A nightly curfew announced on New Year’s Eve, which includes a ban on private parties, has sparked a backlash from opposition politicians in the Canadian province of Québec, with a popular conservative ideologue preaching civil disobedience against the measure.
On Thursday (30), the local government imposed restrictions on circulation from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am to try to contain the rise of Covid-19 cases in the region. Private parties were banned, and restaurants and other venues were forced to close.
Anyone violating the ban may have to pay a fine of up to 6,000 Canadian dollars (R$26,000). The second largest city in the country, Montreal, is in this province.
Québec Governor François Legault said at a news conference that confinement was necessary to prevent the rise in contagions leading to a collapse of hospitals. “It’s an extreme measure for an extreme situation,” he said.
Legault reported that the number of hospitalizations has recently doubled, and absenteeism of healthcare workers who have flu-like symptoms or confirmation of Covid-19 has also increased.
Québec’s three main opposition parties have criticized the decision, arguing that it is a sign that the government has failed to prepare, according to local media.
Liberal opposition leader Andre Fortin said in an interview on Friday (31) that had the governor acted sooner, there would have been less need for harsh measures.
“No other province in Canada has so many restrictive measures. Instead, they are announcing better ventilation in schools and accelerated vaccinations… But our government has chosen to be restrictive rather than act,” he said.
Conservative psychologist and influencer Jordan Peterson, who has more than 2 million Twitter followers, encouraged civil disobedience. “Private meetings are prohibited. The cure is much worse than the disease. Unbelievable. It is a time for civil disobedience,” he wrote on the social network.
The curfew is the second in the Québec pandemic. The first, enacted in early January 2021, lasted five months.
Québec registered 16,461 new Covid-19 cases and 13 deaths on Friday (31).
Earlier this week, the province decided to allow health workers who are Covid-19 and asymptomatic to continue working, fearing the collapse of hospitals.
Canada reported a record number of cases in recent days, doubling in a week to reach 30,000 new infections on Thursday, derived from the omicron variant.
On the same day Québec announced the curfew, the province of Ontario restricted attendance at concerts and sporting events to 50% of the space’s capacity or 1,000 people and authorized the fourth dose of the vaccine for seniors in nursing homes.
Another region, British Columbia, has canceled all New Year’s festivities, allowing only restaurant dinners but “no people mixing or dancing,” according to a statement.
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