>The Trudeau government had been publicly opposed to any kind of vaccine mandate for months before their change of stance in August 2021. Trudeau himself had described such policies as “extreme measures that could have real divisive impacts on community and country” and had said this is not how Canada operates in interviews.
>Then just before the election call on August 15, the Liberals announced a vaccine mandate for federal workers and anyone who wanted to get on a plane or train to cross the country.
>“This is the best way to end the pandemic,” Trudeau’s intergovernmental affairs minister and political fixer Dominic LeBlanc said at the time.
>Yet when asked directly under cross examination if anyone from the prime minister’s office, the health minister’s office or the transport minister’s office had sought her advice on the mandates, Dr. Celia Lourenco, the woman who authorized the vaccines for use in Canada said no.
Bureaucrats asked for proof and got none
>It’s not the only shocking piece of testimony to come out of the lawsuit.
>Aaron McCrorie, the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security at Transport Canada, was emailing people at Health Canada in October 2021, just weeks before the travel mandate took effect, looking for anything to support the policy.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
>“To the extent that updated data exist or that there is clearer evidence of the safety benefit of vaccination on the users or other stakeholders of the transportation system, it would be helpful to assist Transport Canada supporting its measures,” McCrorie wrote.
>He followed up again days later saying, “need something fairly soon.” The only response he received, according to the court record, a set of talking points on the general benefits of vaccination.
>It’s not like the federal government wasn’t looking at studies to try and find a link between vaccination rates and travel, it’s just that the data didn’t back up their policy.
