December 30, 2020

The Honourable Doug Ford M.L.A.

Premier of the Province of Ontario

Legislative Building, Queen's Park

Toronto ON M7A 1A1

Dear Premier Ford,

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the 600 plus families of West Highland Church have continually prayed for you, the members of your government and those health care workers who have labored tirelessly on the frontlines. We have asked God to endow you with wisdom, strength and encouragement. It is clear to us, as it is to all the people of Ontario, that the exercise of your good leadership has taken a personal toll on you. Because of this we want you to know of our resolve to continue to support you in prayer and on behalf of our church community I want to thank you personally for your great sacrifice and diligent leadership.

Your government’s decision to allow churches and other places of worship to open at 30% capacity was a great blessing to us and our community. During this time we offered two morning worship services in which strict protocols were followed to ensure safety and health for those in attendance.  This enabled between 50 to 60% of our people to attend. We also provided an online worship option for those who are elderly and immuno-compromised. All of this enabled us to continue to address the spiritual and mental health needs of our church family and reach out to the broader community in Hamilton. Our hope is that at the earliest possible time we might see the lockdown restriction lifted so that we might resume in full our church’s needed community ministries.

In addition to our thanks, I want to present to you two requests. The first is an invitation for you to be our special guest at your earliest convenience once public worship has been restored and the lockdown lifted. We would be honoured to have you attend one of our services to bring greetings and for us to pray for you in that service.

The second request is that you might consider calling people of faith across our province to observe a province wide day of prayer. In spite of all the efforts of our federal, provincial and municipal governments, and the medical community, there still is no end in sight to this COVID-19 pandemic which has devastated our economy and adversely affected the lives and health of so many Canadians. We believe it is time to seek God’s answer. This would be in keeping with our national Charter of Rights and Freedoms which begins by acknowledging the supremacy of God. We believe that a call from you for Ontarians to seek God and call out to him for an end to this pandemic would have a catalytic effect and bring hope to so many who desperately need hope at this time.

Thank you for your kind consideration to these two requests. May you and your family know God’s rich blessing in 2021.

Rev. John Mahaffey

Lead Pastor

CC:  MPP Sandy Shaw

      MPP Sam Oosterhoff