A pandemic puts everything in perspective, not least the lessons of leadership.

Today, much of what we now know about responding to infectious diseases we owe to learning lessons from the medical experts and front line workers who handled the 2003 SARS crisis. Toronto and Hong Kong suffered more than anywhere else, which means that we should have heeded their advice more than anyone else.

What did they say?

Allow sick workers to stay home without losing wages; give public health agencies the resources to be ready when we desperately need their help; stock up on protective N95 masks to protect health-care workers from infected patients; listen to the experts and the evidence, rather than going with your gut.

What did we do?

A year ago, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government rolled back a law guaranteeing two paid sick days and exempting workers from getting a doctor’s note (which risks infecting even more patients and practitioners); in their first budget last year, the PCs unexpectedly and unilaterally slashed funding transfers to the very public health agencies entrusted to protect us from disease transmission; and the previous Liberal government stockpiled plenty of new masks, but it’s unclear whether they replenished them beyond their “best before” date.

What did we learn?

Everyone makes mistakes. Leadership is learning for next time, because later is still better than never.

Facing an uproar, Doug Ford’s government reversed itself on last year’s public health cuts. As for funding transfers in future years, and letting the sick stay home, we are still waiting.

It’s safe to say that Ontario’s new finance minister, Rod Phillips, has learned from the mistakes of his predecessor’s disastrous budget last year. It’s a good bet that in his scheduled March 25 budget, Phillips will make the connection between funding transfers and transmission of infectious diseases.

A far better bet for Phillips would be to postpone his budget until the dust has settled. Far better to take stock than put forward pointless guesstimates for economic growth, stimulus and revenues that will be unhelpfully outdated on the day of delivery.

For her part, Health Minister Christine Elliott has been a voice of calm leadership in this crisis, stepping forward to offer reassurance but also stepping back to let public health experts and doctors take the lead. Regular briefings from those experts have been delivered with authority and transparency.

Contrast their considered advice with the thoughtless public musings from Ford, who on Thursday morning advised the 15 million people in Canada’s most populous province — many of whom were desperately seeking last-minute advice — to travel anywhere anytime and have a good time:

“It can change at any day. But I just want the families and their children to have a good time,” the premier said. “Go away, have a good time, enjoy yourself, and we’re going to be monitoring the situation as it changes every single day. But I just want them to enjoy themselves just now.”

That same morning, B.C. officials cautioned the public to avoid any international travel. Within hours, Ford’s own government announced schools would be closed for the two weeks after March break (not least because so many people might be bringing back the COVID-19 virus from their vacations). By the next day (Friday), Ontario’s chief medical officer urged everyone to avoid all non-essential foreign travel.

To be fair, Ford’s wrong-headed advice seemed like an honest mistake, more of a cautionary tale than a catastrophic blunder. If the public is forgiving for now, it’s because the premier’s heart appeared to be in the right place at the wrong time — but this is no time to go with your gut.

If you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t talk about it. Lest a leader mislead us and exacerbate a sensitive situation.

The same could be said for the tensions with teachers that have cast a shadow over the education sector for nearly a year, after Ford’s government was guided more by political than pedagogical considerations. The Tories foolishly announced a major increase in class sizes and mandatory online learning, until they largely (if belatedly) backed down earlier this month.

Parents preoccupied with their kids’ fate during walkouts now have bigger worries. Teachers’ unions that were calculating when to close down classes will no longer have that option — not because of a walkout or lockout but a shutdown.

On Thursday, the Catholic teachers’ union wisely claimed victory and agreed to a tentative deal that resolves a festering dispute at a time when parents and the province as a whole have bigger worries to focus on. Other unions may prefer to be dragged kicking and screaming, but at this point the public will tune them out.

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That doesn’t mean Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce should continue poking and prodding teachers’ unions. This is the time to tone down their provocative rhetoric.

A postscript: At times like this our gratitude and admiration for health-care workers — doctors, nurses, nursing home workers, orderlies, paramedics — comes to the fore. In this pandemic, there are even more front line workers helping us stay healthy — from delivery drivers to warehouse workers, food handlers and supermarket cashiers — who face the public every day or help people find their way.

They deserve our thanks, but also our support. Especially if they fall ill helping us stay safe.