Jagmeet Singh calls on Justin Trudeau to do more to protect Canadians from third wave of COVID-19

As we enter a third wave of COVID-19 fueled by concerning variants hitting younger people, New Democrats are proposing solutions to help stop the spread and keep people safe

OTTAWA – With over 1 million Canadians now infected with COVID-19 and that number still rising, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to do more to protect Canadians in the third wave. This new wave is fueled by variants that are hitting younger people and is much more contagious. Canadians are seeing an alarming number of COVID-19 cases across the country, especially in Ontario.

“Young people are getting sicker from COVID-19—many of them are workers in factories and warehouses who can’t work from home,” said Singh. “They do essential work, like food production and work at grocery stores. They are delivery drivers and workers in the gig economy. Many getting sick are racialized and new Canadians—and don’t have access to paid sick leave. They deserve better. The Liberals must work with employers and provincial and territorial governments to provide actual paid sick leave. People need to be able to stay home and stop the spread of this virus. New Democrats have been fighting for paid sick leave from the very beginning of this pandemic.”

To help people get through the pandemic, New Democrats proposed a series of solutions including offering the provinces and territories the assistance of the military to set up federal vaccination clinics to help the most affected industries and sectors. To help essential workers who cannot work from home, Singh called on Justin Trudeau to ask our health experts to re-examine their advice and include them in the current vaccination roll-out. To ensure employers are complying with health and safety measure, the federal government must offer provinces and territories staff to increase their capacity to perform audits. Liberals must also increase provincial and territorial screening capacity in the most affected sectors by offering more staff.

“I can't accept that this is the best the Liberals can do,” said Singh. “And I won't accept arguments about jurisdiction as excuses for inaction. Securing vaccine doses is not enough if those vaccines can't get out to the people who need them in time. We must stop the virus from spreading and the federal government has the power and resources to help. Lives depend on it.”