MLAs must be vaccinated or get tested to sit in legislature
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/08/2021 (1670 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
PREMIER Brian Pallister will require his two unvaccinated MLAs to get COVID-19 shots or take regular testing, in order for them to sit in the legislature this fall.
“I believe all MLAs need to lead by example in our collective efforts to achieve sufficient immunization levels to ward off negative impacts of this fourth wave,” reads a Tuesday letter from the premier to the NDP and Liberal house leaders, which was obtained by the Free Press.
The PC party disclosed in mid-July that two of its MLAs had not received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Free Press surveyed all MLAs and learned all had been fully vaccinated except for Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler and Seine River MLA Janice Morley-Lecomte, both of whom have described vaccination as a personal matter.
On Tuesday, the premier unveiled a policy that requires doctors, teachers and other front-line public-sector workers to get vaccinated, or undergo frequent testing.
Pallister wrote that he’d like the NDP and Liberals to support extending that policy to MLAs and legislature staff.
“This needs to be in place prior to the legislature resuming business,” the premier wrote.
The Opposition NDP immediately supported the measure, but challenged Pallister to ensure all of his MLAs are on board.
“As premier it is incumbent on you and your government to show leadership on this important issue,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew wrote, noting the NDP had asked on Aug. 18 that all MLAs be required to get vaccinated to participate in house proceedings.
“As premier, I would expect you ensure that all members of the government caucus, including leadership contestants, would agree to the implementation of this mandate,” Kinew wrote.
In the past, Pallister had said it was up to MLAs to decide whether they get a shot.
“We’ve respected that choice and that right of every Manitoban to make decisions with their own body from the outset; we’re going to continue to,” Pallister said on July 14.
“We’re going to do everything we can to encourage Manitobans to make the choice of getting a vaccination, and then getting another one.”
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Letters from Pallister, Kinew on Legislature vaccine mandate