Ford inflated COVID-19 benchmarks from health experts

November 12, 2020

GUELPH, ON — Mike Schreiner released the following statement after media reports that the Ford government rejected its own public health agency’s advice:

“Doug Ford is putting lives and livelihoods at risk by misleading the public. 

After so much suspicion of his dangerously weak COVID benchmarks, now we have reason to believe these numbers were cooked up by politicians, not by health experts. 

The Premier has been caught putting public health on the backburner after flat-out denying these accusations for the last week. 

It’s a shocking breach of trust. 

Ford is guilty of inflating the benchmarks provided by health experts and then forging an endorsement of his plan in front of the cameras. 

Everyone who was in on this deceit should be ashamed of themselves for knowingly putting our hospitals and long-term care homes on a path to disaster. 

The government’s reckless disregard for science ultimately puts our economy and people’s jobs at risk. What is good for public health is good for the economy. 

I’m calling on the Premier to release full transcripts of the meetings with his expert advisory groups. It’s time we learned what’s really driving the Premier’s decisions.

The people of Ontario deserve to know the truth.”

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