Quebec's vaccine passport goes into effect, limiting much of public life for those unvaccinated

Wednesday, September 01, 2021 – by John McHutchion

Here’s what you need to know to get the day started:

Quebec's vaccine passport goes into effect, limiting much of public life for those unvaccinated

Starting today, proof of vaccination will be as much of a daily necessity in Quebec when leaving the house as a wallet or keys.

Dubbed the COVID-19 vaccination passport, digital or paper documentation will be required to take part in much of public life, from having a beer to playing badminton.

Other provinces — including British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario — are poised to implement their own systems in the days and weeks to come.

In Quebec, the list of non-essential activities prohibited to those without a vaccine is wide-ranging: restaurants, movie theatres, gyms, team sports and indoor pools are all now off limits to those who aren't fully vaccinated, or granted a rare exemption for medical reasons.

Many public health experts have welcomed the passport as a useful tool to help contain the spread of COVID-19, particularly in congregate settings, and encourage people to get vaccinated, as Quebec and the rest of the country enter a fourth wave of the pandemic.

"People want to be vaccinated and they want to have a normal life," Health Minister Christian Dubé said in announcing the system. "We went through hell in those first three waves."

Being first out of the gate in Canada, Quebec's approach could serve as a model for the country, said Kerry Bowman, a University of Toronto professor who teaches bioethics and global health.

In their scope, Bowman said such systems represent an "unprecedented" form of public health policy. He likened it to the Second World War in its emphasis on collective — rather than individual — rights.

But he worries that a system like the one in Quebec risks pushing unvaccinated people to the margins of society and further inflaming tensions. Others will get vaccinated, or already have, even though they don't want to, in what amounts to a form of "coercion," he said.

"Now, look, is it justified under this difficult emergency that we're in? I hope it is."

More on this issue

Time for Alberta to target COVID-19 vaccine uptake in rural, remote areas: health experts.

Would-be poll worker quits federal election gig after learning double vaccines not required.

Canada's Greg Stewart wins shot put gold at Paralympics

(Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Greg Stewart celebrates winning gold and setting a new Paralympic record in the men's F46 shot put in Tokyo today. The 35-year-old from Kamloops, B.C., threw a Paralympic record of 16.75 metres to soar to the top of the podium at Olympic Stadium. Read more on Stewart's win here and catch up on Day 8 of Paralympic competition here.

In brief

Canada's western provinces are largely driving the country's fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, and physicians are now raising the alarm — saying lax and late public health measures helped spark a rise in serious infections that's already putting pressure on hospitals and impacting patient care. In British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, infection rates are high above the country's average and far beyond every province to the east, including Ontario, whose population is larger than all three westernmost provinces combined. In terms of raw case growth, Alberta currently has the most new infections in the country, with more than 7,000 cases reported in one week. The province is now in the early stages of postponing surgeries and transferring patients to help boost capacity, but it has yet to reinstate major public health measures or bring in a vaccine mandate to curb case growth as the fast-spreading delta variant surges across much of the country. "Things are going very poorly. They're only going to get worse," said Dr. Ilan Schwartz, an infectious diseases clinician and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Read more on rising cases of COVID-19 in Western Canada.

Manitoba MLA and deputy premier Kelvin Goertzen will take over as interim leader of the province's Progressive Conservatives and as premier, following Brian Pallister's resignation today. The PC caucus voted Tuesday for Goertzen to serve in the role. Caucus chair Greg Nesbitt notified the lieutenant-governor of the decision after a closed-door party meeting. "It was unanimously decided that Kelvin Goertzen is the best person to lead us through this interim period," Nesbitt said in a statement. Goertzen will be Manitoba's 23rd premier for a two-month term, at which point one of the candidates running to replace Pallister will be selected. Read more on Pallister's resignation.

The Liberals will release their full election platform today, a day ahead of the first televised leadership debate of the summer campaign. The move comes at a time when polls suggest the Liberals, who entered the campaign eyeing a majority, have ceded ground to the Conservatives. The CBC's Poll Tracker currently has the Conservatives with a narrow lead after more than two weeks campaigning exclusively on their platform, dubbed "Canada's Recovery Plan." Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole released the plan the day after the election was called. The Liberal plan will come out before a French-language debate Thursday hosted by Quebec's TVA network. Read more about the release of the Liberals' platform.

Is the federal government profiting off of interest on federal student loans? New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh says as much. At a campaign stop in Sudbury, Ont., on Aug. 28, he proposed eliminating the payment of interest on all federal student loans. He later tweeted: "Since coming to power, Trudeau has profited off of student debt, to the tune of nearly $4 billion in interest payments," referring to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. The federal government has suspended the accumulation of interest on Canada student loans until March 31, 2023. But is Singh's claim true, false or somewhere in between? Christine Neill, an associate professor of economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., says the claim is false — though the finance of student loans, a subject she's researched, can get quite complicated. "No, I think it's not really correct as phrased," she said of Singh's tweet. The government generates revenue off of interest on student loans, she says, but revenue is not the same thing as profit. "Profit tends to imply that the revenue that you're raising is greater than the cost," she said. The issue with Singh's claim is that Ottawa is actually losing money on federal student loans and grants, even as interest on the loans produces some revenue, Neill said. Read more on our student loan fact check here.

If you have a question about the federal election, send us an email at ask@cbc.ca. We're answering as many as we can leading up to election day. Today: How you can vote while away at college or university.

Just months ago, Israel was a world leader in vaccinating its population and appeared to be putting a stranglehold on the virus that causes COVID-19, wrestling down its daily case count to double digits — and at times, near zero. But any potential celebration was short-lived, as the more contagious delta variant gained traction and spread quickly, to the point where Israel's most recent daily case count was around 11,000 — a level not seen since January. According to some Israeli scientists, this reversal of fortune provides lessons for countries like Canada, as we enter a fourth wave, to remain cautious about letting any guard down — to avoid some of the mistakes their country made. "This is a very clear warning sign for the rest of the world," said Dr. Ran Balicer, chief innovation officer at Tel Aviv-based Clalit Health Services, in a recent interview with the magazine Science. "If it can happen here, it can probably happen everywhere." Read more on the COVID-19 situation in Israel.

Now for some good news to start your Wednesday: A teenager from Conception Bay South, N.L., is helping a woman who lost her home in a fire rebuild a prized button collection that was destroyed in the blaze. Emily Harnum is a friend of Sheila and Edgar Saunders, who lost their Bridgeport home following a fire on Thursday. Harnum said Sheila lost over 10,000 buttons — some dating as far back as the 1600s. Saunders especially liked sorting through her collection, seeing it as a great way to relieve stress and maintain dexterity, Harnum said. After hearing about the importance of the lost collection, she knew she wanted to help the couple rebuild. She created a Facebook page called The Button Project asking if anyone could donate buttons to help restart the collection. Two days after making her first post, she had collected over 1,500 buttons from six different donors. Read more on this story here.

The Canada Votes newsletter is your daily guide to what you need to know about the day ahead in the federal election campaign. Delivered to your inbox Sunday through Friday mornings. Sign up here to get the newsletter.

Horse dewormer the latest trend in COVID-19 misinformation

Three Alberta farm supply stores have told CBC News they've received an influx of calls from people looking to buy the livestock dewormer ivermectin, due to false claims that the apple-flavoured paste will cure or prevent COVID-19.

Ivermectin can be used to treat parasites in humans and animals, but the livestock form of the drug should never be used on humans. No clinical studies have proven if ivermectin can slow or stop the spread of COVID-19 in humans — and the World Health Organization has told people not to use it for COVID-19 outside of scientific trials.

But that hasn't stopped people from trying. And some are making themselves sick.

Today, Time magazine journalist Vera Bergengruen on how ivermectin became the latest trend in COVID-19 misinformation.
Listen to today's episode

Today in history: September 1

1905: Alberta and Saskatchewan enter Confederation as Canada's eighth and ninth provinces.

1939: Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler invades Poland, starting the Second World War.

1980: Terry Fox is forced to quit his cross-Canada Marathon of Hope near Thunder Bay, Ont., because cancer had spread to his lungs.

1985: A joint American-French expedition finds the wreckage of the British luxury liner Titanic about 600 kilometres south-southeast of Newfoundland. The wreckage is located by a robot submarine about four kilometres below the ocean’s surface.