December 16, 2021
OTTAWA – Today Ottawa South MPP John Fraser and Liberal critic for Health & Long-Term Care, released the following statement:
“The Ford government’s holiday testing blitz starts today and there are no pop-up locations in Ottawa, the second largest city in Ontario with a population of 1 million.
At a time when omicron is rapidly becoming the dominant strain and families have been pleading with the Ford government for months to make rapid tests free and widely available, it’s beyond frustrating and unacceptable at this stage of the pandemic that we’re not ready to respond.
For more than two weeks, the Minister and the Premier’s office have been teasing their holiday testing strategy and for it to launch today and not have any Ottawa locations on board shows how unprepared this government is for the fifth wave.
It’s also unclear when and where rapid tests will be available at Ottawa’s LCBOs. The Ford government’s lack of planning is creating additional worry and stress for families in our city and across the province. They’re scrambling to ramp up booster shot capacity and distribute rapid tests when this work could have been done in advance of omicron’s emergence.
I’m disappointed given that there are two Ottawa cabinet ministers at the table. Did they not stand up for the people in our city?”
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Contact:
Grace Johnson