With the growing support of the population for more restrictive measures towards unvaccinated people, Quebec wishes to impose the vaccination passport in the branches of the Société des Alcools du Quebec (SAQ) and the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC), has learned The newspaper.
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According to the information obtained, the decision was taken in the last few hours by Quebec, which should announce the details of this measure in a press briefing this week.
At the time of this writing, however, there was still some discussion to fine-tune the implementation of the passport in branches. For example, will we ask for it at the entrance or at the cash desk?
Neither the SAQ nor the SQDC wanted to give more details on the terms of application.
Remember that the vaccine passport is currently required to access performance halls, bars and restaurants, casinos, conventions and conferences, places of worship and sports facilities.
Several scenarios studied
But in recent days, the pressure has mounted a notch on the CAQ government to tighten the screws on the unvaccinated.
François Legault himself asked Public Health to see if it was possible to expand the use of the vaccine passport in other businesses. “I understand that there is a certain anger” towards the unvaccinated, he had launched at a press conference.
In order to mark people’s minds, the CAQ government therefore decided on the branches of the SQDC and the SAQ, which continued to record increases in sales and profits during the pandemic.
Employees not affected
Even if customers will now have to be vaccinated to buy their favorite bottle of wine, Quebec will not however impose the same obligation on employees in branches.
Time and time again, the government has said it does not intend to force officials to be vaccinated.
In Ontario, the situation is totally different. Since last October, employees of the LCBO (the Ontario equivalent of the SAQ) must show a white paw and have proof of vaccination to work.
The Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), of which many of the employees of the SAQ and SQDC are members, claims to have implemented a campaign to educate its members about vaccination.
“It is the employer or the government who can decide on compulsory vaccination,” said the central union in a written statement.
“What a union can do is put in place an information strategy for its members to encourage vaccination. By email, video and press release, they were encouraged to get their first, second or third dose of vaccine, ”continued the CSN.
– In collaboration with Jean-Louis Fortin and Yves Daoust