The Conservative push to have the Liberal authorities current a plan to finish federal vaccine mandates and restrictions by the top of the month was struck down on Monday.
The movement was defeated 185 to 151, with the Liberals, NDP, and Greens, for probably the most half, voting towards the transfer and the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois voting in favour of it.
Unsurprisingly, Liberal MP Joel Lightbound additionally supported the movement. The Louis-Hébert, Que. MP publically spoke out towards the federal government’s method to the pandemic final week.
Federally-imposed vaccine mandates and restrictions have been a supply of competition in latest weeks because the Freedom Convoy continues protests and blockades throughout Canada in pursuit of getting these insurance policies dropped.
Ottawa introduced in October that public servants could be required to attest they're totally vaccinated towards COVID-19 by the top of that month. It additionally required that air and rail workers – and their passengers – be totally vaccinated by the identical time interval.
A month later, the federal government introduced that beginning Jan. 15, unvaccinated truck drivers getting into Canada must adjust to pre-entry, arrival, and day eight testing necessities, in addition to quarantine guidelines.
Nonetheless, nearly all of vaccine mandates and public well being restrictions are imposed on the provincial and territorial degree.
When introducing the movement final week, interim Conservative Chief Candice Bergen mentioned that whereas it’s time for the trucker convoy’s “barricades and disruptive motion” to finish, it’s additionally time for the federal government to current a plan out of the pandemic by Feb. 28.
The textual content of the movement factors to latest feedback by Canada’s Chief Public Well being Officer Dr. Theresa Tam calling for some public well being measures to be re-examined and the necessity for a extra “sustainable” method in managing the pandemic.
It additionally alludes to steps being taking by provincial and territorial governments to elevate mandates and restrictions.
Throughout Query Interval on Monday, Bergen mentioned this needs to be a time of “optimism and pleasure” not “division and concern.”
“Two years into this pandemic Mr. Speaker, Canadians deserve on this second some optimism and hope for his or her future and so they deserve management from their authorities. They should know when the federal mandates and restrictions will probably be lifted, that isn't an unreasonable ask,” she mentioned.
The federal government reiterated that science will dictate any change in coverage.
“The opposition would love somebody – maybe the well being minister – to declare that COVID-19 will finish on a selected date. Sadly, that isn't how the virus operates and that isn't what science tells us. What science has instructed us is that we have to be prudent and accountable,” mentioned Well being Minister Jean-Yves Duclos in response.
The Peace Tower is pictured on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
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