Meili: Difficult to trust Moe after end to proof of vaccination, masking mandates

Premier Scott Moe always wants to be the first to remove public health protections but the last to bring them in when they’re needed, according to NDP Leader Ryan Meili.

Meili spoke with reporters outside of his Saskatoon constituency office Tuesday after Moe and chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab announced an end to the proof of vaccination public health order on Monday, and the end to the masking order Feb. 28.

Mieli cited the province’s Alpha and Delta COVID-19 waves as proof of what he said is a pattern of risky behaviour by the premier.

“We saw what happened — hospitals overwhelmed (and) ICU patients sent halfway across the country because we couldn’t care for them here,” Meili said.

Meili said everyone wants to see public health orders removed, but only when it’s safe. That, said the NDP leader, should come when hospitalizations aren’t higher than they’ve been in other waves, and when COVID-19 cases are on a steady decline.

“It’s very hard to trust Scott Moe, to trust that he’s making the right choices for Saskatchewan,” Meili said.

Meili also took aim at what he said was a lack of information available now to the public.

“He’s out there telling you, as Saskatchewan people, to make your own choices (and) to make your risk assessment. But he’s giving you less information to do that with. We don’t know what’s happening with cases,” Meili stated.

“We won’t know what’s happening with hospitalizations more than once a week. They’re no longer releasing outbreak data for long-term care homes (or) for schools.”

The province announced last week it was discontinuing its daily updates and its dashboard showing COVID data. That change took effect Monday.

Meili said what the premier should do is bring in a “road map” to move past the pandemic, or to reinstate public health orders if necessary. Instead, he claimed Moe was giving more space to anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers.

“He’s given space to folks like Unified Grassroots and the folks who are protesting outside our legislature,” Meili said. “This is someone who has fed off that political division and created more of it.”