By Mike Renzella
The Halidmand Press
HALDIMAND — Following a tumultuous year-and-a-half long tenure, controversial Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Matt Strauss has announced his plans to step down from the role, effective April 1, 2023.
“I’m proud of this community, very grateful for the opportunity. I think that what we did here had a ripple effect across the province in terms of what I viewed as my vision to bring common sense … back to pandemic policy,” said Strauss at a Norfolk Health and Social Services advisory committee meeting on January 9. “It’s a bittersweet decision … but it’s time to move on.”
He continued, “The pandemic is over and I feel that my mission is accomplished.”
Strauss has been at the centre of the pandemic-restrictions debate in Ontario, making headlines for his hiring despite a string of anti-lockdown sentiments shared on his social media both before and after taking on the top medical role in the County.
Speaking on the TVO program The Agenda in September, Strauss said, “We engaged in a lot of, I think, cruel and coercive measures this past winter … and what we found was everyone, not everyone, but the majority of Ontarians got COVID anyway.”
Strauss’ critics over the past 18 months have asked for him to be removed, however Strauss stood firm, advocating for vaccination while maintaining his belief that lockdowns ultimately had more consequences than benefits.
Last November Strauss launched a $600,000 lawsuit against his former employer, Queen’s University, and the head of its medicine department, over what he considered a forced resignation from his position as an assistant professor of medicine due to “malicious” comments.
He has also been a frequent target of major publications, with Toronto Star journalist Bruce Arthur posting an article titled ‘Dr. Matt Strauss: wrong man, wrong crisis?’ The article labelled Strauss an activist and shared quotes from a previous interview Strauss conducted with right-wing news publication The Epoch Times, such as, “The purpose of life is not to stay alive as long as possible. The purpose of life is to live it.”
Strauss took to Twitter to call Arthur’s story a hit piece, posting an eight-tweet-long reply to the article that claimed it contained “mistruths and misquotes.”
“I understand that Bruce and the Toronto Star are in an awkward position. They were wrong about vaccine mandates, wrong about mask mandates, wrong about border restrictions, wrong about school closures,” tweeted Strauss on January 10. “I wish the Toronto Star would acknowledge its mistakes, rather than double down by misrepresenting the facts of the matter and my views.”
The Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit will begin the process of looking for Strauss’ successor in February.
