Former editor-in-chief of the Le Droit Michel Gauthier is accusing Liberal MP William Amos of trying to hide that the Liberal government is failing to provide enough doses of vaccine to the population.

Gauthier says Quebec’s vaccination strategy against COVID-19 was made necessary because of the federal government’s inability to send doses to the provinces on time.

"This is the reality that Liberal MP Will Amos tried to hide behind a smokescreen, in his recent outing against the choice made by the Quebec government to delay the second dose of vaccines requiring a second dose to reach their maximum level of protection. For the past 10 months, the people of Quebec and the Outaouais have been standing together and making sacrifices in order to comply with health measures. Now is a bad time to play politics and lecture the Quebec government," said Gauthier.

Gauthier went on to explain what he believed the Quebec Immunization Committee had done to ensure the vaccine rollout.

“Managing the pandemic imposes extraordinary measures and sometimes difficult choices. In this case, the Quebec government has opted to extend the time between the first and the second dose in order to be able to cover as quickly as possible a large part of the high-risk population. By mid-January, nearly 3,500 employees and nearly 1,000 CHSLD residents had been vaccinated across the Outaouais. The decision was made taking into account the recommendations of the Quebec Immunization Committee. The Quebec Immunization Committee recommends that the vaccination strategy against COVID-19 in Quebec in the context of a shortage and circulation of the virus at a high level be to offer a first dose of vaccine to the greatest number of people to the first six priority groups," said Gauthier.

He adds that rather than politicizing the debate on vaccination, Amos should instead insist that his government be more proactive in its dealings with pharmaceutical companies and less hesitant when it comes time to make important decisions, such as closing borders for foreign travelers. In a previous interview, Amos said he hoped that the government of Quebec could make a decision based solely on science relative to the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

A candidate announcement soon

Gauthier has also confirmed that he was a candidate for the nomination of the Conservative Party of Canada (PCC) for the riding of Pontiac.

In a press release, Gauthier announced that the PCC nomination period for the Pontiac riding is now over.

“Discussions and negotiations are currently underway to complete this exercise and a joint announcement should be able to be made during the first week of February,” stated Gauthier.

He could succeed the most recent Conservative candidate Dave Blackburn. In the last election, Blackburn got around 17 per cent of the vote, finishing second, far behind William Amos who had obtained almost 49 per cent.