Ontario vaccination certificate requirements don't go far enough, says NDP

Ontario's new vaccination certificate requirements don't go far enough, saysprovincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

As ofWednesday, patrons to certain businesses, such as restaurants, gyms and movie theatres, nowneed to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19along with a valid piece of photo ID.

But Horwath said more businesses that deal with the public should require proof of vaccination fromcustomers.

"Unvaccinated people can still be in places that require a vaccine certificate to make a purchaseor to work a shift," she said in a news release. "On top of that, the Ford government is not requiring vaccines for places like malls and non-essential retail."

Nickel Belt MPP and NDP health critic France Glinas told the CBC a lot of her constituents had trouble finding their vaccine receipts.

"I have spent the morning helping people get a copy of their vaccination certificate," she said on Wednesday. "They don't have a printer. They don't know how to go online. The list goes on and on and on."

Glinas said her office was printing vaccine certificates for constituents who did not have access to a printer.

Quebec's vaccine certificate app

Glinas added that while not everyone has a smartphone, the province should have had a vaccine certificate app ready on Wednesday.

The Ontario government has said it is working on creating a system of unique QR codes for vaccinated peopleand an app that businesses can use to scan those codes to quickly confirm a person's vaccination status.But the app is only expected to be available by Oct. 22.

"Why don't we just copy what Quebec has put forward?" Glinas asked. "Quebec has a QR code that you can put on your phone."

On Aug. 24, Quebec made its vaccine certificate appVaxiCodeavailable to residents.

Glinas said adopting the same app would have covered more than half of Canada's population. She added she did not trust the province to deliver its app on time and on budget.

"None of the computer apps the government has put forward before in other areas of government business have ever come on time, on budget, and doing what they are supposed to do," she said.