Support for vaccine passports up in Alberta, Saskatchewan despite premiers' opposition, poll suggests

A national surveysuggests that the majority of respondents in Alberta and Saskatchewansupport proof of vaccination in public spaces despite both provinces' premiers resisting the idea in the past.

In Alberta, which had 152 people respond to the survey, 54 per cent of respondents agreedthat mandatory proof of vaccination in public placeswas a good idea. That wasup from 48 per cent in May and after dipping to just 40 per cent in July, before the third wave took hold.

In neighbouring Saskatchewan, where Premier Scott Moe has said his government willnot be requiring proof of vaccinationto visit businesses or participate in public activities, 51per cent of the 125 people who responded to the poll supported requiring proof of vaccination compared with 46 per centin May.

The online poll by the Angus Reid Institute surveyed 1,709 Canadians from Sept. 3 to Sept.6 on vaccine passports and incentives, among other issues.

Dave Korzinski, research director at Angus Reid, says since spring, support for mandatory vaccination inpublic spaces has grown by 15 percentage points nationwide from 55per cent in May to 70 per centin early September.

"In May, we started asking about mandatory vaccination. It has always been relatively high for international travel purposes, travelling to the U.S., getting on any sort of airline flight," he said.

This time around, Korzinski said, at least two-thirds of respondents said they supported vaccine passports to be implemented in a variety of scenarios, including travel, public events, malls, movie theatres, restaurants and at the workplace.

The most significant increases were in B.C., Manitoba, Ontario, Quebecand Atlantic Canada.

More support for regulation than incentives

Korzinski said he suspects the increase in support for proof of vaccination in Alberta is down to the fact that it's been hit hard by the fourth wave of COVID-19 cases and has lower levels of vaccination than some other parts of Canada.

As of Wednesday morning, Alberta's COVID-19 cases hadclimbed to15,486active cases with only60 per centof allAlbertans(or 70.6 per cent of those eligible to get the vaccine) havingreceived twodoses of a COVID-19vaccine.

"The vast majority of those people who are vaccinatedthink you should have to prove it," he said. "So, they're looking at it as an extra measure of safety ... they've done their part, and they're trying to figure out how to get other people to kind of join them."

According to the survey,77 per cent of responders across the countryagreed that provincial governments should use regulatory measures, rather than incentives, to increase vaccination.

When asked how thosewho refuseto show vaccination proof at a restaurant and refuseto leave should be handled, 44 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement thatthe person should be escorted off propertywhile 29 per cent agreed they should receive a fine.

For comparison purposes only, a probabilisticsample of the size of this survey would yield a margin of error of +/ eightpercentage points.

Several provinces have opted forproof of vaccination

Several provinces have alreadyintroducedproof-of-vaccination measures, including Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

However, Alberta PremierJason Kenneyhas saidthat Alberta would not bring in vaccine passports in part because it would contravene the province's Health Information Act.

Instead, Kenney announced last Friday that the government would offera $100incentive to motivate those who are not fully vaccinated to get their jabs.

• Over 75% of Albertans would support vaccine passport, survey suggests

"I wish we didn't have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgments. This is a time to get people vaccinated," Kenney said.