Victory!

On Thursday, Bill 12, An Act to enact the Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations in the Education and Healthcare Sectors Act, 2021, was defeated 16-34 during Second Reading!

The New Blue Party extends a sincere thanks to all of you who called and emailed your MPP to request that they vote against the bill.

Without your help and without the calls and emails, it was clear that PC MPPs were inclined to quietly let the legislation pass and go to committee - leaving it one vote away from becoming law.

On the same day that Bill 12 was defeated, PC MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos (the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Long-Term Care) said that the Ford government has “seen many hospitals putting in place mandatory vaccine policies,” and “support[s] them making these choices.”

Prior to your efforts, Doug Ford and the PC government were quiet on Bill 12.

On October 20th, when asked about their voting plan, Deputy Premier and Health Minister Christine Elliott said only that the PCs would “make a determination.”

If PC MPPs had not been pressured by constituents to vote “no,” the bill would have gone on to Third Reading.

With your help, Belinda led the charge in the legislature against Bill 12, and stayed late at Queen’s Park to debate the legislation the night before the vote took place.

Belinda argued that making vaccination mandatory for employment “vilifies millions of people, tells them they can’t be participants in society, and results in animosity between Ontarians,” adding "It is no one’s business why someone doesn’t want to or can’t get vaccinated. COVID-19 is no joke for those who are high-risk, but neither is it a joke to coerce people into disclosing their medical status and to have them fired from their job.”

Click here or on the image below to watch Belinda debate Bill 12 at Queen’s Park!

Since Bill 12 was defeated, there is no provincial law mandating vaccination across the education and healthcare sectors.

However, individual organizations and businesses are still permitted and encouraged by Doug Ford and PC government laws to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for their employees.

The New Blue Party remains opposed to mandatory vaccination policies and passports, whether they are implemented by government or businesses.

We must scrap the Ford government’s existing mandates.

And we will push for legislation and fines that protect the jobs and access rights of all Ontarians, regardless of vaccination status.

The New Blue Party of Ontario will defend all Ontarians’ access rights and civil liberties.

Together we will change the course.

The best is yet to come!

Jim Karahalios

Leader, New Blue Party of Ontario

P.S. Unlike the establishment political parties, we do not receive the per-vote taxpayer subsidy. Our marketing is entirely funded by voluntary contributions from our supporters.