Quebec’s decision to request payments from unvaccinated adults triggers an avalanche of criticism across Canada

BY PAUL JUNOR

As cases of Omicron surge across Canada, provincial governments have attempted to come up with creative strategies to deal with the looming health crisis.

The provincial government of Francois Legault announced on Tuesday, January 11^th, 2022, that it would be imposing an anti-vaccination tax, which caught many people off guard.

Reports are saying that the measure will be a “health-care contribution” whose value has not been determined yet. Premier Legault states that those who are not vaccinated “Will have to pay because there are consequences on our health-care network and it’s not up to all Quebecers to pay for this. It’s a question of equity because right now, these people put a very important burden on our health-care network. I think it’s normal that the majority of the population is asking that there be a consequence, and yes, we will continue to look at spreading the use of the vaccine passport, but I think we have to go further.”

Premier Legault believes that $50 or $100 is not high enough and he wants it to be a significant amount. The details will be worked out between the government in conjunction with its finance minister and legal experts. Reactions to the proposed vaccine tax have been largely negative as many constitutional experts questioned the legality of it.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association released a statement in which Cora Zwibel, general counsel wrote that Premier Legault is “Proposing a direct penalty for unvaccinated-compelling individuals to undergo medical treatment.” She notes,” Our Charter recognizes individual autonomy over our bodies and medical decisions. Allowing the government to levy fines on those who do not agree with the government’s recommended medical treatment is a deeply troubling proposition. To justify this kind of restriction on constitutionally protected rights, the government must provide clear and compelling evidence and demonstrate that there were no other reasonable alternatives.”

Vincent Marisal, health critic of Quebec Solidaire (QS) stated explicitly that this is a “radical “proposal”, which ignores the plights of the most vulnerable in society. He states, “There are homeless people, people with serious mental health problems, undocumented migrants. It would help if the Legault government released the legal and scientific evidence that promoted it to come to this extreme position,”

There has been additional criticism of this proposed anti vax tax from Dominque Anglade, Liberal Leader. He states, “Today, Francois Legault has chosen to divide and divert. With arrogance Legault gave us a beautiful ‘smoke show’ without public advice, without any details, without having answered questions and without having consulted the Assembly. Again, he relies on the polls and his political instincts.”

Advocates working with Black and Indigenous communities are particularly concerned that this tax will have a greater negative effect on them. Paul Bailey, Executive Director of the Black Health Alliance,” We know that they’re already living with the spectre of poverty and many other inequities, whether it be food insecurity, or housing insecurity, and so for this specific population, applying a tax to them only further entrenches those inequalities.”