Tory leader urges accommodations for unvaccinated Canadians

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said Thursday those unwilling to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should be accommodated through measures such as rapid testing, as health experts warn the rapid spread of the Omicron variant threatens to overwhelm hospitals.

Ontario is reporting an uptick in hospitalizations and days ago made the decision to keep school-age kids learning from home for at least two weeks, which Doug Ford’s government said was to take pressure off the health-care system.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said of the 319 patients in intensive care, 232 of them are not fully immunized against COVID-19 or have an unknown status, while 87 are double-vaccinated.

With millions of Canadians once again living under sweeping public health restrictions that have shuttered businesses and forced families to stay home, O’Toole blamed the federal Liberal government.

It has failed to keep society open through tools such as rapid antigen tests, or by ensuring there’s a homegrown supply of personal protective equipment, considering nearly 75 per cent of the country’s population is now fully vaccinated, O’Toole said.

Mandatory vaccination policies have proven to be a particularly difficult issue for O’Toole to navigate, even within his own caucus, as some of his MPs have refused to confirm their status. Some of these members forcefully condemn vaccine mandates as threatening people’s livelihoods and violating their medical privacy.

O’Toole came out as opposed to vaccine mandates during last year’s election campaign and on Thursday accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of fuelling vaccine hesitancy by attacking those who haven’t yet received their shots.

Trudeau said Wednesday that Canadians are angry at those who refuse to be vaccinated because they are filling up hospital beds, causing cancer treatments and elective surgeries to be put off.