On Parliament Hill

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has wrapped up his G7 meetings in the UK and a NATO summit in Brussels.

While it is important for world leaders to meet like this, the hypocrisy of Mr. Trudeau jetting all over Europe after a year and half of telling Canadians to stay home is a little hard to stomach.

Harder still, when he returns to Canada, the Prime Minister will not be staying in a “government-approved” hotel for his quarantine. After making Canadians suffer in hotels where basic necessities like food, water and security are often not available, the PM and his team will stay in an Ottawa hotel.

That should make Canadians sit up and ask a couple of questions.

One, given that, under current rules – put in place by Justin Trudeau – international flights are only allowed to fly into Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, why will the PM and his team be landing in Ottawa?

Two, if the PM and his team are flying into Ottawa – where they all live – why waste thousands of taxpayer dollars on hotel rooms and food when they could all, just as easily, quarantine at home?

Once again, we have the Prime Minister clearly demonstrating that he believes there is one set of rules for him and another one for everyone else.

While Mr. Trudeau – despite his transparently disingenuous virtue signalling to the contrary – has always led by the maxim, “do as I say, not as I do”, this shows a new level of arrogance, even for this Prime Minister.

A post by my friend and colleague the Hon. Pierre Poilievre sums up the situation well:

“Trudeau’s regime is fining my constituent $10,000 for crossing the border for an hour to get medicine. Yet this 1-dose maskless hypocrite breaks all his own rules to schmooze it up with the rich and famous. As he would say: rules are for little people.”

For Justin Trudeau to travel the world while his government continues to try to convince Canadians it is unsafe to do so is, frankly, ridiculous. If it is safe for the PM to travel, then I see no reason why the general public shouldn’t be allowed to do the same.

Mr. Trudeau, along with other leaders continue to say, wait for Canadians to be vaccinated. Yet thousands of Canadians are already fully vaccinated and their lives have not changed. The PM can go jetting off around the world and they are still stuck in their homes.

Moreover, vaccines are not mandatory – nor should they be. They are a choice. Everyone who wants one should have timely access to one, and those who choose not to should not face penalties, repercussions or loss of privileges for that choice.

Canadians have a Charter right (Section 6) to freedom of movement, both internationally and interprovincially. That’s why I strongly oppose the idea of vaccine passports or other restrictions on travel for Canadian citizens.

Government responses to COVID-19 have been divisive enough. We don’t need further division caused by those same leaders creating two classes of citizens, allowing one group to live their life and restricting another – or by jetting off to the other side of the world for chardonnay and a series of photo-ops.

Leaders who are more interested in stroking their own egos than the plight of their citizens have forgotten what leadership means – and Canadians deserve better.