posting a hard-hitting video about the dangers of hurricanes on their Facebook page?

The video, which goes on for more than a minute, has some valid points about Canadians registering with the government if they go away, monitoring the media for hurricane and typhoon warnings, and making a plan if a storm does strike.

The government has posted similar warnings in previous years, as it should. I have no problem with that.

But this latest posting comes with a dark and stormy video that begins with ominous music and big, scary-looking clouds and waving palm trees. It goes on to show a worried man in front of his computer, touching his chin and peering at his screen. You can almost see the caption bubble over his head saying, “Damn, I’m in big trouble.”

As if that’s not enough, the Facebook post begins with the words “#NowIsNotTheTime for a vacation.” It then says “#HurricaneSeason2021 is here. Another reason to #StayHome and stay safe.”

Hasn’t the Caribbean been through enough?

Canadian airlines, at the federal government’s request, halted all commercial flights to the Caribbean in the height of the busy winter season. That was understandable from a COVID-19 standpoint, but it caused immense damage to a region of the world that has, by and large, done a very good job battling the pandemic. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost due to a lack of Canadian tourists on Caribbean islands this year. And now, just as there’s a bit of hope, we get Ottawa screaming about hurricanes and making it sound like a trip to the Caribbean is a death wish.

Hurricanes ARE a problem in the Caribbean in summer and fall. There’s no doubt about it. Forecasters predict will be an overactive one with as many as 20 named storms, up to ten hurricanes – up to five of which will be category three or higher.

That’s a potential problem. But hurricanes can be predicted. No one with a phone or a computer or a radio or a TV could possibly be surprised by a hurricane in this information age.

People should watch the news if they go and they should take precautions. But to advise people to avoid the region entirely is both unnecessary and damaging to a lot of ordinary people who depend on Canadian visitors to feed their families.

The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region on earth. If you think Canadian tourism has been slammed by COVID-19, you ain’t seen nothing. To warn Canadians in the way Ottawa is doing with its Facebook post is way over the top.

There’s also the issue of geography. The Caribbean is a VAST region that stretches from the coast of South America to Miami. It’s almost 2,300 kilometers from Barbados (which is outside the traditional hurricane zone, by the way) to The Bahamas. How far is 2,300 km’s? If you flew west from Toronto you’d be past Regina and probably into Alberta by the time you hit that mark.

When media reports talk about a hurricane in the Caribbean, some people think there’s been widespread devastation across the entire region and cancel their vacation. But that’s like seeing a storm dump heavy rain in St. John’s and deciding you shouldn’t visit Montreal.

Hurricanes are dangerous. I get it. But do we really need this kind of doom and gloom message from the Canadian government? Do they have a problem with the Caribbean? Or do they just hate travel that much?