The World Forum - March 28th, 2024

 

'LOCKDOWN ISN'T WORKING': Ford caucus member breaks rank to speak out

 


A member of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s caucus is speaking out against his own government’s policies and calling for an end to the province-wide pandemic lockdown.


“The lockdown isn’t working,” writes York Centre Progressive Conservative MPP Roman Baber in a letter to Ford.  “It’s causing an avalanche of suicides, overdoses, bankruptcies, divorces and takes an immense toll on our children. Dozens of leading doctors implored you to end the lockdowns.”


Baber’s letter, acquired by the Sun, states: “COVID is real, but the fear of COVID is exaggerated. While every death is tragic, after 10 months we learned that COVIDis not nearly as deadly as first thought.”


The letter continues: “Approximately 3,500 (70%) of all Ontarians who died were over age 80. While we mourn every death, only 200 people or 4% of all deaths were under age 60 and ZERO children died from COVIDin Ontario.”


The north Toronto politician, who was first elected in 2018, also notes the various reported harms being caused by the lockdown — such as an oncologist from Princess Margaret Hospital fearing a “tsunami of cancer” due to reduced screenings and the Canadian Mental Health Association reporting a historic high of 10% of adults reporting thoughts of suicide.


Baber, who was born and raised in the Soviet Union and left there as a child, also explores historic ICU occupancy rates in the detailed letter. The province’s ICU beds, a graph in the letter shows, were at 86.66% average daily occupancy in December 2018, 83.51% in December 2019 and 80.84% in December 2020. For the first part of January, it now sits at 81.60%.


Baber’s letter ends with a “proposed exit strategy” that includes: a focus on long-term care facilities; proper [infection prevention and control] instead of imprisoning 15 million Ontarians;” building additional hospital capacity and training more ICU nurses.


https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/lockdown-isnt-working-ford-caucus-member-breaks-rank-to-speak-out

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