New Brunswick's education minister Dominic Cardy is fuming because an amendment to provincial legislation that he championed was recently defeated in a free vote. Had it been successful, the amendment would have made numerous vaccinations mandatory for school children in New Brunswick, removing an exemption that previously existed for students whose parents filed a written objection.

According to Mr. Cardy, "There are no two sides [to the debate] around the safety of vaccines." He described opponents of his bill as having given in to "medieval conspiracy theories." Rhetoric like this is common these days.

However, existing legislation in the Canadian province of Ontario indicates that Mr. Cardy and those who make similar statements are profoundly misinformed on this subject.