Sleepwalking into ‘grim’ fall

Enough is enough.

Where is Premier Doug Ford? And where is the vaccine ID system that will help protect Ontario’s citizens and businesses from the worst of the rising fourth wave?

On Monday, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced a provincial “vaccine card” that will take effect Sept. 13. Access to restaurants, movies, gyms, sports arenas and more will be limited to those who have rolled up their sleeves for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Nearly three weeks ago, Quebec Premier François Legault announced a vaccination passport system that will bar the unvaccinated from non-essential services such as restaurants and gyms. That starts Sept. 1.

These are sensible and necessary provincial actions. It’s long past time to put the well-being of the majority first — and curtail the activities of those who have chosen not to protect themselves and others.

But here in Ontario, where vaccine takeup has stalled well below the rate needed to keep the Delta variant under control, there’s no similar system in place.

Ford dismissed the need for it and then all but disappeared from public view, even as case counts rise and the prospects for a decent fall look worse by the day.

Last week, Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, warned of “a difficult fall and winter,” and suggested more restrictions may be needed. Not a peep from Ford about any of that.

This week, Ontarians are hearing that the provincial science table has “grim” projections on the pandemic’s trajectory and is preparing to release those next week. Still, no Ford.

Why is it that Doug Ford, who has access to the most information about the trouble coming our way and holds the most tools to do something about it, is always the last one to see the light?

Ontario needs vaccine certificates and mandatory vaccinations for workers in key sectors, such as health and education. It’s that simple. The longer the

Ford government delays, the worse things will get.

That’s what happened in waves one, two and three. The Ford government was urged to be proactive and, each and every time, it waited until things got really bad and then scrambled with measures that proved to be too little, too late.

A quarter of Ontarians eligible for vaccines have not bothered to get their two shots. Some 2.2 million people have not accepted even a single jab. They are driving the fourth wave, and they’re being mollycoddled by a government that is unwilling to do more than ask them to please, pretty please, do the right thing.

In the 18-to-29-year-old cohort, a highly social group, only 62.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The surest way to keep businesses open this fall and ensure the bulk of their customers feel confident enough to walk through their doors is through a vaccine certificate system. That’s why B.C. and Quebec are doing it.

It’s also a pretty effective way to prod some of the unvaccinated folks to get their jabs. That’s no small thing for them and everyone else.

That’s why so many business groups and health experts have called for provincial action on this. It’s not enough, as they rightly point out, to leave this kind of policy making up to individual businesses and institutions.

In fact, it’s a total abdication of political leadership. The Ford government seems determined to sleepwalk Ontario into a challenging fall, just like it did last summer.

Moore made the stakes awfully clear in his COVID briefing on Tuesday.

The Delta variant is “formidable and aggressive.” Vaccine uptake must increase to fight it. “Our fate is in our hands,” he said.

But Moore, along with the Ford government, seems content to just hope unvaccinated Ontarians will come around to doing the right thing. But, as we’ve said before, hope is not a strategy.

Quebec and B.C. have shown the way on vaccine certificates. All Ford has to do is follow. Ontario’s fate rests on it.

Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, suggested last week that more restrictions may be needed as case counts rise. But we haven’t heard a peep from the premier