Opinion: Quebec Proposes Taxing the Unvaccinated

Quebec premier François Legault has announced that his government was keen on imposing a ‘healthcare contribution’ tax on Quebecers who choose to remain unvaccinated, except for those who have a medical exemption. 

While at this point it is unclear if the Quebec government can impose such a tax or if it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it does bring forth an interesting proposition. At this point, no other province or territory has raised such an idea and in fact upon hearing Quebec’s proposal, Premier Doug Ford swiftly announced, in an article on Global News, that this would not fly in Ontario and he would not consider this for our province. 

In an interview with BBC News, when asked about why he has decided to financially penalize the unvaccinated, Legault responded that “ I [he] right now it's a question of fairness for the 90% of the population [ people of Quebec who got vaccinated] who made some sacrifices, I think we owe them this kind of measure”. According to federal government data, the Covid Vaccination Tracker indicates that 85.62% of the eligible population has received one dose and 78.21% of the population is fully vaccinated. 

Legault has not yet announced the price of the tax, however it is expected that it will be significant and in lieu of his announcement, the province reported first dose appointments spiked upwards of 5,000 new appointments in one day, according to Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubé on Twitter, followed by 7,000 new appointments on Tuesday, January 11th.

Sourced from Twitter

This new tax would only affect adult Quebecers who are not medically exempt who refuse to get their first dose of a vaccine to protect themselves from Covid-19. 

Quebec has slowly been implementing more severe measures for the unvaccinated unveiling a new measure that will go into effect on January 18th, requiring Quebecers to show proof of vaccination in order to purchase alcohol from the SAQ (Société des alcools du Québec) and cannabis from the SQDC (Société québécoise du cannabis). 

It is no secret that the unvaccinated population has at this point in the pandemic been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 in terms of taking up hospital beds and ICU admittance in comparison to those who are vaccinated. While that’s not to say that vaccinated folks can’t get Covid-19, I know those who have, statistically speaking they are less likely to put strain on the healthcare system because usually the symptoms they experience are manageable enough to treat at home without further medical intervention. According to CBC, “ roughly 10% of eligible Quebecers remain unvaccinated, but health officials say they take up about 50% of Covid-19 beds in hospitals”. 

While I like the idea in theory that Legault is proposing, I do find that there are major holes in his plan. Primarily, how will he make those who are lower income, anti-vax who do not have the means to pay such a tax, if it is as expensive as he claims it will be. Thus, it becomes an ineffective measure to incentivize vaccination if priced astronomically high because no one will be able to afford to pay it. Furthermore, I think that Quebec needs to put equitable pressure across the population such as implementing vaccine passports for all non-essential services before it resorts to this measure. In the interim however, it has stimulated new activity in regards to vaccination and even if it does not actually come into effect, will have undoubtedly put pressure on anti-vax Quebecers to get some immunity. 

As someone who got her vaccine and booster and believes in science, it has been disheartening to watch governments come up with tactics to implore those who are so stuck in their belief that they cannot see the implications of their actions on an extremely overwhelmed healthcare system. That is the entire point of getting vaccinated. Yes, you very well may get COVID even if you are vaccinated, but at the bare minimum it is very unlikely that you will require hospitalization. Many advocates at this point are claiming that Legault’s proposal can erode further trust in government and that more education needs to be provided, but to what extent? By now, it is no longer acceptable to refuse to recognize that we are in a pandemic, as we have been for nearly two years, and since vaccines have been widespread across the country since May 2021. 

Truthfully, once this bill is brought to the table in February I doubt it will pass and I anticipate that there will be many charter challenges as it appears to infringe on the rights of individuals from the perspective of many legal organizations. While I can appreciate that some people may not trust the government completely, we are not the only country that is getting  vaccinated, it’s a global effort. Regardless of the outcome of this proposed measure, it is evident by the reaction of unvaccinated Quebecers that money talks, plain and simple, and perhaps those who have remained unvaccinated by choice will now look to book an appointment.