A Gananoque, Ontario councilman is in trouble after contacting several local organizations and criticizing them for demanding proof of vaccination.
Councilman Mike Kench has now been sanctioned by the city’s integrity commissioner for what is described as bullying behavior. That included comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.
The first-term councilman was slapped with a 90-day pay suspension.
“Vaccines don’t stop transmission, so what’s the benefit?” Mike Kench said in an interview with Global News. “What is the benefit of vaccine passports?”
Kench says he sent out a series of emails, beginning with the YMCA, after they released their COVID-19 protocols excluding those who weren’t vaccinated from their facilities.
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“Immediately, I responded and said this is disgusting, this is disgraceful, this is discriminatory behavior,” Kench said.
In a 10-page report from the city’s integrity commissioner, Kench is said to have sent another email to the fire marshal comparing the government’s response to the pandemic to the Nuremberg trials, which followed the Holocaust.
Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming’s report states that Kench’s defense was “more than just disrespect, it crossed the line into harassment and intimidation.”
While the councilman says he could have worded things differently, he keeps the message.
“No person under the age of 50 has died related to COVID at the Leeds-Grenville-Lanark Health Unit and if you follow ontario.ca and canada.ca, more people who are vaccinated now have COVID-19,” Kench said.
One of the best doctors in the area says Kench is losing his mind on vaccinations.
“Vaccines clearly impact and reduce transmission,” said epidemiologist Dr. Gerald Evans.
The infectious disease expert says vaccines limit the spread of the virus and, more importantly, those who have been vaccinated, although they can still contract the virus, are much less likely to get sick or die.
“We saw a 70 to 85 percent reduction in infection and ultimately in transmitting it when we were dealing with Alpha and Delta,” Evans said.
“Vaccines have an important and clear role in reducing the transmission of this infection.”
Evans added that those in leadership roles who spread what he describes as misinformation are harmful to society.
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“Anyone who sees himself as a leader can have an impact on people seeking simple and straightforward solutions,” Evans said.
The councilman says he does not describe himself as anti-vaccines, but rather as ‘vaccinated against vaccines’, and will continue to practice physical distancing and hand washing until he is personally convinced that the vaccine is necessary.
This despite what the scientific community considers overwhelming evidence that vaccines dramatically reduce transmission and protect the vulnerable from serious outcomes.
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Reference-globalnews.ca