Ontario Liberals call for mandatory vaccination policy at Queen’s Park

TORONTO -

With new vaccinations requirements for health care and education workers set to be implemented in Ontario, one political party wants the compulsory vaccination policies to apply to sitting MPPs at Queen’s Park.

Liberal leader Steven Del Duca is calling for a mandatory vaccination rule for all members of provincial parliament and clear protocols for those who choose to remain unvaccinated, as politicians prepare to return to the legislature on Sept. 13 for the Fall session.

In a letter to Ted Arnott, the Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, Del Duca said elected officials in Ontario should lead-by-example and get vaccinated before returning to Queen’s Park.

“This would ensure the safe continuation of Parliament while reducing the possibility of members and those that assist them from inadvertently contracting COVID-19 and unintentionally transmitting the virus to their families or other vulnerable people in the community,“ Del Duca said in the letter.

Del Duca’s letter, however, doesn’t lay out whether an unvaccinated MPP should be sanctioned or prevented from entering the building and instead urges Arnott to respect the Ontario Human Rights Code.

MPPs, Del Duca says, can remain unvaccinated “should they have a valid reason” and any change in rules shouldn’t prevent an MPP from “fulfilling their democratic duty”, raising questions about how exactly the policy would disrupt the status quo at Queen’s Park.

Currently, MPPs are asked a series of screening questions before entering the building with vaccine status being left off the list. Earlier this year, MPPs agreed to a new mandatory masking rule inside the legislative chamber enforced by the Sergeant-at-Arms.

The appeal to the Speaker, whose office is responsible for policy and operations related to Queen’s Park, comes after a report from QP Briefing in which 27 Progressive Conservative MPPs declined to provide their vaccine status while members of other parties, including the Liberals, NDP and Green Party said their members were fully vaccinated.

CTVNews was unable to independently verify the vaccination status of all 124 MPPs.