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Several provinces are peeling back the vaccine mandates and health restrictions that are at the heart of a polarizing debate across this country over what it will mean to live with COVID-19. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec all unveiled plans Tuesday to curb the measures that have become the focal point of an exhausted public after nearly two years of the global health crisis. In the West, governments are moving quickly. Alberta announced it would lift vaccine passport requirements by the end of Tuesday night, part of a multi-stage approach to eliminating the majority of restrictions in the province. The news...

The first demonstrators arrived in Quebec at the beginning of the evening Thursday but the police did not tolerate any overflow. Leaving Stoneham after a break in the afternoon, the convoy managed to reach the upper town but the authorities did not even allow the vehicles to park on Rene-Levesque Boulevard. The Quebec patrol officers have a short fuse and negotiation seems impossible. They are also more numerous than the protesters. The protest, however, is expected to culminate on Saturday...

Massive 15 point swing in sentiment suggests trucker are not “fringe minority.”. After a massive 15 percentage point swing in the space of just two weeks and coinciding with the trucker revolt, the majority of Canadians now want all COVID rules to end. A poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute found that 54 per cent of Canadians agree “it’s time to end restrictions,” with the “strongly agree” category of answer rising by 11 points in just a fortnight. The survey also revealed that a majority of people in every area apart from Atlantic Canada “feel the time is now...

Quebec Premier François Legault has scrapped his proposed tax on the unvaccinated, sources tell CBC and Radio-Canada.As first reported by La Presse, the premier is set to make the announcement at a press conference this afternoon, at 1 p.m.The tax, which was announced in January by the premier, would have imposed a monetary penalty on Quebecers who did not get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

On Monday, Quebec’s draconian new vaccine passport law for unvaccinated people went into effect. Unvaxxed people will be denied entry to big-box retailers unless they shop for food or visit the pharmacy. Even then, they will be under the supervision of an employee (to make sure they don’t buy anything else). Quebec expanded the vaccination passport to enter all businesses with surface areas larger than 16,000 sqft or more — except for groceries and pharmacies. The new measure was announced on Sunday night. Hi. As directed by the Government of Quebec, we will implement the vaccine passport at our stores...

Details of Quebec’s draconian new vaccine passport scheme revealed. Under Quebec’s draconian new vaccine passport scheme, unvaccinated people who visit large stores like Walmart and Costco will have to be accompanied by employees to make sure they don’t buy anything other than food or pharmaceutical products. Yes, really. The rule is set to apply in big box stores so as “to make sure they (the unvaxxed) do not go and buy other products or other items that might be in the store,” according to a CBC newsreader. ... In other words, in order to stop the spread of COVID-19, disgusting...

What possesses a person to travel to another country for a luxury vacation only to complain it doesn’t mimic the dystopian hellscape they came from? I wouldn’t know, but perhaps Josh Freed, a writer for the Montreal Gazette, can offer some insight. That’s exactly what he did after vacationing in Florida and then returning to his home in Quebec, Canada.(related The Church of COVID Comes for Ron DeSantis)The obvious COVID hysteric penned an entire piece detailing the horrors of freedom that await those traveling to the Sunshine State, and it’s one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long...

During my visit, I saw some customers shake hands with their waiter, as if to say: “Thanks, I’ll have some germs for dessert,” Josh Freed writes. I have a confession to make: I recently fled Quebec for a week, a refugee from Legault’s 2.0 curfew-and-confinement rules. A friend told me about an available condo in Florida, my wife and I made a last-second decision to briefly escape and work remotely. But the second we landed, it felt like we’d arrived on another planet. While Quebec is in full confinement mode, Florida is Cowboyland, where you barely know COVID is happening,...

the new directive will apply to any stores that are 1,500 square meters (around 16,000 square feet) in size or more, excluding grocery stores and pharmacies.. The Quebec government has announced it is going to implement the vaccine passport system at previously exempt big-box retail stores, including Walmart and Costco, where many families shop. Furthering the discrimination against the unvaccinated, Quebec’s premier Francois Legault has announced that big-box retail stores will be obligated to bar the unvaccinated from entering starting January 24. The measure comes around the same time Legault said that he is going to start taxing those who...

The government of Quebec has ordered three Orthodox schools in Montreal, Canada to close for not following COVID measures. The government of Quebec has ordered three Orthodox schools in Montreal, Canada to close after they did not follow COVID measures, CTV News reported. The Quebec Ministry of Education sent formal notices to the three Jewish schools that were holding classes against a provincial order to close in-school learning...

The Canadian province of Quebec will charge a health tax to residents who are not vaccinated against Covid-19. Quebec, which has seen the highest number of Covid-related deaths in Canada, is currently struggling with a surge in cases. On Tuesday, the premier announced that it would be the first in the nation to financially penalise the unvaccinated. Only about 12.8% of Quebec residents are not vaccinated, but they make up nearly half of all hospital cases. According to federal data, just over 85% of Quebec residents had received at least one vaccine dose by 1 January. Premier Francois Legault said...

Papers being checked for the second time tonight for being outside past curfew in Montreal, Quebec. ...

Quebec is bringing back its controversial overnight curfew beginning Friday at 10 p.m., which is New Year's Eve, and continuing to 5 a.m the next day. Quebec Premier Francois Legault made the announcement Thursday amid increasing hospitalizations and an exponential growth in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant. Also, beginning on Friday, private gatherings in homes will be prohibited. Only people who live alone or need caregivers will be allowed to join another family bubble. Dining rooms at restaurants will be closed but take-out and delivery options will be allowed to continue...

Quebec officials announced Monday that they are taking the drastic step of throwing the province into a lockdown amid an explosion of Omicron cases. “The situation is critical. The explosion of cases is overwhelming,” Health Minister Christian Dubé said at a press briefing. “Our health system is already in crisis.” Dubé said establishments such as bars, cinemas, concert venues, gyms and spas in the Canadian region will shut down starting at 5 p.m., CBC News reported. Working from home is now mandatory for all non-essential employees, including government staffers. Restaurants, which are allowed to operate at half capacity, must close...

Passport Required to go to Mass in Quebec - Fr. Mark Goring, CC

After I wrote my Kamala Harris shopping-spree piece here, deriding Harris's rude refusal to speak French to the locals at a fancy cookware shop in Paris, AT editor Thomas Lifson pointed out something important: Kamala Harris actually ought to be able to speak French. Here's how she did: Turns out she was educated during her four high school years in Montreal, Canada, where her mother worked as a cancer researcher during the late 1970s, early 1980s. Montreal is Canada's top French-speaking city. In 1977, approximately just when she arrived, a law was passed in Quebec requiring the use of the...

About 1,000 workers from a variety of professions held a silent rally in Quebec City on Oct. 15 to protest against the province’s COVID-19 vaccination mandates. Using the rallying cry “Code White,” an emergency colour code send out by health-care staff when they face a violent situation and need backup, the event called on front-line workers and first responders to stand together in solidarity and reject the Quebec government’s vaccine passport. Attendees including nurses, policemen, teachers, and military veterans locked arms and stood solemnly in silence for 10 minutes on Dufferin Terrace, a long wooden sidewalk next to the Château...

MONTREAL, QUEBEC — Scientists have modeled what Earth would look like in 500 years if our planet keeps warming up at the present rate. What they found would surprise you. Video Here. A group of environmental scientists have combined to model the impact of climate change all the way up to the year 2500. After publishing their findings in Global Change Biology, the researchers wrote in The Conversation that Earth will gradually become uninhabitable if governments across the globe do not act more strongly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The study’s results show that the Amazon will change into a place...

The scorching hot summer sun didn’t stop the Clintons from getting out and about in Quebec’s scenic Eastern Townships this week, where the famous political couple are vacationing once again. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and ex-secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton are back in the picturesque village of North Hatley, garnering excited attention from local business owners and residents. The pair were seen Friday alongside their friend and renowned Quebec author Louise Penny, taking in the sun on a small white boat on the waters of Lake Massawippi. They were flanked by a heavy security presence.

Fully vaccinated people would have access to certain non-essential services With the threat of a fourth wave looming, Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced Thursday that vaccine passports will soon be required to access non-essential services such as gyms and restaurants. "People who have made the effort to get their two doses must be able to live a somewhat normal life," Legualt said during a media briefing. He said the system will allow the province to avoid widespread closures that have marked its pandemic response to date. For several months, the province has been issuing QR codes, or quick response codes,...