Quebec’s proposed anti-vaccination tax exposes the dishonesty of the COVID-19 debate

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Of all the measures that provincial governments have introduced to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, arguably nothing has created the furor of Quebec’s proposed tax on the unvaccinated.

It has been characterized, among other things, as an assault on universal health care, a punitive measure, an unfair burden on the poor, a contravention of the Charter and, according to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, a provocative, un-Canadian undertaking.

So far, there hasn’t been another provincial government that has indicated it might entertain the same idea. On the contrary, most have been quick to distance themselves from the “health contribution” levy, especially in the West, where Mr. Kenney et al. have condemned the measure as a step too far.

This puzzles me.

First, let me say that I highly doubt Quebec Premier François Legault’s proposed tax will ever see the light of day. My guess is it was designed primarily as a scare tactic to incite vaccine holdouts to get off their duffs and get jabbed. There is little chance it will have any impact on the ideological zealots who say they’d rather die than inject themselves with the vaccine.

Some will get their wish.

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The most likely scenario is that the Omicron-fuelled fifth wave will eventually fizzle out and, if no other fresh variant arrives and we resume something that resembles a normal life, the proposed unvax tax will be forgotten.

There is so much about the tax that we don’t know – like how much it might be. Mr. Legault suggested it would be “significant,” but significant is in the eye of the beholder. Even so, because the tax is associated with health care, people have lost their minds.

Again, puzzling.

Mr. Legault’s tax created waves right across the country, at the same time as reports surfaced that thousands of people who were fired from their jobs for not being vaccinated were contacting employment lawyers to seek remedy for their dismissals.

Yes, it’s funny, isn’t it? The fact that thousands of Canadians were fired for not being vaccinated barely caused a ripple in this country, aside from some perfunctory statements from union representatives. Even though some of those tossed out of work included low-paid new immigrants who were front-line workers.

I would have thought if there was a bridge too far in all this it would have been chucking people out onto the unemployment lines. Isn’t that punitive? And yet, it has been the potential unintended victims of Mr. Legault’s bad old tax who have garnered widespread sympathy among the commentariat and social-media influencers.

You can’t deny people access to health care! Even though Mr. Legault’s tax proposes nothing of the sort. The only people being denied access to critical health care these days are heart and cancer patients, among others. There are people desperately needing surgery who can’t get beds because many are being taken up in intensive-care units by the unvaccinated.

Yet, all I read about is how we can’t deny health care to people, even if they’re unvaccinated. They are getting more attention than the people who are actually being denied health care they need.

It’s appalling.

I’m not saying the unvaccinated should not get care. Surgeons and ICU doctors know better than I do about those decisions. But we have to stop saying no one should be denied care unless we acknowledge that this is already taking place in the cases of thousands of surgeries being cancelled because ICUs are filled with people who have chosen not to get vaccinated.

It’s morally dishonest to present the situation any other way.

And please stop with the bogus, slippery-slope arguments that if we’re going to discriminate against the unvaccinated, then smokers, drinkers and the obese will be next. What kind of logic is that? We are in the midst of a pandemic – one being prolonged by the unvaccinated. It is exacting a horrible toll on society as a whole. It’s absurd to suggest that someone standing next to a smoker faces the same danger as someone standing next to an unvaccinated person with COVID-19.

And smokers aren’t filling up ICUs to beyond capacity.

Mr. Legault’s tax has mostly been unpopular with politicians who have agendas, and with a commentariat always on the lookout for groups who might be facing exploitation. I suspect, however, it has been a hit with a vast swath of the public who see injustice where others don’t.

If nothing else, Mr. Legault’s unvax tax might give people pause to think about the rank hypocrisy it has exposed.

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