Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh,
Zero Covid Canada is a national group of researchers, physicians, engineers, activists, lawyers, educators, and concerned citizens. During the 44th general election campaign we sent a letter to the 5 major federal parties asking for clarification on their positions on several items of critical importance to many Canadians who are concerned about the devastating effects of the continuing global pandemic.
Thank you for responding to our pre-election letter enquiring about your platforms. We analyzed the responses received and found many areas of common ground between the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party of Canada. We thus urge your parties to cooperate in parliament in order to turn the following campaign pledges into concrete policy as soon as possible.
Indoor Air Quality: COVID-19 is an airborne virus, yet most of Canada has systematically failed to adapt to this reality in any meaningful way. The NDP has advocated for a precautionary approach to airborne transmission throughout the pandemic. The Liberal Party made a series of pledges related to mitigating airborne transmission including $100 million top-up to the Safe Return to Class Fund for ventilation improvement projects across Canada, as well as $10 million for First Nations to improve indoor air quality in on-reserve schools. Additionally, the Liberal Party is proposing $100 million to the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative with $70 million of this funding directed to a new pillar focused on increasing air quality and indoor ventilation along with a tax credit for small businesses to make it easier for them to invest in better ventilation. Zero Covid Canada feels that these funding proposals are in line with a precautionary approach to airborne transmission, and that they will pay dividends for both individual and community health for years to come.
Sick Leave: Zero Covid Canada believes that a paid sick leave program accessible to all workers is crucial not only for ending this pandemic but for preparing for the next. Both the Liberal Party and the NDP support putting in place 10 days of paid sick leave for federally regulated workplaces. Both parties express a desire for convening the provinces and territories to work on developing a national paid sick leave framework for all workers. The Liberal Party is committed to increasing EI sickness benefits to 26 weeks, a proposal Zero Covid Canada supports and we believe this proposal is in line with the NDP’s values as well. Additionally, the NDP wants to extend the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit until such a national framework is in place, a proposal Zero Covid Canada supports and we believe the Liberal Party would support it as well based on its principles.
Vaccines: Both of your parties expressed support for federal funding and assistance for creating a pan-Canadian COVID-19 proof of vaccination program and for assisting provinces and territories with outreach to communities where vaccination rates are low. The Liberal Party is additionally proposing vaccination requirements for the federal public service and for passengers on interprovincial trains, commercial flights, cruise ships, and other federally regulated vessels. The NDP pledged to extend paid vaccination leave to federal workers. While not all of these policy proposals are identical, we feel that all are sound and are in keeping with the desire from both parties to use the resources of the Government of Canada to encourage and promote vaccination uptake across the country. We also urge all parties in parliament to work on increasing global vaccine supply to low and middle-income countries in order to safeguard against the possibility of further variants arising.
Care for Long COVID patients: The Liberal Party is proposing $100 million for studying the long-term health impacts of COVID-19. This is an extremely important, underfunded, and under researched topic. We believe the NDP should support this funding proposal as it matches the party’s principles. We also highly encourage both of your parties to financially support provinces in caring for long COVID patients.
Future Pandemic Preparedness: Both the Liberal Party and the NDP want to rebuild domestic vaccine and PPE production capabilities. The NDP additionally calls for ensuring stable, long-term funding for the Public Health Agency of Canada. We believe that all of these proposals are sound and would better prepare Canada for future pandemics.
Quick action on these common grounds is essential and we encourage you to work together to take immediate action for the wellbeing of all Canadians.
Feel free to contact us if you have questions or consult our website for more information on the scientific evidence-based elimination strategy: zerocovidcanada.org
We are looking forward to hearing from you on these actions soon.
Sincerely,
Zero Covid Canada