'We still have a lot of frontiers': MPP Roman Baber on what's next for Ontario with lockdown finally over

With the world’s longest lockdown finally lifted in Ontario, residents of the province are relieved that the worst seems to be behind them. However, one of Ontario’s most prominent anti-lockdown politicians warns that the fight isn’t over.

MPP Roman Baber, who previously was part of the Ontario PC Caucus before being expelled by Premier Ford after writing him a letter that highlighted the harms of lockdowns, spoke with Post Millennial to discuss what is next for Ontario.

"This is a complex situation" says Baber, "I don't think we're out of this public health exercise, we still have a lot of frontiers to fight over." He says that the next challenges are mostly over medical privacy and discrimination, as talks about vaccine passports are ramping up.

While Premier Doug Ford has shared his opposition to vaccine passports and said he will not be implementing them in Ontario, Baber points out that businesses and institutions can still mandate the vaccine.

"Even if the province of Ontario does not impose a vaccine passport, it should preclude businesses from imposing vaccination as a condition for service." Baber adds that companies should also be banned from requiring their employees to be vaccinated.

Some places have already stated that they will be requiring vaccinations, including Seneca College in Toronto. Students and staff who wish to attend the school’s campus in the fall will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. A Toronto strip club will also be making the vaccine mandatory.

Baber says that individual choice regarding COVID-19 vaccination must be respected, and safeguards must be put in place to protect Canadians’ medical freedoms. "We have to draw the line and safeguard basic Canadian democracy."

Mandating vaccines for certain activities could lead to a medical apartheid, and that is something which concerns Baber. "We don't want to result in segregation," he says. "To put it on the record, if anyone's sent to the back of the bus, I'm going to be going with them to the back of the bus."

With some epidemiologists warning of a strong fourth wave in the fall, we asked Baber if he thinks the Ontario government will impose another lockdown, even though it is likely that 80 percent of eligible Ontarians will be fully vaccinated by September. Baber says that while he hopes that won't happen, he is not very optimistic about it.

"I certainly hope not, but I do anticipate regretfully that they will likely impose some form of restrictions, which is completely unnecessary because even by their own measures, Ontarians lived up to what was asked of them. There's absolutely no reason to continue this hysteria."

Baber has spent the last six months advocating for the end of Ontario’s lockdowns, and has been one of the Ford government’s loudest critics, especially when it comes to their COVID-19 restrictions targeted at children, such as the long and unnecessary school closures or the ban on kids' team sports

Ontarians will be heading off to the polls next year for the provincial election. We finished off by asking Roman Baber if he plans to seek re-election as an independent, however he says he is yet to make that decision.