December 3, 2020, in an interview with the magazine News, the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, shrugs his shoulders when journalist Alec Castonguay asks him if he considers that he has made mistakes in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. “No, I don’t see any,” he replies.
Since then, the balance sheet – already far from encouraging – has continued to grow. At the end of April, Quebec became the first Canadian province to reach the plateau of 15,000 deaths linked to COVID-19, which ranks it second in the death rate among Western countries.
“We immediately knew that we should write a book that would be a lasting counter-speech to the story that the government is telling us about its own management,” says Josiane Cossette, co-director of the collective. Shock treatments and tarts, a critical review bringing together the texts of speakers from different practices and disciplines, including medical anthropology, education, sociology, social work, journalism and political science.
To highlight what the Caquiste government wishes to erase from its balance sheet, the book focuses on the reality of certain sub-groups of the population, neglected and particularly affected by the pandemic, such as women, people with poverty, people of color and Indigenous peoples, in addition to offering a powerful insight into the workings and failures of our health care system.
It also demonstrates the propensity of François Legault and his team to swim against the current of scientific discourse, particularly in his decisions concerning schools, curfews and air transmission.
“We literally witnessed the creation of a discourse on an ‘alternative’ reality,” emphasizes Julien Simard, co-director of the trial and postdoctoral researcher at McGill’s School of Social Work. We are not discussing the same empirical world. We also see it with the third link. Even if all the experts are against it, Benoit Charette said a few days ago that the project would have little impact on the environment and urban sprawl. As with the pandemic, they are in an invented scenario that has only one objective, to keep them in power. »
In this parallel reality, the spread by aerosols, which notably caused an explosion of cases in schools, would be “possible”, but “unlikely beyond a few meters”, according to a report published by the National Institute of Health. of Quebec: an assertion denied by several epidemiologists and public health experts, as well as by the World Health Organization.
“The denial of aerosols is the mortar that holds together the edifice of lies from the authorities”, specifies Josiane Cossette. “It’s like the Jenga game. They can no longer remove this piece or move back without everything collapsing,” continues Julien Simard. “This mode of management, which is anything but transparent, has created a breach in which the conspirators have advanced, and which has caused a lot of confusion for Mr. and Mrs. Everybody, who do not know what behaviors to adopt and what are the real risks”, concludes the co-editor of the book.
Exacerbating inequalities
According to the authors, the pandemic has also brought to light the violence inherent in our societies, reinforcing the consequences of the deep socio-economic, racial and gender inequalities that underlie it. Problems that the Legault government had long been trying to sweep under the rug — like systemic racism, the shortage of childcare spaces, the housing crisis, dilapidated schools, deplorable working conditions for essential workers and the economic management of the health system — have all been exacerbated.
In Montreal North, for example, where the death rate is 30% higher than in the rest of Quebec, there is an accumulation of these scenarios. “There are a lot of people with an immigrant background, some of whom have irregular status, as well as great precariousness. There are a number of beneficiary attendants and other essential workers. These individuals often live together in small apartments. They cannot afford to miss work, even if the conditions in which they have to work are dangerous. These are different realities from the one in which Mr. Legault evolves and the people for whom they govern, ”recalls Josiane Cossette.
The Caquiste government has introduced the strictest guidelines in North America – curfew, closure of non-essential businesses and schools, abandonment of sports and cultural activities – recalling on several occasions that they had contributed to reducing the number of deaths . “What more could I have done, since we were the most careful?” said Mr. Legault in particular, in an interview with the Montreal Journal.
“These violent measures were perhaps the most severe, but they were not the most effective. The latter would have required a lot of money, investment in ventilation systems and infrastructure. If all public places had been properly managed, we could have preserved social ties without contaminating ourselves. Instead, the government has decided to place the weight of the success or failure of its management on individuals,” adds the co-director.
“This approach is practical for the authorities, as it exempts them from any structural action. Each individual is responsible for their own health. We completely obliterate social, environmental and economic inequalities,” emphasizes Julien Simard.
Sixth wave or not, the political strategy of Mr. Legault and his team seems to be working. In this election year, the Coalition avenir Québec is still at the top of voting intentions, garnering more than 40% of support.
“This self-management is all in all well accepted socially, because most people are ready to live with the virus, concludes Josiane Cossette. Meanwhile, our neighbor dies with the virus. We completely lose our sense of empathy. We don’t even commemorate the deaths anymore. Legault, in the middle of the election campaign, avoids being associated with the pandemic and talking about it, unless it is to announce investments. It is deplorable. »