Leader of Canada’s Opposition calls for an end to discriminatory COVID-19 vaccine mandates

Twitter/Pierre Poilievre

The London Free Press (LFP) recently published an article detailing the tribulations of a pregnant nurse who faces termination over a lingering workplace COVID-19 vaccine policy. The headline asks: Why are COVID vaccines still mandatory?

Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre retweeted the article stating that the fastest way to get more doctors and nurses is to “end all the discriminatory vaccine mandates blocking them from doing their jobs, so they can work again.”

The fastest way to get more of the doctors and nurses we need?

End all the discriminatory vaccine mandates blocking them from doing their jobs, so they can work again.https://t.co/Mo3VPxTUig

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) July 12, 2023

“A London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) nurse set to be fired this week has made a rare public appeal to the hospital’s top boss to save her job,” the article says.

Sandra Hartman appealed to the chief executive of the LHSC, Jackie Schleifer Taylor – whose predecessor Paul Woods was fired after ignoring COVID-19 related travel restrictions throughout 2020 and 2021.

“I think she would have the authority to change it,” Hartman is quoted as saying.

Taylor announced the mandate on August 31, 2021 that would extend to “physicians, staff, volunteers, learners, contractors and cross-appointed personnel.” It was said that the vaccine mandate would “build on our other protective measures like mandatory education and testing.”

Hartman’s plea echoes the sentiments of hundreds of ousted healthcare workers across the province of Ontario who last gathered in January 2023 in hopes of garnering mainstream media attention to the injustice faced not only by them, but the patients who are suffering amid extreme staff shortages.

The United Healthcare Workers of Ontario with Canadian Frontline Nurses, gathered at a church in Port Perry, Ontario to show solidarity for healthcare workers still ousted for standing up for their bodily autonomy.

FULL REPORT by @TamaraUgo: https://t.co/1PmZjfBbda

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 24, 2023

Ontario’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, rescinded Directive 6 – a government sanctioned health directive stipulating COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers – in March of 2022. However, it is said that the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) has continued to pressure hospitals to keep this outdated policy in place.

As part of their 2023/24 strategic plan, the OHA says that it will “ensure that our organization and culture remain inclusive, modern and relevant.”

Many argue that continued COVID-19 vaccine mandates are the opposite of inclusive, modern and/or relevant.

Since the loss of healthcare workers in Ontario due to the mandates, Premier Doug Ford sought to “poach” healthcare workers to fill these gaps, instead of preventing the use of coercive and discriminatory vaccine policies.

You can be “bold, innovative and creative” by hiring out of province health care workers or you could simply stop discriminating against the thousands of Ontario HCW’s who are still sidelined over outdated vaccination policies. #onpoli #oha https://t.co/J0TQbCeEWu

— UHCWO (@uhcwo) January 20, 2023

Many hospitals sought the expertise of travel nurses to replace those being terminated, often at exponentially higher wages.

One of the first nurses to speak out against the harmful public health policies infiltrating hospitals in Ontario was neonatal nurse Kristen Nagle, who was terminated from LHSC in January 2021.

Later that year it was well documented that there were “breakthrough” infections happening in the COVID-19 vaccinated. In July 2021, researchers found that there was no difference in viral loads between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

Meanwhile, to date there have been 93 reports of adverse pregnancy outcomes following COVID-19 injections, including 88 spontaneous abortions, according to Health Canada.

Apart from the moral implications of coercively mandating novel mRNA injections indiscriminately with threat of job loss and financial ruin, what is the scientific rationale of continued enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates if they do not prevent infection or transmission and have clearly identified safety risks?