What could a ‘reset’ of Canada actually look like? Ontario expert explains

The concept of a national or international “reset” brought on by COVID-19 has been recently met with a lot of controversy – as well as about a group of elites that want to take control of the world.

In his United Nations address in late September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made mention that COVID-19 is an “opportunity for a reset,” and a number of skeptics have since been linking him to the theoretical plot, allegedly involving a World Economic Forum initiative called “The Great Reset.”

While these theories are unfounded, a reset could mean many things for Canadians. 

And to the extent that there is a singular thing called a “reset,” Canadians have already been experiencing it in different ways, Peter Morrow, associate professor of economics at University of Toronto, said. 

Domestic reset

Morrow said there are a number of changes that businesses, industries and countries have been thinking about making for some time but did not necessarily have the time nor the capacity to put those changes into action.

“Now COVID has sort of shocked the system and sort of forced people into these new regimes,” he said. “So the changes that might have occurred already — but they just didn’t — are now being implemented.”

An example of this can be something as simple as working from home. 

“People have talked for a long time, especially with the Internet, about the possibility that we might not need to go into the office anymore, but people’s habits and people’s preferences still caused the day-to-day office to be a first-order fact of our reality,” Morrow added.

“Now we’re not allowed to come in, so people are forced to work from home and this thing that people have talked about for a long time is actually being implemented.”

International reset

On a macro level, Morrow said, Canada has long depended on U.S. markets for various goods and services, but that changed this year, in large part due to trade restrictions set by the Trump administration. 

“Some of the embargos, on medical equipment in particular, sort of have forced Canada to think more about how we’ll supply these medical goods,” he said, adding that internationally, the question has been emerging as to whether there will be more or less trade in the future, and whether trading partners will be reliable. 

Having a more diversified base of suppliers would be an example of a “reset” on an international scale, Morrow added. 

What of the conspiracy theories?

Morrow said while he’s not familiar with the “Great Reset” in depth, these types of unfounded theories from the public are expected in the current COVID-19 climate.

“Change is scary. Uncertainty is scary. And when you have uncertainty, you try and fill the void with explanations,” he said.