QUEEN’S PARK — Today in the Legislature, Premier Doug Ford claimed that Ontario has the lowest rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents of any large state or province. In fact, Ontario has an infection rate four times higher, per capita, than British Columbia and nearly double that of Alberta.
Today in the Legislature, Doug Ford responded to Official Opposition leader Andrea Horwath’s question about British Columbia’s effective strategy to contain COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care by noting: “what the leader of the opposition is missing is that they’re one third our size.”
In British Columbia, 168 seniors have died of COVID-19 in long-term-care homes. Nearly 1,800 have died in Ontario’s long-term-care homes. Nearly fifteen times as many deaths.
“Making stuff up doesn’t help anyone,” said MPP Teresa Armstrong (London—Fanshawe), critic for Home Care and Long Term Care. “The toll COVID-19 has taken in Ontario has been massive, and we don’t need a premier who covers that up with bogus claims, we need a premier that acknowledges the problems, and changes course to stop outbreaks from flaring up again.”