People’s Party of Canada (PPC) Leader, Maxime Bernier, is on an East Coast tour but will be unable to campaign in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Prince Edward Island because he refuses to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
All three provinces require visitors to register ahead of time if travelling from outside the Atlantic Bubble. Those travel rules require someone to self-isolate for eight to 14 days, depending on the province, if unvaccinated, which Bernier cannot do due to campaigning on the road.
“It’s very difficult to gather indoors in Quebec or in Ontario, but at least he can do rallies outdoors,” said PPC spokesperson Martin Masse. “But he can’t even go to P.E.I., Nova Scotia and Newfoundland because of their restrictions (and) the risk of being arrested again, as he was in Manitoba.
“This is very unfortunate, and is another curtailment of our democratic rights, for no rational health reasons at all.”
If you thought the pandemic was going to be over soon and things would start getting back to normal, think again.https://t.co/yHSdjr2u8t
— Elect Conservatives (@ElectTories) August 27, 2021
Instead, Bernier is spending the weekend touring New Brunswick; the province which was effectively kicked out of the Atlantic bubble after opening its doors to Canadians across the country earlier this year.
Vaccine passports have become a wedge issue in the federal election campaign. On Friday, Trudeau pledged a re-elected Liberal government would create a $1-billion proof of vaccination fund to help provinces and territories set up their own credential system.
Many believe that PEI is fertile territory for the PPC to campaign in due to former sympathies in the area for libertarianism and the province introducing “PEI Passes” – a proof of vaccination that allows people to enter non-essential businesses without isolating.
The PPC leader was previously arrested in June when visiting Manitoba. He was charged with failing to self-isolate after entering the province. The PPC put out a statement at the time that said the arrest violated Bernier’s constitutional rights.
Sadly, Bernier will be unable to attend the Leaders’ debate on September 9th and 10th due to rules laid forth by the Leaders’ Debate Commission.
However, if Bernier is able to win ground in PEI and rally support against the Liberals’ mandatory vaccine passport scheme, he could generate enough opposition to send a message to Ottawa that Canadians do not want such draconian policies in our country.
And speaking of draconian policies, you know something in our country is very, very wrong when a politician cannot exercise his rights to free movement when the law dictates that you must inject yourself with a vaccine or face jail-time.
(Photo credit: CP/Adrian Wyld)
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