October 27th, 2020
October 27th, 2020
QUEEN’S PARK — After Doug Ford claimed he encouraged his MPPs to lobby the chief medical officer, and repeatedly said he does so himself, Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath said the Conservatives should not be attempting to influence public health advice.
On Saturday, Conservative MPPs Jane McKenna and Parm Gill sent a letter to Ontario’s chief medical officer pushing back against anticipated possible pandemic restrictions in Halton Region. Yesterday, Ford said he supported their decision to do that.
“It’s shocking that Mr. Ford would publicly endorse the efforts of his own MPPs to attempt to influence public health advice about whether further pandemic restrictions may be needed,” said Horwath. “The provincial government’s decisions about how best to keep the public safe during the pandemic should be based on expert public health advice. That advice should be based on medicine, not politics.
“We might not have been brought to the brink of another economic and health disaster in the second wave of COVID-19 if Mr. Ford hadn’t been doing the bare minimum and pinching pennies. Now, he and his MPPs are actively pushing back against further pandemic restrictions that might be needed to prevent things from getting even worse.”
A decision about whether further pandemic restrictions would be needed in Halton Region was expected yesterday. It never came.