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other countries are bashing out these issues. on monday the u.s. department of veterans affairs announced all employees in its enormous health-care system would have to be vaccinated; private hospitals across the country, including the mayo clinic, are requiring the same of their employees. when employees at houston methodist hospital went to court seeking redress from mandatory vaccination, likening themselves to “guinea pigs,” a federal judge appointed by ronald reagan deemed their arguments “false, and … also irrelevant.” british prime minister boris johnson, often derided by team hyper-cautious as a libertarian madman, wants vaccine passports in place for crowded indoor venues by autumn.
meanwhile in canada, it took until monday for the ontario liberals to support mandatory vaccination for health-care and education workers. (even the registered nurses’ association of ontario beat them to the punch .) the official opposition new democrats have not followed suit. nor have their ndp friends in opposition in edmonton or their ndp friends in government in victoria. the saskatchewan new democrats are among the remarkably few canadian politicians on board with vaccine passports: saskatchewan mlas aleana young and meara conway said last month they want to “ensure that (when) we’re crushing brews in pil country it’s not next to an anti-vaxxer screaming moistly for the home team.” (pil country is a “social zone” at roughriders games sponsored by old style pilsner beer.)
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part of it is self-interest, certainly: progressive parties in opposition are not in the business of imposing on teachers and nurses. part of it may be self-preservation. the chances that a government-run vaccine passport system would collapse in an embarrassing non-functional heap are high. any federal proof-of-vaccination system won’t be ready until december at the earliest, politico reported last week . by and large, canadian governments simply aren’t good at doing big, unusual things — at all, let alone quickly. the dominant central canadian political culture dislikes big, unusual things on principle — just think how aghast federal liberals and new democrats were in march last year when people suggested closing the borders.