COVID-19 response
Mr. Peter Tabuns: Why does the Premier want to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic? I can’t figure that out, and neither can anyone else in this province.
Last week, the Premier brought in a half measure on paid sick days after more than a year of pressure from doctors, nurses, public health advisers and many others. They told him what was needed to stop transmission of the disease in workplaces, to bring it under control, and he still won’t do what’s needed to actually bring the pandemic under control.
Last week, the Premier brought in a partial version of what the science table had called for: a ramped-up focus on virus hot spots. Instead of providing the vaccines necessary for the hottest outbreak zones for the amount of time needed to actually win, he gave us much less than we needed.
Speaker, this is not the first time he has ignored the science and prolonged the pandemic. In February, scientists told him that if he opened things up, we would have many more cases and many more deaths, prolonging the pandemic, and he went ahead and he prolonged the pandemic—more deaths, more misery, more frustration for a public that has had its fill.
It’s time for the Premier to stop stalling, stop with half measures, and actually do what we need to do to end the pandemic and let people get on with their lives.