By now you’ve probably heard politicians talk about the “new normal.”
But what about “more normal”?
That’s what Doug Ford’s education minister Stephen Lecce called the PC government’s back-to-school orders, which mandate masking on all children from grades 1 through 12 when school returns in September.
This follows the Ford PC government’s announcement that the province-wide mask mandate will continue.
The Ford PC government has not indicated, when, if ever, Ontario will exit Stage 3 of their “roadmap to reopen” which continues the use of emergency powers. But they have revealed that mask mandates will continue even if Ontario exits Stage 3 sometime in the future.
Since I was removed from the PC caucus by Doug Ford, for opposing his unnecessary implementation of Bill 195 that allowed for extended use of lockdown measures, I have made it clear that his government has no plan to return life in Ontario back to normal.
We were initially told that the purpose of the continuous lockdown measures, as well as masking and social distancing, was to ensure that our hospitals were not overloaded.
That has been achieved.
We were also told that things would return to normal once enough Ontarians had been vaccinated.
That has also been achieved as more than 81% of Ontarians over the age of 12 have received one dose of a COVID vaccine and more than 73% are now fully vaccinated.
But instead of getting us back to normal, the Ford PC government wants us to be content with something called “more normal.”
There is no such thing as “more normal.”
And forcing 6-year-olds to cover their faces for up to 8 hours a day is not, and will never be, normal.
Belinda Karahalios
Member of Provincial Parliament serving Cambridge, North Dumfries, North Brant
