Vaccination mandates aren't the enemy here, COVID is': Federal labour minister addresses Edmonton chamber crowd
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The risk of unvaccinated workers falling ill is far greater than the risk of labour shortages caused by a vaccination mandate, federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan told the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce Monday.
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Speaking at a virtual question and answer session, O’Regan said the convoy of protesters that arrived in Ottawa over the weekend had a lot less to do with truckers, who are largely vaccinated, than people were originally led to believe.
“I think it’s pretty evident that what you have in Ottawa are people with very deep-seated feelings about vaccinations period, or, frankly, people who are just tired of COVID and really want to let us know that,” he said.
The protest, dubbed the Freedom Convoy, was originally targeting a federal mandate requiring unvaccinated Canadian truckers re-entering Canada from the United States to get tested for COVID-19 and to quarantine but expanded to include those demonstrating against health orders and the federal government as a whole.
While acknowledging that everyone is tired of the pandemic, O’Regan said vaccine mandates work in increasing the overall percentage of the population that is vaccinated.
“All of these numbers do matter, and the risk of an unvaccinated worker falling ill and having to stay home or worse, ending up in hospital is far greater than the risk of labour shortages caused by vaccination mandates — bottom line,” he said.
“Vaccination mandates aren’t the enemy here, COVID is.
COVID is the biggest threat to our economy.”
In December the federal government passed legislation to create 10 mandatory days of paid sick leave for workers in federally regulated industries. The changes will come into force by order in council. O’Regan said Monday that he is meeting with his provincial and territorial counterparts in February to talk about having similar legislation across the country.
Mandatory paid sick leave across the country would “close the gap in Canada’s social safety net,” O’Regan said while acknowledging that kind of country-wide change impacts smaller businesses.
“it’s one thing when I’m dealing with a CN, or a CP, or a Rogers, or a Bell, or Shaw. It’s quite another thing when you’re dealing with smaller businesses,” he said.
“So we’ve got to take the time to get it right. That is something that we are going to be consulting and working with industry very closely. I’m going to begin that conversation with my provincial and territorial colleagues.”
In Alberta, the NDP Opposition has repeatedly called for mandatory paid sick leave during the pandemic. Premier Jason Kenney has called it a “job-killing” policy that would force layoffs and put additional costs on business owners.
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