Baranyai: Forced return to office disrespects, devalues workers

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has offered a rationale devoid of reasons

You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

COVID-19 delivered an avalanche of lemons. Travel restrictions, toilet paper hoarding, and a legacy of social division barely scratch at the toll of an illness that claimed more than seven million lives globally. Even so, as with many hardships, there have been some upsides to the pandemic.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

For starters, people began speaking more openly about mental health, to society’s enduring benefit. COVID also shone a long-overdue light on conditions in long-term care facilities. Traffic congestion eased. For a time, during lockdown, the air was noticeably cleaner.

Many people who shifted to remote work were delighted to reclaim hours they’d spent commuting. When the emergency ended, many opted to continue working from home, at least part of the time, and embrace a better work-life balance. Some, recognizing a home office could be just about anywhere, fled cities for more pastoral climes.

All in all, people managed to make some pretty good lemonade to wash down all that homemade sourdough bread.