Ford delays on safe workplaces while military called in

April 26, 2021

QUEEN’S PARK — Mike Schreiner released the following statement regarding Premier Ford’s refusal to implement a comprehensive safe workplaces plan:

“It’s now been a week since the government began to change their tune on paid sick days, but we are still well short of a plan.

Unfortunately, this has been the pattern from Ford throughout the pandemic: delayed half measures.

We need Ford to immediately legislate at least 10 paid sick days that are permanent, seamless and fast, and universally accessible to all workers without restriction. Anything short of that is negligent and blind to the situation we are in.

We are in a crisis. Ontarians are tragically dying every day, and there are over 800 patients in our ICUs.

And while the Canadian military prepares to send in ICU nurses and medics to help stop the fire, Ford is still in denial that protecting our essential workplaces is key to stopping the spread of COVID.

I’m calling on Premier Ford to immediately implement a comprehensive safe workplaces plan that includes:

• legislating paid sick days, and providing paid time off for workers to get vaccinated
• mandating medical grade PPE and implementing rapid testing in essential workplaces
• targeting high-risk workplaces with accessible, on-site mobile vaccine clinics
• temporarily closing all workplaces that aren’t truly the most essential”

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