THUNDER BAY – If he could go back in time, Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle says he would not have sent a letter to the province seeking accommodations for an unvaccinated health care worker in his Northwestern Ontario riding.
The Liberal representative on Wednesday said he deeply regrets sending the letter last Thursday to Minister of Health Christine Elliott and Minister of Long-Term Care Rod Phillips, asking for assistance or advice for personal support workers who did not want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but wanted to keep working, contrary to Ontario government policy.
Gravelle, who himself is double-vaccinated, said the Ontario Liberal Party has a very clear policy in favour of mandatory vaccinations for health-care workers, something he stands firmly behind and believes in very strongly.
“I made the mistake of sending a letter to the government recently on behalf of the constituent who was hoping to get some accommodation. He was a health-care worker. I deeply regret that I sent that letter asking for accommodation, when indeed our party is so clear about the mandatory vaccination policy and no accommodations being made,” Gravelle said.
“I apologized to our leader for that. I do my best to support my constituents in every way I can, and I have for 26 years and will continue to do so. It was a misjudgment on my part and again, I apologize to my constituents who I may have offended, to my leader and also to anyone else who I may have offended.”
Gravelle went on to say he believes mandatory vaccinations are vital for health-care workers, adding his office receives hundreds, if not thousands, of letters and emails and phone calls from constituents seeking help on a wide variety of matters.
“Some of them are very tricky and it’s been very challenging during COVID-19. I feel very badly for workers who may be impacted in terms of their job losses as a result of not getting vaccinated. I felt asking for advice from the government about what accommodations might be available was not inappropriate at the time I wrote it,” Gravelle said.
“Upon reflection, I now realize that it very much went against what our clear party policy is.”
Asked how the letter, sent directly to Phillips and Elliott, was made public, Gravelle said it was clearly leaked.
“I don’t actually know how it became public. I think someone sent it to the media. I think it may have been the government themselves who did that in an attempt to embarrass our party by putting me in this position.”
Gravelle, first elected in 1995, is a long-time former cabinet minister who served under premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. He said he still plans to run again in the next provincial election.
