B.C. Liberal leader calls on province to end vaccine mandates
BC Rise reached out to Kevin Falcon on June 15, 2022 asking for a response in follow up to the federal government suspending Covid-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees, contractors including domestic and outbound travel.
“We have staffing shortages in B.C. in healthcare and many other areas. Currently the province of B.C. requires all BC Public service employees to show proof of vaccination of 2 doses. This mandate also impacts contractors that are wanting to make bids on contracts from bc bids website for provincial contracts. The mandate is also impacting work from home positions and this all makes no logical sense as pointed out by many British Columbians and health experts.” We wrote to Kevin Falcon
“Will the BC Liberals now press the BC NDP, John Horgan, Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix to review the mandate and suspend it because it is now widely known common knowledge the shot doesn’t prevent infection or transmission?”
Our message to Premier John Horgan we also asked about the provincial worker and contractor mandates that is impacting thousands of local small businesses.
“Contractors with small businesses are currently being prevented from bidding for contracts with the province of B.C. on BC Bids because of the covid-19 mandates and many other can’t apply for certain jobs.”
It is a widely known fact that the covid shot doesn’t prevent infection or transmission, so I have a few questions.
Will the Covid-19 vaccine mandates be reviewed for B.C.since the federal mandates have been suspended?
If the public health order is going to be reviewed when will that happen?
After it is reviewed, when will we know the results of the review?”
BC Rise also reached out to Adrian Dix through his media contact person.
“Contractors with small businesses are currently being prevented from bidding for contracts with the province of B.C. on BC Bids because of the covid-19 mandates and many other can’t apply for certain jobs.
It is a widely known fact that the covid shot doesn’t prevent infection or transmission, so I have a few questions.
WIll the Covid-19 vaccine mandates be reviewed for B.C.since the federal mandates have been suspended?
If the public health order is going to be reviewed when will that happen?
After it is reviewed, when will we know the results of the review?”
B.C. public servants Premier John Horgan, Adrian Dix and Kevin Falcon all did not respond to our media inquiry, we reached out to them all on June 15, 2022 with the same inquiry about ending the the mandates for BC Public service workers and contrators.
How ever the next day June 16, 2022, B.C. Liberal leader Kevin Falcon released a statement that British Columbia needs to follow the federal governments lead and end order forcing mandatory Covid vaccine requirements on workers.
“It is time for the provincial government to follow the science and lead of the federal government, and suspend the temporary vaccine mandate for provincial employees. As we enter an endemic phase it makes no sense to prevent healthcare workers, conservation officers, or those who will be needed on the front line for this year’s wildfire season from working.”
“In light of the federal government’s recent decision to suspend vaccine mandates for domestic travellers, transportation workers, and federal employees, it is time for the B.C. government to now do the same for provincial employees here in B.C.” the statement reads
On June 17, 2022 Kevin spoke to mainstream reporters and said the vaccine requirements are causing problems to the already dire shortage of health care workers which is one of the causes to temporary closure of emergency rooms in some smaller B.C. communities
The federal government announced on Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federally regulated workers and domestic and outbound international travellers would be suspended. The new rules go into effect on June 20.
“The province needs to act, too,” Falcon told reporters on Friday. “British Columbia is out of step with the rest of the country in this regard. We’ve got a situation now that just warrants the immediate lifting of the vaccine mandate.”
According to the Vancouver Sun “approximately 190,000 health care workers in hospitals, long-term care homes and community health centres in B.C. must be vaccinated for COVID-19 under a provincial public health order. The B.C. Public Service Agency also requires its 30,000 employees to be fully vaccinated.”
“We’ve got 2,500 health care workers sidelined at a time when the health care system is, to use the premier’s own words, crumbling and teetering,” he said.
Nearly 2,500 hospital employees had been sacked as of March for not being so-called fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Almost half of them worked for the Department of Health in the Northern Interior.
According to Post Media, Health Minister Adrian Dix clung to the illogically health order pretending one persons vaccine status some how affects someone else’s risk in healthcare worker and for people that work from home or outdoors with the public-sector extending to contractors.
“So for them, for our workers, for our workplaces, Dr. (Bonnie) Henry put in place these orders and those orders continue to stand and I expect they will stand for some time,” Dix said.
Everyone has known for several months the Covid-19 shots do not prevent infection or transmission of Covid-19 therefore the mandates are illogical.
Falcon said the vaccine mandates for public sector employees no longer make sense, particularly since it could mean some contract and volunteer firefighters won’t be able to help fight fires during the upcoming wildfire season.
“We’ve got conservation officers who spend virtually all their time outdoors who have lost jobs, including a 20-year veteran in the civil service that has lost their job as a result of these mandates,” he said.
Dix said he is “surprised and disappointed” by Falcon’s position.
“This notion that the pandemic is over is not correct,” Dix said. “The central role of vaccination has not changed.”
Fun fact, Dix and Bonnie Henry told us the Covid-19 vaccine will “stop the spread” according to the BC news release on August 23, 2021.
“Getting vaccinated keeps everyone in B.C. safe and stops the spread of COVID-19,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “And getting vaccinated is the best choice to protect yourself, the people you love and to ensure you can continue to participate in these public and private events and settings. Our B.C. vaccine card is an essential interim action until we transition to a federally compliant proof of vaccine.”
If the central role of the vaccine mandate Adrian Dix is talking about is to so-called stop the spread, well that isn’t working at all and makes it a 100% government policy failure. We have seen for several months with real world data of people that have got the Covid-19 shot getting infected and spreading Covid, this was also debated in Ottawa in March.
Dr. Shirin Kalyan, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia told a special covid committee “The omicron spread into many countries has been through fully vaccinated often boosted individuals and this really questions the validity of the current vaccine mandates for travel within and outside of Canada.”
However if the role is to coerce people in to getting the vaccine to “protect” themselves then it is a choice and the personal medical choice should have no consequence because there is no extra risk for anyone else and again this is a government policy failure.
The last possible central role “to ensure you can continue to participate in these public and private events and settings” is straight up control. This is not just a government policy failure, it is also authoritarian and not about health at all.
B.C. Ferries, which is regulated by Transport Canada, has announced that its required vaccination policy will be suspended as of June 20.
Because of federal vaccine requirements, an estimated 150 BC Ferries employees were laid off in January. However, now that those restrictions have been lifted, BC Ferries wants them back.
According to ChekNews, Deborah Marshall, executive director of public affairs with BC Ferries, said they are in the process of contacting 150 employees that were forced in to a punishment of unpaid leave.
Marshall stressed that their return is absolutely critical for BC Ferries. Staffing shortages have been a huge issue recently.
“There are a number of higher-ranking positions in the 150 employees who are currently on leave without pay.”
The house of commons just voted to suspend the Covid-19 vaccine requirements to enter the precinct which takes affect on June 20, 2022.
On March 18, the province of Ontario removed the mandate for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination and testing in schools, long-term care facilities, and hospitals.
In high-risk settings like hospitals and long-term care homes, Nova Scotia still needs confirmation of vaccination.
New Brunswick’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for government employees working in health care and vulnerable areas expired in April.
In March, Alberta scraped their Covid-19 vaccine requirements for healthcare workers.
British Columbia ended its COVID-19 state of emergency on June 30, 2021 and ended the discriminatory segregation passport for non-essential businesses such as gyms, restaurants, concerts of sporting events on April 8, 2022.
