2 B.C. doctors went on a COVID-19 speaking tour. Colleagues say their misinformation put public at risk

It was a Tuesday night in January in Terrace, in northwestern B.C., and inside a small community hall, a crowd had gathered for a talk on COVID-19. 

The men on stage were Dr. Stephen Malthouse and Dr. Charles Hoffe — family doctors in B.C. and the main speakers in a series of events called Doctors on Tour. The speaking tour, in which the two share their opinions about the pandemic, public health restrictions and vaccines, has stopped in more than a dozen communities across the province in December and January.

Both doctors hold active medical licenses and are in good standing, but several B.C. physicians have filed complaints against them with the provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons, accusing them of spreading COVID-19 misinformation.

Hoffe, in an open letter last spring posted on the website of the anti-vaccine group Vaccine Choice Canada, claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine is more dangerous than COVID-19 itself.

Malthouse, who is based on Denman Island, has appeared at multiple anti-mask rallies, and what appears to be his signature was allegedly found on a fake vaccine exemption linked to a B.C.-based website offering exemptions. That website is now under investigation by the Chilliwack RCMP. 

But that Tuesday night, Malthouse and Hoffe had the attention of about 150 people in person, and more online. 

"Bonnie Henry is out to kill us all," said Malthouse as he began his presentation, referring to B.C.'s provincial health officer.

The crowd laughed. 

It's a familiar refrain for Vancouver pediatrician Alistair McAlpine, who says he's been aware his colleagues have been spreading misinformation online for months. 

McAlpine says he is one of 13 doctors who filed a complaint against Hoffe with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. in December 2021. He says the college acknowledged it received the complaint but has said nothing more about it since. 

"It's a sort of dual disappointment," McAlpine said. "Disappointment in my colleagues, but disappointment in the bodies that should be regulating them." 

The college has publicly warned physicians against "sharing anti-vaccine, anti-mask, anti-physical distancing and anti-lockdown misinformation" at risk of being disciplined, but McAlpine and others say the warning lacks teeth unless it's backed by swift action.

Details of any of the college's investigations are protected by B.C. privacy laws. If an investigation results in disciplinary action, information is disclosed to the public and remains on public record, the college said in a statement to CBC News. 

The college would not confirm it's investigating Malthouse or Hoffe, and there is currently no public record of disciplinary measures against them.