{"id":7005,"date":"2021-12-09T23:04:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=7005"},"modified":"2021-12-09T23:05:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:05:28","slug":"im-barred-from-the-legislature-for-90-days-belinda-karahalios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=7005","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I&#8217;m Barred from The Legislature for 90 Days&#8221; &#8212; Belinda Karahalios"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Following my recovery from COVID-19, I was looking forward to returning to Queens Park this week to continue holding the Ford PCs to account.<br><br><strong>But thanks to the Speaker, PC MPP Ted Arnott, I am unable to attend the legislature this week and for a full 90-days &#8230;<br><br>&#8230; because I recovered from COVID-19!<\/strong><br><br>In October, the Speaker implemented a rule that every Member of Provincial Parliament had to either use a COVID-19 vaccine passport, or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test, to enter Queens Park.<br><br>I refuse the COVID-19 passport requirements.<br><br><strong>So, to do the job I was elected to do &#8211; the job that taxpayers pay me to do &#8211; I have been taking rapid antigen tests for COVID-19, as have a few other MPPs.<\/strong><br><br>On November 17th, my test returned a positive result for COVID-19.&nbsp;<br><br>After a couple of days of illness, I recovered, but I was not permitted to enter the legislature for the rest of that week or last week.&nbsp; I couldn&#8217;t participate in legislative matters during that time (like voting against Motion 8) as there is no virtual participation option provincially for MPPs as there is federally for MPs.<br><br><strong>According to Public Health, my &#8220;quarantine&#8221; was over yesterday and I would &#8220;not [be] required to provide proof of a negative test result in order to return to work \/ activities.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong><br><br>Public Health was clear that someone in my position, who has recovered from COVID-19, should be permitted to go back to work.&nbsp; Public Health&#8217;s position is that rapid antigen tests are unreliable in the 90-day period following recovery from COVID-19 and it is extremely unlikely that someone would catch and transmit COVID-19 in the 90-day period following such recovery.&nbsp;<br><br><strong>But that isn&#8217;t good enough for the Ford PCs and their legislative Speaker who have a different set of rules, different than even Public Health.<\/strong><br><br><strong>The Speaker&#8217;s position is that since I cannot take a rapid antigen test for 90-days after a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, and since taking a rapid antigen test or adhering to COVID-19 vaccine passport requirements, are the two conditions for entry into Queens Park, I would not be permitted entry for 90-days.<\/strong><br><br><strong>So, for 90-days following my COVID-19 diagnosis, I am barred from entering Queens Park.&nbsp;<\/strong><em> [Note: Randy Hillier falsely claims that he too is barred from entering Queens Park, but he is not.&nbsp; Randy&#8217;s just using a false claim as an excuse to hide his deal with the Ford PCs which includes getting rewarded for skipping work for more than a year.&nbsp;<strong> You can read more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/belindakarahalios\/motion8passes-13357183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">real reason Randy skips work by clicking here<\/a> and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/thenationaltelegraph.com\/regional\/randy-hillier-is-doug-fords-own-taxpayer-funded-political-asset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">read more on Randy&#8217;s deal with the Ford PCs by clicking here.<\/a>]<\/strong><\/em><br><br><strong>The decision by the Speaker, like most of the decisions by the Ford PCs, defies logic.&nbsp; With natural immunity, I am less likely to catch or transmit COVID-19 than any other individual, vaccinated or otherwise.<br><br>I feel for the thousands of Ontarians who have lost their jobs or educations as a result of similar illogical decisions.<\/strong><br><br>We should be focusing our efforts on effective treatment for COVID-19.&nbsp;<br><br>Instead, the Ford PCs and certain &#8220;experts&#8221; are intent on punishing Ontarians.<br><br>We continue to build the New Blue Party of Ontario to counter the illogical left-wing authoritarian policies of the PCs, Liberals and NDP.<br><br>That is what we have done, and with your help, what we will continue to do.<br><br><strong>Our candidate application will soon be available as we continue to get ready for the June 2022 election.&nbsp;<br><br>There are only four weeks left to make a contribution to the New Blue Ontario Fund and receive a generous political tax credit of up to 75%.&nbsp; Please consider the New Blue Party in your annual giving plans.<\/strong><br><br>It is time to stand on principle.&nbsp;<br><br>Thank you for your continued support.<br><br>God bless,<br><br>Belinda Karahalios<br>Cambridge<br>New Blue Party of Ontario<br><br><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newblueontario.com\/donate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">P.S. Only four weeks are left in 2021 to support the New Blue Party of Ontario with a contribution which may be eligible for up to a 75% political tax credit.&nbsp; Click here to contribute today!&nbsp;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following my recovery from COVID-19, I was looking forward to returning to Queens Park this week to continue holding the Ford PCs to account. But thanks to the Speaker, PC MPP Ted Arnott, I am unable to attend the legislature &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=7005\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2499,2299],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7008,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions\/7008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}