Brampton mayor worried Ontario is putting vaccine certificate enforcement costs on municipalities
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown says that he is concerned that costs related to enforcing Ontario’s new vaccine certificate system when disputes arise will inevitably be “put on the backs of municipalities.”
Businesses have already spoken out about the fact that the new system will put the onus on their employees to check documentation and verify vaccination status but during a briefing on Wednesday Brown said that he is worried that there will also be a “huge new workload” for police and bylaw enforcement officers.
“When I look at our bylaw volume, 50 to 60 per cent of our bylaw work right now is COVID-related and that is only going to rise,” he warned. “If the number you call when there is an incident or a disagreement or an enforcement problem is the bylaw department that volume is going to grow. And I'm told when bylaw cannot resolve the matter in a peaceful fashion that's where it gets escalated to the police and once again there'll be costs associated with that. So this is a huge new workload that's being put on the back of municipalities.”
Health Minister Christine Elliott said last week that businesses who felt threatened by a patron during the course of verifying their vaccine status could call 9-1-1 for assistance.
The Toronto Police Service, however, quickly issued a tweet clarifying that 9-1-1 is for “emergencies only.”
Brown said that he does view the vaccine certificate program “as an important policy to get residents vaccinated and create safe spaces but he said that it is “abundantly clear” that municipalities need financial support to help cover some of the costs related to enforcement.
“The province is saying call 9-1-1 or call bylaw and I can tell you there are no resources allocated for this when it comes to the police or bylaw and at some point the province is going to need to reconcile that and make sure that we have the resources to support this provincial policy,” Brown said on Wednesday.
The federal Liberal government has previously promised $1 billion in funding to provinces to help implement vaccine certificate systems, though it is not clear whether any of that money will be redirected to municipalities.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.