REGINA, Saskatchewan (LifeSiteNews) — Saskatchewan has become the first province in Canada to announce firm dates for the removal of all so-called COVID-19 measures.
On Tuesday morning, Premier of Saskatchewan Scott Moe followed through with his plans to axe all COVID-19 measures in the province, setting the date for the end of the vaccine passport for February 14, with mandatory masking gone by February 28. Moe also indicated that other governments will likely follow Saskatchewan’s lead in removing all public health directives soon, including the notoriously pro-mandate federal government.
“I knew that this [vaccine passport] policy would create deep divisions in our families, in our friendship groups, in our province,” Moe admitted at the start of the press conference.
“People would potentially have different access, or rights, based on what their relative vaccination status would be… so what was actually a pretty extraordinary step to take, in this province, effectively created two class of citizens.”
While not saying he regrets implementing such a divisive and discriminatory policy, Moe did say that now with the “omicron variant” it has become clear that “the benefits of this policy no longer outweigh the costs.”
Continuing to remind residents that he supports mass vaccination, Moe stated that if “someone makes a different choice” and chooses to remain vaccine-free, that is “their right, and this government is going to respect that right.”
“So, effective at midnight, this Sunday, February 13th, all provincial proof-of-vaccination requirements will end,” the premier explained, adding that the last remaining policy, mandatory masking, will be gone by the “end of the month.”
Touching on other governments, Moe stated, “I have no doubt that you will see other provinces putting forward what their plan is on living with COVID and taking steps on getting life back to normal… I would put forward that the federal government should also put forward what their plan is for the federally regulated industries… And I think in fairness you will see the federal government as well, in the next while, come forward… .”
While Saskatchewan has been one of the most lenient provinces in the country with respect to COVID restrictions, never having implemented draconian limits on personal gatherings or constant school closures and lockdowns, the rapid shift from a vaccine passport system to the premier admitting vaccination does not prevent the transmission of the omicron variant, has been, at least in part, influenced by the growing tide of public protest and citizens expressing their dissatisfaction with COVID measures.
Moe previously mentioned that both he and his representatives have been receiving numerous calls from their constituents to axe all extraordinary public health measures, with Moe agreeing that the time has come to “learn to live” with the virus and treat it like “the flu.”
Moe’s assertions that Canadians are done with the authoritarian rule of the COVID regime is supported by a recent Angus Reid poll that found that over half of Canadians support an immediate end to all public health restrictions.
Despite the Saskatchewan premier’s reluctance to admit vaccine passports and mandates were a mistake all around, a growing body of data has indicated that such measures have been a failed strategy for tackling COVID since their onset.
COVID vaccine trials have never produced evidence that vaccines stop infection or transmission. They do not even claim to reduce hospitalization, but the measurement of success is in preventing severe symptoms of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, many consider such mandates a gross assault on individual freedoms and unnecessary given COVID-19’s high survivability among most groups, its now understood minimal risk of asymptomatic spread, and research indicating that post-infection natural immunity is far superior to vaccine-induced immunity.