Borderland MLA, Josh Guenter, is taking a stand against a vaccine mandate in Manitoba and is opposing the expansion of vaccine passport benefits for fully immunized individuals. The southern Manitoba MLA outlined his stance in a letter sent to Premier Brian Pallister on Friday, following the release of the latest public health orders.

is my red-line," said Guenter. "I believe that a vaccine mandate runs counter to our most basic principles of civil liberties in the country. I don't think it's fair, moral, legal or right or acceptable under any circumstances to require people to accept into their body a substance they do not want."

Guenter also takes issue with the testing regiment being implemented for designated employees who are not fully immunized or cannot provide proof of vaccination. According to public health, those employees will then undergo regular COVID-19 testing, up to three times a week for full-time employees, and provide proof of a negative test result before they can resume working.

"Anybody who has been tested multiple times knows the bloody noses you get and how painful it is, so I really believe there's some undue harassment there," said Guenter, noting such requirements haven't been in place this extensively during the past 18 months of the pandemic.

"I'm a fully vaccinated individual, and I understand the importance of vaccines, I've encouraged constituents to take the vaccine, but where this all ends for me is when public health tries to mandate vaccines. I find that unacceptable," added Guenter.

Guenter, who represents a portion of southern Manitoba with the lowest vaccination rates in the province, says it's very clear there are divisions among families and communities, and says it is time for healing.

"It's more important than ever, now, that we come together as people, whatever our perspectives, whatever our disagreements, we need to come together and we need to heal and we need to move forward, and I just think the vaccine mandate, and some of the other pronouncements that public health officials have been making, set us back," he said, citing the expanded vaccine passport benefits as an example. "They do not advance the conversation, they do not provide a path forward. Frankly, so many of my constituents are in despair and feel they have lost hope. In this position, in this journey, where I feel I have no option, I have done what I can do behind closed doors, I must now let people know very clearly where I stand."

"I can fully accept that the pandemic is real, and I can fully accept the work that our public health officials are trying to do to prevent a hospital crisis. I can fully accept the need for latitude for leaders to be able to make decisions and sometimes get it wrong, but I think the vaccine mandate, and also indications from public health that we may be moving to a regional approach, really concern me very deeply," added Guenter. "It's clear more than ever that we need to come together as people and understand one another, and be able to trust one another again, and I just tried to speak to that in my letter."

Click here to read Guenter's letter in full.