'Put this fire out,' Fife says to province about region's COVID cases

Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife has called on the government to do more to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Waterloo region.

Over the weekend, the region saw rising case numbers while much of the rest of the province saw numbers decrease. There were 69 cases on Friday, 65 on Saturday and 86 on Sunday. There were 43 cases reported Monday.

"We need to put this fire out," Fife said Monday during question period at Queen's Park during an emergency sitting of the legislature.

Fife said she wanted to see the province discussing contact tracing, accelerated vaccines, pop-up vaccination sites and "removing all barriers" for people to get the vaccine.

"These are urgent concerns, but we're here during this emergency session and we're not addressing the rising cases in Waterloo, we're not addressing business support concerns," Fife said.

"We are here so this government can override OntariansCharter rights."

A vote is expected Monday afternoon on legislation that would limit third-party advertising during Ontario elections.

The Progressive Conservative government is using the notwithstanding clause which lets legislatures override portions of the charter to reintroduce part of a law declared unconstitutional by a judge last week.

'We are dealing with it'

Deputy premier and Health Minister Christine Elliott noted the province continues to provide doses of the vaccine to health units and has accelerated second doses in places where the delta variant, the one first detected in India, is considered a threat.

Elliott said the government is balancing that with the reopening of the province.

"We are concerned about it. We are dealing with it, particularly in Waterloo area," Elliott said.

Fife also asked Minister of Economic, Development and Trade Vic Fedeli what the government was doing to help small businesses.

"There seems to be a lack of urgency here to prevent a fourth wave or support small businesses," she said.

Fedeli said the province has provided "unprecedented and historic level of support going out to businesses," during the pandemic with nearly $3 billion in support.