Justin Trudeau says people who have chosen not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 must accept the consequences of those decisions, including job losses and limited access to transportation and other services.
“It was their choice and no one would ever force anyone to do something they don’t want to do,” the prime minister said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House on Saturday.
“But there are consequences when you don’t. You cannot choose to put your colleagues at risk. “You can’t choose to put the people sitting next to you on a plane at risk,” Trudeau said before leaving for international summits in Africa and Europe.
Federal vaccine mandates played a major role in last fall’s election campaign and proved a focus of public outrage earlier this year, contributing to the occupation of downtown Ottawa and the blockade of border crossings in four provinces.
More protests are planned in the country’s capital over the long weekend for Canada Day, although the federal government lifted most of the restrictions this week.
Trudeau spoke at length during The House interview about the unrest, how his government responded to it, and whether his own comments on protesters coming to Ottawa as a “small border minority” with “unacceptable views” , have contributed to the anger.
“No. I will always call for unacceptable rhetoric and hateful language wherever I see them, “he said, insisting that his speeches in January were never intended for those hesitant about the vaccine, but for those he believes are deliberately spreading misinformation and misinformation.
“Now, unfortunately, with our modern world of social media and communications, this has been undertaken, united and expanded. And I will not start saying that I was taken out of context, but my idea was that there are people who are deliberately trying to incite hatred, intolerance and misinformation, “he added.
“And we need to call these people, even though we continue to do everything we can to reach people who are worried or anxious in thoughtful, sensible ways, and to focus on alleviating those worries and anxieties.
Trudeau for occupying separation positions
There is more than a little Pierre Trudeau in Justin Trudeau the longer he is in office. There is no public conjecture and there is more and more no regret. Like his father, the younger Trudeau is reluctant to deviate from the political battle, including because of his decision to invoke the Emergency Situations Act.
The prime minister said in an interview that the use of powers in the law had not led to a blockade of freedom of speech or peaceful assembly. He said the line was drawn when it became clear to the government that this was an illegal occupation.
He compared his decision to end the protests and the language he uses to condemn those who advocate illegal actions to his criticism of his decision that any liberal candidate should support a woman’s right to vote.
“Well, I was accused of being divided on this issue because people who deeply believe they are against abortion have therefore been excluded from my point of view,” he said.
“Every time you take a strong position, especially one that is contested in society, there will be people who feel you are strong against them. And what you need to do every step of the way as a leader is to find out if it’s worth the division to face something you know is right, and if it’s women’s rights or the freedom of men to be protected during a pandemic. “
Chris Hall, CBC’s national affairs editor and host of The House on CBC Radio, virtually interviewed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from his home at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Monday, June 20th. (Philip Ling / CBC)
Formal inspections of the reasons for the decision to implement the Emergency Act for the first time are currently underway. And as with the decision itself, these hearings are not without controversy or drama.
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino told a parliamentary committee in April that the act was carried out on police advice. Since then, two other cabinet members, Emergency Preparedness Secretary Bill Blair and Deputy Prime Minister Christia Freeland, told the same commission that they had not heard recommendations from police to pass the Emergency Act.
“I’m not aware of a law enforcement recommendation,” Blair said.
Trudeau was asked who was right.
“We had a number of pieces of advice from the judiciary. From public safety. From different areas,” he said. “But if you think about the specific tools, one of the specific complaints was that the tractor drivers did not want to send their platforms at the cost of being kicked out or harassed by these protesters.
Did that tip the scales?
“Well, no … I said, ‘Okay. What are the tools to get truck drivers to do this? ”And we saw that one of the only tools we had that would be effective in the right amount of time was the introduction of the Emergency Law.”
Opposition lawmakers are pushing for full access to the decision-making process before the act is lifted. But witnesses, including RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucky and CSIS Director David Vigno, told them they did not have the authority to disclose their conversations or cabinet advice.
“I can’t talk specifically about any advice given in the cabinet,” Lucky told the committee last month when she was pressured on whether her force had proposed that the act be implemented.
She also postponed when asked if the situation reports on what was happening would be made public, saying the reports belonged to the government.
The prime minister told The House that the government would release these situational reports and what he called “the reality we face across the country.”
But demands that he abandon his long-standing practice of keeping the cabinet confidential will not be met, he said, to ensure that ministers have the confidence to speak freely on issues of national importance.
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