Federal government won’t budge on vaccine mandate for truckers as convoy heads for Ottawa

01/26/2022

The federal government says it will not back down on its vaccination rule for cross-border truckers despite entrenched opposition from some drivers and groups claiming to represent their interests.

In a joint media statement released today, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and Stephen Laskowski, the president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), said COVID-19 vaccines are the "most effective tool to reduce the risk of COVID-19" and protect public health.

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YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID

Federal government won't budge on vaccine mandate for truckers as convoy heads for Ottawa

If anyone had any doubt about whether the isolation orders, lockdowns and vaccine mandates are run by provinces or the Prime Minister's Office, you need not look further.

Governments exist to provide services that we cannot provide for ourselves at the local or provincial levels, not to rule us.

The Charter of Canadian Rights and Freedoms exists to protect us from government overreach. It is embedded in the Canadian Constitution and cannot be easily ignored. In 1988 the Supreme Court of Canada held that Section 7 of the Charter guarantees everyone the right to security of the person and the right protects both the physical and psychological integrity of the individual.

There has to be a compelling reason for any government to override that right, and in my opinion, vaccine mandates don't even come close. 

Those of us who chose vaccination did so willingly. The principle of equality means that we cannot discriminate against those who choose not to be vaccinated. They are also entitled to a personal choice without government or public coercion.I did not choose vaccination to protect others. I decided, based on weighing risks and decided that some protection was better than none.

One would expect that the PMO learned a lesson when it pressed mandated vaccination for health care employees. Many nurses, support workers and personal care home attendants left their professions rather than succumb to the mandates. We found our health care systems short-staffed when COVID spread went on a rampage.

Trudeau has revealed himself as a sociopath and ruined his dreams of turning Canada into a centrally planned socialist state.

A normally complacent society is awakening and annoyed. The trucker convoy indicates increasing civil unrest with many demonstrations across Canada to follow.

When politicians maintain they need better protection from the people they claim to represent, they know what they are doing is wrong and lack the courage and principles to do what is right.

John Feldsted
Political commentator, consultant & strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba