Я свой гражданский долг выполнил, послал по совету via_point имайл своему МП.

Dear George,

Thank you for your message. We’re all anxious to see the end of the pandemic. The past two years have sucked, to put it mildly, and we all want this to be over.

We know that to get to the end of this, we need to keep working together, whether it’s locally, provincially, or nationally. This applies to vaccination just as it applies to other public health measures meant to protect vulnerable people in our community and health care system. Just as the science has constantly been updated throughout the pandemic as we’ve learned more about the virus and our response, so must government decisions be based on the best scientific information and advice available.

I don't take any issue with calls for re-evaluating pandemic-related measures in keeping with the scientific evidence. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer has said the same The federal government this past week updated its travel rules, and the province released its timeline for lifting most restrictions. At the same time though, I think it’s important that we don’t blend concerns about federal and provincial rules, particularly when discussing things like lockdowns, vaccine certificates, and most mandates.

Whether provincial (e.g. vaccine passports and school/business/gathering restrictions) or federal (e.g. travel measures), the current public health measures, as frustrating as they can be, have always been meant to be temporary and designed to limit the very real harm caused by the virus, to protect our vulnerable and help prevent the need for future restrictions.

We all want to know for sure what the next few weeks and months have in store for us, but two years into this pandemic, we know that the virus will always find a way to surprise us and require reaction. As much as we want to be done with COVID, it’s not done with us. We have to learn to live with the virus, but we need to be clear with ourselves about what that means. Living with the virus means that people have to stop dying from it in such large numbers and that our healthcare system must be able to properly function without delaying other procedures or overwhelming health care workers. We are not there yet, but that day is hopefully fast approaching.

I understand the need for clarity with respect to the plan ahead, and I would have supported a motion that called for an transparent re-evaluation of such measures, explaining the metrics being used to justify the measures’ continued use or end, but that is not what the motion called for.

Federal pandemic-related measures aren’t forever and the government of course should be and is continually re-evaluating their usefulness. But we shouldn’t presuppose the answers to these reviews. While I can’t speak to the provincial measures, I will continue to be an advocate for following the science and advice of our health professionals as the situation continues to evolve, to enact restrictions only as minimally necessary and to support vaccination as an essential way out of the pandemic.

Thank you again for your message.

Sincerely,

Ya’ara Saks, M.P.

York Centre