This week a Liberal MP criticized the COVID-19 mandates in Canada and accused his party of divisive rhetoric. In response, Prime Minister Trudeau oddly said the restrictions (such as vaccine passports) were necessary to avoid restrictions in the future.
Liberal MP Joel Lightbound criticized his party for not having a clear “roadmap” out of restrictions. He added that he was not the only person tired of the government’s handling of the pandemic, arguing that the government was using the restrictions to “wedge and stigmatize” those who are not complying.
Related: How vaccine passports are crushing freedom, privacy, and civil liberties
“We need to reevaluate all the measures,” said Lightbound. “That’s essentially my whole point I think we need to have a clear roadmap for when restrictions will be lifted, and this roadmap must take into account what we’ve seen with the World Health Organization’s recommendation, what other countries are doing, it’s essential for Canadians to have that understanding of where we’re heading and under what conditions and circumstances measures will be lifted,” he said.
“What a lot of the anxiety and frustration in the population lies with the fact that some people… are afraid that certain measures are being normalized and that these measures shouldn’t be normalized, that they should be extraordinary and limited in time.
“I think that would go a long way in alleviating some of the frustration, and some of the division in our society and some of the polarization. That’s essential going forward.
“I’m not advocating for lifting, necessarily, all measures right now. I’m not a public health expert. I’m just saying that the government… needs to provide a road map going forward.”
In response, Trudeau said that he understood the frustration, but the restrictions were necessary to avoid restrictions. “I think one of the things we all understand is just how frustrated everyone is. We’re all tired of restrictions, of mandates, of having to make sacrifices, of not being able to do the things we love,” he said.
“It’s been two years, and it’s really really tiring for all of us. This government has been focused every step of the way of following the best science and the best public health advice to keep as many people safe as possible and quite frankly, it has worked.
“Canadians got vaccinated. I can understand frustrations with mandates but mandates are the way to avoid further restrictions… As Canadians get vaccinated, as Canadians have gotten vaccinated, we’ve been able to get through things. And this team is going to stay focused on doing exactly that.”
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