Mr. Machin, shame on you.
Shame on you for travelling to the UAE, in the wake of one of the most historical distribution/logistics disasters of our time. All for what? To vaccinate yourself and your family?
As most of you likely read, Mark Machin, CEO of Canada Pension resigned this morning after news broke that he travelled to the UAE to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Trudeau’s government was quick to criticize, calling Mark’s actions “very troubling” - reiterating that the government has been very clear on its travel restrictions. I put a question back to our incompetent leadership - if the people cannot entrust you to procure and distribute sufficient vaccines for the people, should we continue to sit around and wait?
What I find to be most shocking is the sheer amount of publicity this headline is garnering, and the unnecessary need for Machin to resign. When disbelief in the current system fades, I tend to agree that we should not sit around, rather act in the interest of the greater good - vaccinating yourself seems to be a common goal of the greater good. It is very disheartening to see people, such as Machin, get penalized for no longer entrusting the current Canadian government.
Since when did it become a social crime to implicitly stand up for what has historically failed? In certain situations, such as the distribution of vaccines, “trying” is just not good enough.
Machin’s resignation is evident of society’s motivation to quickly judge those that go against the grain - for lack of a better word, those who are not “sheep”.
Machin’s actions may not be up to the socialist standards of our current government, but if you can afford to do your part in contributing to the “flattening of the curve”, and continued effort in steering the ship back to pre-pandemic life, all on your own dime - then do so.
The sole argument I am hearing is that Machin’s travel is optically bad. To me, the issue is not whether what Machin did was optically good or bad, rather why is it optically bad? Dictating your decisions based on public image versus what you feel to be inherently right, follows hand-in-hand with being a “sheep”.
We are fortunate enough to work in an industry that rewards contrarian thinking, and encourages thought provoking discussion - so let’s apply that thinking to non-financial means.
There is now one more vaccine available in Toronto.
Thank you Mr. Machin for generating alpha.
Cheers,
G.G.