Provinces could make vaccination mandatory, says federal health minister
CBC
Provinces are likely to introduce mandatory vaccination policies in the coming months to deal with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said today.
"What we see now is that our health care system in Canada is fragile, our people are tired, and the only way that we know to get through COVID-19, this variant and any future variant, is through vaccination," Duclos said.
Duclos said said that while rapid tests, masking and social distancing are useful tools, they won't end the pandemic on their own.
"Fifty per cent of hospitalizations now, in Quebec, are due to people not having been vaccinated," he said. "That's a burden on health care workers, a burden on society which is very difficult to bear and for many people difficult to understand.
"That's why I'm signaling this is a conversation which I believe provinces and territories, in support with the federal government, will want to have over the next weeks and months."
Duclos said that while discussions about mandatory vaccination policies are not taking place now, he believes that, based on his "personal understanding of what we see internationally and domestically and in my conversations [with] health ministers over the last few weeks," that discussion will start in the coming weeks or months.
He stressed that it's up to the provinces to decide whether to implement mandatory vaccination policies.
More to come ...
CBC Newfoundland and Labrador is kicking off its annual holiday campaign, helping to raise money to support local food banks.
If all goes according to plan, at 6 a.m. AT on Saturday people working at the IWK Health Centre will become the test case for a generational change to Nova Scotia’s health-care system.
One month after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced what he called "generational" military spending, New Brunswick’s defence ecosystem is on high alert.
Miranda Mirlycourtois, 34, looks directly at the camera and makes a confession.
Saskatoon city hall says police spending is projected to be $2.6 million over budget this year. That pushes the city into a $1.2-million deficit position, according to a report that will be considered by city council next week.
Students at the University of Regina are days away from deciding whether a newly formed student association should become their official representative body.
All public schools on P.E.I. are closed Friday and thousands of Maritime Electric customers are without power as strong winds create hazardous travel conditions across the province.
Prince Rupert, B.C., residents are celebrating the holidays this year with coastal flair.
In the four years Chelsey Simmonds has worked at the Eva Rothwell Centre, she has seen the need increase every year at the centre’s community food pantry.
CBC is once again looking to make the holiday season kind in Windsor-Essex.
Acute Care Alberta has extended its contract for another year with a private surgical facility at the centre of probes into health procurement and contracting.
As food bank use continues to climb across the province, front-line workers in Thunder Bay, Ont., are working to improve both food security and education.
More ads could soon be coming to Toronto’s subway system.