TORONTO – The provincial government is under crossfire on two hot fronts: vaccinations and paid sick days. While Premier Doug Ford remains in self-isolation after the positivity of a member of his staff and prefers to remain silent, at Queen’s Park is a battleground between the government and opposition.
Yesterday the executive, after the announcement on Wednesday afternoon, presented the bill for the payment of sick days for workers forced to stay at home due to Covid-19. According to the NDP, this is an insufficient measure, accused as “too late and too little”.
The new measure, sponsored by Employment Minister Mount McNaughton, provides paid coverage of three working days, for up to 3 days. It was precisely this time limit that was rejected by NDP leader Andrea Horwath, given that the rules on self-isolation provide for quarantine of 14 days before returning to work.
The government, for its part, defends itself by pointing out that the legislation in question puts Ontario at the forefront of other Canadian provinces. The only two regions that have approved similar measures are Prince Edward Island and Quebec: the first involves only one day of paid illness, while the French-speaking province does not go beyond two days.
At the same time, according to the Conservative executive, the three paid days simply represent partial coverage of the time a worker has to wait before receiving payment of sick days by the federal government.
In any case, the members of the scientific table consulted by the premier during the pandemic consider insufficient the protection system activated at the federal and provincial level to protect essential workers. According to the experts, we need a real breakthrough that encourages all workers, regardless of the occupational category, to stay at home in the face of the onset of the typical symptoms of Covid-19.
The other hot front is vaccines. While the immunization campaign in Ontario is always proceeding with some setbacks, positive signs can finally be recorded. It’s yesterday’s news that all adults in Ontario will be able to book their vaccination starting May 24. In just under a month, therefore, we will have the breakthrough, taking into account that by that date the province will be able to count on a good stock of doses of the 4 vaccines approved by Health Canada: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Moderna. Pfizer alone will have 2 million vaccines a week, 40% of which will be sent to Ontario.
120,567 doses were administered in the province yesterday. Ontario has so far received 5,637,955 doses, using 5,027,770: stocks are therefore about 6 thousand, which at this rate should be consumed in about five days. But at the local level, we continue to call for a change of gear.
