The Canadian province of Quebec has backtracked on plans to impose a health tax on residents who are not vaccinated against Covid-19. The tax, which was announced in January by the premier, would have imposed a financial penalty on Quebecers who did not get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
It would have made Quebec the first region in Canada to impose a monetary penalty on unvaccinated citizens – despite the fact up to 90 per cent of its residents are vaccinated.
The news was met with an outpouring of grievance, with popular author, professor of psychology and clinical psychologist, Dr Jordan B Peterson, who hails from Canada, slamming the move. Last month, tweeting to his 2.3 million Twitter followers, he challenged the proposal, writing: “You appalling and heedless authoritarians. For shame.”
The news that the tax has now been scrapped was announced by Premier François Legault.
On Tuesday afternoon in Quebec City, during a Covid-19 briefing. While the premier said that the bill drawn up by the finance minister was ready to be tabled, Legault admitted that the project was divisive and polarising.
“It’s time to rebuild bridges between Quebecers,” he said in French. “It’s time to work together … so that Quebec remains a place where it is good to live.”
“My role is to try and bring Quebecers together and stay united as a people,” he went on to say. “This is why we won’t go ahead with the health contribution.
“I understand that this divides Quebecers and right now we need to build bridges to listen to each other. Quebecers must remain united.”
Opposition parties in Quebec City reacted quickly to the news when it first surfaced on Tuesday morning.
The Parti Québécois accused Legault of making “yoyo decisions” and “playing poker” with Quebecers, while Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade claimed Legault was governing the province based on the latest polls indicating resistance to the measure.
“He must have a poll that’s saying, you know, this is not popular anymore therefore I’m no longer doing it,” she said.
“Three days ago, he said that it was going to be a tax between $100 and $800. And today, he’s just saying: ‘We’re not going ahead anymore.’”
The premier, however, insisted that is not the case, claiming the decision was made to avoid further dividing Quebecers and maintaining social peace.
Renaud Brossard, the Quebec director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, believes Legault did the right thing.
“The vaccine tax would have opened a Pandora’s box of issues for new health taxes, new ways to take money out of Quebecers pockets and we’re glad to see it will remain closed for the foreseeable future,” Brossard said.
Indeed, the proposal ignited widespread outrage online last month with many commentators arguing that the idea of financially punishing the unvaccinated was a dangerous path to tread, and presented a huge barrier to medical freedom. Some users took to Twitter to declare that they were inching “close to becoming anti vaccine”. Others said the proposed law went “too far”, whilst people also vowed not to take the booster shot in light of the penalisation of the unvaccinated.
According to federal data, just over 85% of Quebec residents had received at least one vaccine dose by 1 January. Data also shows that only 12.8 per cent of Quebec residents are unvaccinated.
During a news conference on 11 January, Premier Francois Legault said that people who have not received their first dose of vaccine will have to pay a “contribution”. The fee will be “significant,” although it has not yet been decided, Mr Legault said.
“I think right now it’s a question of fairness for the 90% of the population who made some sacrifices,” he said. “I think we owe them this kind of measure.”
In January, the province also announced that it would require proof of vaccination to shop in government cannabis and liquor stores.
Also last month, a curfew was imposed, the second one of the pandemic, running from 22:00 to 05:00 each day. Data shows that deaths from Covid in Quebec remain at a similar number even after the introduction of widespread vaccinations.
Alongside the news of the scrapping of the tax, Legault also this week announced the easing of some restrictions, pointing to an improving situation in hospitals and the return of health workers.
“I am pleased to announce that on February 14, sports and artistic activities will reopen for adults for groups of up to 25 people,” he said. “Gyms and spas will also reopen at 50 per cent.”
In the last week, he said the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations had dropped from 3,278 to 2,852, while the number of absentee health workers had gone down from 12,000 to 10,600.
However, he warned that there’s a significant amount of catching up to do in terms of delayed surgeries – and said that it’s necessary to remain cautious.
“We have to remain careful, but we also have to balance that with our mental health and with our social cohesion,” Legault said.
While many are welcoming the reopening of gyms and spas, other industries are feeling left out in the cold. Bar owners are among those feeling left out.
President of the Quebec bar owners union, Peter Sergakis, said members are fed up.
“I feel terrible, we feel terrible” he said, adding the Legault government needs to set a date for when bars will be allowed to return to normal business. He said that the region’s bar owners are planning to reopen on 11 February despite having a greenlight from the province.
“They don’t want to miss the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day, which are the biggest days of the year,” he said.