Marit Stiles MPP for Davenport

Government of Ontario

Ford’s reversal on rapid testing in schools comes late

Published on October 5, 2021

QUEEN’S PARK — Ontario NDP Education critic Marit Stiles released the following statement in response to the Ford government’s announcement on rapid testing in schools:
 

“Many parents who have been fighting for rapid testing in schools will be anxiously waiting to see if their schools will be included in the roll out of this strategy. They’re desperate to prevent the kind of disruptions and turmoil their kids went through last year.
 
Doug Ford should have used every available tool to keep kids safe and keep schools safely open. Instead, he delayed action until parents were forced to take action themselves and then blocked their efforts by taking the tests away.
 
Ontario families deserve equitable access to rapid testing in schools, and today’s announcement comes far later than it should have. Rapid antigen tests are a common sense tool to help identify cases early and prevent outbreaks — the Chief Medical Officer of Health said so himself.”