THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle says he fully supports closing off Ontario to non-essential outsiders as a way to help stamp out COVID-19.
The 72-year-old, fresh off receiving his first dose of the Moderna vaccine on Friday afternoon at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit clinic at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition’s Coliseum building, said it’s time to get serious about the virus and get rid of it for good.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Gravelle said. “Obviously we’ve seen cases related to travel here in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. Those are generally people probably coming in from Toronto by airplane perhaps.
“I do think that having our borders closed and having a bubble, much like they have in the Maritimes, is not a bad idea at all.”
The long-time Liberal MPP said he also believes the province should take a regional approach to its COVID-19 fight, noting Northwestern Ontario in particular is not experiencing anything close to the record numbers of cases being diagnosed elsewhere in the province.
“I think it makes sense. I know why they’re doing it on a pan-provincial basis is because of the variants of concern and I think we need to obviously continue to be concerned about [that]," Gravelle said.
“But I’ve tended to favour the regional approach. Right now, I think with our numbers being where they are in Thunder Bay, for example, we would be the Orange level. That would make a difference in terms of the impact it’s having on the business community.”
Gravelle said moving to a regional approach – the entire province has been in either lockdown or shutdown for more than a month – wouldn’t make it a free-for-all by any means.
“We would still be required to wear our masks, it would still require us to continue with our social distancing. We’d still need to get the vaccine.
“This is really a race between how quickly we can get the vaccine in people’s arms and how quickly we can get the case count down. I would like to think a regional approach would still work, although I do understand those who think a pan-provincial model is the way to go.”
The province moved to a regional approach last June, but returned to a province-wide shutdown in March.
Gravelle also backed Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, who on Friday called on Premier Doug Ford to immediately name a COVID-19 czar and to immediately allow anyone eligible for the vaccine to book an appointment, to provide some certainty.
At present, once spots are filled, those seeking a vaccine have to try again the next time spots become available.
“We’ve received countless calls from constituents who cannot get through. We need to have a system that’s much better than this right now and one that does not continually frustrate people,” Gravelle said.
At the local level, Gravelle said the process couldn’t have gone more smoothly once he got his appointment booked. He praised the health unit nurse who gave him his vaccine and said it took about 20 minutes from when he arrived and was booked in until he was allowed to leave.
