People who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccination will not be permitted to board domestic flights in Canada or travel interprovincially on trains, Justin Trudeau said on the election campaign trail.
This was the first time that the Prime Minister ruled out any accommodations for unvaccinated travelers.
His comments were made in response to a question about whether a re-elected Liberal government would offer alternatives for people who aren’t inoculated against COVID-19, and stated that he would implement the new restrictions if he forms the next government.
And there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth. After months of saying no to mandatory vaccines, he flip flopped 48 hours out from an election of his doing. This makes it abundantly clear that it was about politics, not public health. #cdnpoli #elxn44 pic.twitter.com/Gqb0RrjsKx
— Senator Leo Housakos (@SenatorHousakos) August 15, 2021
“We are absolutely unequivocal on that because this is how we get through this pandemic,” he said.
The Liberal Party have provided few details on how the mandate will work or be enforced, but emphasized that it would apply to federal civil servants, federally regulated industries, domestic air travelers and interprovincial rail, bus and cruise passengers.
On August 13th, before the start of the campaign, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the vaccine mandate for travelers would be in place “by no later than the end of October.”
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has said his party would not impose mandatory vaccines on public servants or travelers. Instead, unvaccinated federal civil servants would be required to take daily COVID-19 tests and unvaccinated travelers would be required to present recent negative test results or pass rapid tests before getting on trains, buses, planes, or ships.
If there was uncertainty about the Liberal Party’s mandatory vaccination policy before, all doubt is now removed. If re-elected, Trudeau will take a heavy-handed approach and de-facto force Canadians to take the COVID-19 vaccine or risk being barred from all major forms of travel, both domestically and internationally.
As we have said before, this is the greatest threat to Canadian civil liberties in modern times. The government have no place mandating what Canadians inject into their bodies or what medical procedures they must succumb to.
Conservative parties across the country, including the CPC and PPC, need to emphasize that this election is unlike any other. Our freedoms are on the line, and Trudeau will happily take them away to enforce a mandatory vaccine program when the government has no business dictating such provisions.
Get vaccinated or risk being barred from traveling? All parties across the country should call out this policy for what it really is: political blackmail.
(Photo credit: Bloomberg)
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