Covid-19 vaccination restrictions for domestic travel on air planes and trains, international outbound travel, and federally regulated workers were suspended by the Trudeau government on Tuesday.
“Canadians may wonder, is this too fast or is this too slow? It has been very tough for Canadians these past two years. Our job as a national government has always been to keep Canadians safe. If the situation takes a turn for the worst, we are prepared to bring back the policies necessary to protect Canadians,” said LeBlanc,
LeBlanc continued saying the government doesn’t regret their knee jerk response to Covid-19 stomping on Canadians rights and freedoms and boasting that the Liberal government’s prudent approach “has saved lives.”
According to a government release, the vaccine mandates for travel will end as of June 20 2022. Minister of Transport also made this announcement on his social media
“BREAKING NEWS: We are following the latest science and are suspending the current domestic vaccine mandates for air and rail passengers” Omar Alghabra wrote.
During the media conference Alghabra informed Canadians of the suspension of the Covid-19 measures for travel.
“The COVID situation is not the same now as it was last fall when we implemented the vaccine mandate for travelers and transport workers,” said Alghabra.
“I’m pleased to announce that “On June 20, our government will suspend the requirement to be vaccinated in order to board a plane or train in Canada.”
Employers in the federally controlled transportation sector will no longer be required to have vaccination requirements for their employees, according to Alghabra.
“The suspension of the vaccine mandate was informed by key indicators, including the epidemiological situation and modeling, vaccine science, and high levels of vaccination against COVID-19 in Canada.”
The discriminatory vaccine mandate banning Canadians that have not received Covid-19 immunization shots to fit the governments fake definition of “fully vaccinated” has been in effect since October 30, 2021.
Travellers coming to Canada there is no changes, they are still required to show proof of vaccination and enter their details in the ArriveCan App 72 hours before their arrival in Canada.
Mask mandates on-board trains and planes remain in place.
“As for travelers coming to Canada by air, land, and marine—there are no changes,” he added.
Treasury Board Mona Fortier announced the vaccine mandates will also be suspended for federal employees and contractors so they will not need to disclose their private medical information.
Mona Fortier attributes the high vaccination rates (98.5%) to the reason why the mandatory Covid-19 vaccine for a job policy will be suspended as of June 20, 2022.
“That date, employees of the core public administration including the RCMP will no longer be required to be vaccinated against covid-19 as a condition of employment”. said Mona Fortier.
Part of the suspending of the Covid-19 vaccine requirements, employees that are being punished and forced on to unpaid leave be allowed to work again and provide for their families.
“Employees who are on administrative leave without pay as a result of the vaccination policy will be contacted by their managers to resume regular duties with pay and bargaining agents have been informed”.
In recent weeks, a number of public sector unions have spoken out against the government. Employers in the federally regulated aviation, rail, and maritime industries will no longer be obliged to have mandatory vaccination policies in place.
If a new Covid variant is identified, the government says it may reinstate the vaccine requirement.
In March during a Covid special committee meeting we reported. Dr. Kalyan testified the blanket Covid-19 mandates didn’t make sense based on the current Omicron data.
“Now it is clear especially with omicron that the vaccines we have cannot really be relied upon to either prevent transmission or infection, an example the first omicron case in Israel came from a triple vaccinated doctor returning from a conference who passed it on to another triple vaccinated physician.” said Dr. Kalyan
“The omicron spread into many countries has been through fully vaccinated often boosted individuals and this really questions the validity of the current vaccine mandates for travel within and outside of Canada. Now data from Ontario and other jurisdictions from around the world show vaccine efficacy drops below zero after the end of the second month and those who are fully vaccinated and boosters appear to show a similar rapid timeline for waning.”
In a more recent interaction with Liberal MP’s about the travel mandates. “The massive majority of Liberal MPs want the mandates to end,” said one Liberal MP who spoke on not-for-attribution basis to offer their candid opinion.
“People are saying ‘What the hell, why are [unvaccinated] people not allowed to fly domestic, you know, like, at least let them fly domestic with masks on. You can go into a shopping mall with them, you can go into an elevator with them, you can go into a movie theatre with them.”
Three-term Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Ont.), a medical doctor and a member of the Health Committee, said the vaccine mandate for air travel should be removed.
“The need for mandates has certainly changed and the calculus is not the same now as it was two months ago, three months, or six months ago,” he said in an interview with The Hill Times. “I would suggest that the vaccine requirements for being on planes and at workplaces at the moment, I don’t think the benefits of that mandate warrant the cost.”
