Ontario’s health minister said today that the province will not immediately follow other jurisdictions in dropping its vaccine passport system, while the mask mandate will also remain in place “for some time to come.” Christine Elliott made the remarks during a press conference in Kitchener, Ont., saying that the province will lift its Directive 2 “in the coming days” and begin a “gradual and cautious” resumption of non-urgent or non-emergent surgeries and procedures. “We’ve already set out our opening timelines and started on Jan. 31. The next phase is as of Feb. 21, and then March 14. We have no plans currently to drop the passport vaccination situation or masking. We believe that masking is going to be important for some time to come,” Elliott said. Several provinces have recently announced their plans to end their COVID-19 vaccine passport programs and other pandemic restrictions. In Alberta, the proof of vaccination requirement ended on Feb. 8, and capacity …