Hassan wants legislature recalled immediately

York South–Weston – NDP MPP Faisal Hassan is echoing the call from Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath for Doug Ford to recall the legislature immediately:

“Our community of York South–Weston is a hotspot for COVID-19, and case counts are escalating as the second wave worsens, with a spike in hospitalizations and fatalities. At the end of December, Weston alone had 86 confirmed cases.

Our community has a high proportion of vulnerable residents, including many frontline workers in health care, food services and retail, who don’t have the option of working from home. Doug Ford refuses to give all workers paid sick days, and Ontario's vaccine roll-out is moving at a snail’s pace, as long-term care homes continue to experience dangerous outbreaks.

Doug Ford must recall the legislature so we can get this crisis under control. We have a lagging vaccination plan, with our most vulnerable community members left waiting for the shots that can save their lives. Doug Ford must stop his pattern of doing too little too late, looking out for the bottom line instead of peoples' lives.

The legislature must return to work immediately and move out billions in unspent COVID-19 funds to shore up hospitals and long-term care homes. The NDP wants the Canadian Armed Forces recalled to long-term care homes in crisis and said federal funding for Red Cross deployments must be spent instead of being sat on by Doug Ford.

The NDP also wants the government to pass laws to provide people with paid sick days, give more financial support to small businesses and put a robust plan in place for an efficient vaccine roll-out. The NDP already has a bill in the house that would provide paid sick days.

The NDP has also been calling for broad asymptomatic testing for schools. With a potential school return on Monday, our schools need more resources to keep kids, parents and educators safe from the virus, not fewer."