NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh calls for vaccine plan with military deployment

National NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling for the military to be deployed to assist provinces with their COVID-19 vaccination efforts, CP24 Reports.

"The federal government should engage military personnel along with more medical and nursing students and retired health-care workers to ramp up Canada's faltering vaccine rollout," says Singh.

This election-style announcement comes as most pundits project Canadians will go to the polls this year. However, things aren't going so well for the NDP, which has struggled with support and finances.

In an interview, Singh said "The provinces haven't specially asked for that. But we've got the capacity to use the military, set up sites in federal facilities and federal buildings across the country. There seems to be this notion that, 'OK, we get the supply, then it's up to the provinces to deliver it.' And I don't buy that."

While health care remains a provincial jurisdiction, Singh cites that other countries like the United States and the United Kingdom have deployed the military to assist with vaccinations.

The Canadian Army was deployed last year to help with the crisis situation in long-term care homes. Since, both Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole and Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet have shown support for national long-term care standards.

Singh is also calling on Canada to drop the plan to take 1.9 million vaccine doses from the international vaccine-sharing program, which is meant for help low-income countries acquire vaccines.

Canada's poor vaccine procurement plan is causing frustrations amongst Canadians, with a new poll finding nearly 70% of Canadians giving Trudeau the blame.

So far, Canada has administered 1,272,929 vaccines doses, and 2.558 percent of the population have received their first jab. More doses are expected to arrive, with an estimated 878,000 from Pfizer-BioNTech and 168,000 from Moderna.