TORONTO – After the no, no and still no repeated in recent weeks, Ontario Premier Doug Ford would be considering the implementation of a vaccination passport system. To report it to CTV News Toronto is a source very close to the provincial government who indicates the week just begun, as the one in which the official announcement of the creation of a system of vaccination certificates in the province will take place. According to the source who is well aware of the situation, the certificate “will be required in non-essential environments such as restaurants and cinemas”: mouth sewn instead on the parameters necessary to request the vaccination test and what form the certificate will take.
Ford, according to the source, will meet with his cabinet in the coming days to finalize the plan.
There has been a growing chorus of calls from multiple stakeholders – from municipalities to businesses, healthcare professionals and educators – to create a kind of vaccine passport that allows people to indicate that they have been vaccinated.
Such a system has already been implemented in a number of jurisdictions, and the idea is popular in places with high vaccination rates.
Earlier this summer, Ford said Ontario would not move in this direction because it would create a “divided society.”
However, with strong support from the public and private sectors and with fears that delta’s highly infectious Covid-19 variant could lead to an increasing number of hospitalizations, the government seems to have taken up the idea so far rejected.
Meanwhile, Trudeau has promised that if he is re-elected, his government will provide financial assistance — a billion dollars — to provinces that choose to implement vaccine passport systems. “If your prime minister dictates that everyone in your restaurant, local gym or other non-essential places must be fully vaccinated and show evidence, we will pay for the development and implementation of this program,” Trudeau said, during a campaign stop at a restaurant in Mississauga.
Only Quebec and British Columbia have approved the green pass at the provincial level: the French-speaking province will implement it on Wednesday, the B.C. in mid-September. Manitoba is also expected to announce details of the document certifying the vaccination. “Already, Premier Horgan and Premier Legault have stepped up – Trudeau said – I certainly hope that here in Ontario, Premier Ford steps up, too. It’s time for him to listen to public health officials.”
The federal government is developing a passport for travel that should be ready in the fall.
