Trudeau gov’t to increase vaccine mandates after truckers protest

The Canadian government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be planning to increase vaccine mandates after truckers led a mass protest of existing restrictions. 

Current regulations demand that all cross-border truckers be vaccinated with the COVID-19 shot or they will be barred re-entry to the country. In response, truckers organized the 2022 Freedom Convoy, a fleet of about 10,000 trucks and 45 miles long, to drive from British Columbia to Ottowa where they are currently protesting the mandates along with tens of thousands of Canadians. 

The convoy has attracted international attention, with world-renowned figures such as Elon Musk, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson weighing in. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called the convoy a “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views”, has fled his home to an undisclosed location. 

But it seems Trudeau’s government is doubling down on vaccine mandates, perhaps in retribution for the protests. 

In a January 30 interview with Rosemary Barton on CBC news, Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said that work is being done to impose a vaccine mandate even on interprovincial truckers, not just cross-border truckers. 

“There have been conversations, uh, discussion about an interprovincial mandate, that truckers going even inside the country from province to province would also need to be vaccinated,” asked Barton. “Is that still going ahead?” 

Alghabra replied that “there is working being done to get us there.” 

In an earlier interview with Barton, however, Alghabra had said that the federal government would not be regulating interprovincial mandates, instead saying that “boundaries are up to the provincial territories”. 

According to current mandates that were decreed on November 30, 2021, travelers over the age of 12 may not board a plane or a train in Canada unless they are vaccinated, even if they test negative for COVID-19. In addition, core federal public servants must be fully vaccinated, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police.