The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec recently announced they will gradually end their COVID-19 vaccine passport systems.
Quebec’s passport system will no longer be in effect in public places by March 14, according to officials. In Ontario, the proof-of-vaccination mandate will end at the beginning of March.
These decisions come as COVID-19 cases fall from their Omicron highs and the Canadian trucker protest against vaccine mandates continues. Quebec and Ontario are joining Alberta, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island in eliminating the passport system. Canada’s CTV News added that Nova Scotia is also in the beginning phases of easing restrictions.
Manitoba has also begun the process of lifting its restrictions, and it’ll be complete by March 15.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Monday the province’s vaccine passport system “for all settings” and capacity limits for indoor public spaces would end March 1. During Ford’s announcement, he said the decision was not influenced by the trucker convoy, which has been ongoing since the end of January.
“Let me be very clear: We’re moving in this direction because it’s safe to do so,” Ford said. “Today’s announcement is not because of what’s happening in Ottawa, or Windsor, but despite it.”
Whatever you say, buddy. We all know you’re a big tough guy and you’re not scared of the truckers.
We will all play along because you’re doing the right thing, albeit after two years.
The passports will gradually phase out in Quebec. Starting Wednesday, they will not be required in “big-box” stores as well as government-run liquor and cannabis stores, according to Global News. The requirement’s lifting will expand to houses of worship and funeral homes starting February 21, then to all other locations starting March 14.
Ontario and Quebec are the two most populous provinces in Canada.
The population of Canada is about 37 million people. 14.2 million live in Ontario, 8.5 million in Quebec, and the third-largest is British Columbia with 5 million. Alberta has 4.2 million, Manitoba 1.3 million, Saskatchewan 1.1 million, and Nova Scotia 970k.
This means that as of now, over 30 million Canadians live in a province where Covid restrictions either have been dropped or are in the process of being dropped. That’s over 80% of the country’s population.
The main holdout now is British Columbia, which has an extremely high vaccination rate but for some reason will not lift all their restrictions. They’ve lifted some of them, but not nearly enough.
Apparently, Canada’s west coast liberals are just as bad as America’s.
The real story here, however is that Trudeau is a fucking idiot.
He really is. He played this so unbelievably poorly–about as poorly as he could have played it.
He could have just done what Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford did and said, “The omicron wave is coming down, it’s safe for us to go back to normal as a country.”
Everyone would have known he caved to the Truckers, but no one would have really cared because people just want to go back to normal.
There was a way for Trudeau to get out of this and save face. All he had to do was say exactly what Doug Ford said.
He could have been the bigger man and said, “Canadians, we hear your voices and we feel your pain. And we’re going back to normal.”
He would have been a hero, too. People all around the world would have viewed him as a good leader who actually listens to his people.
His approval ratings would have skyrocketed.
Instead, he now looks like a tyrant, a full-blown communist dictator fighting like hell to keep in place Covid restrictions that the premiers have gotten rid of anyway.
He has been overruled.
Trudeau looks unbelievably weak and ineffectual right now. He has lost tons of respect and credibility. He will probably never be able to recover from this politically. He is finished.
He was the only one who didn’t see the writing on the wall. The premiers did. They realized it was a losing battle and that it was time to go back to normal. They knew which way the wind was blowing.
The premiers saw the European countries–UK, virtually all of Scandinavia, etc.–dropping all their Covid restrictions and going back to normal, and they realized that Covid was over. Done.
Now the premiers look like the good guys, and Trudeau looks like the bad guy. And that’s because he is the bad guy.
Trudeau has been completely humiliated. He is now public enemy number one in Canada. He has zero credibility. He will be booed and jeered and ridiculed anytime he shows his face in public.
He called the protesters racists and Nazis and terrorists, when anyone with access to social media could clearly what a blatant and bald-faced lie that was: videos from Ottawa show people of all races and walks of life dancing, playing street hockey, grilling out and honking their horns in the name of freedom.
It has been honestly one of the most beautiful and inspiring displays of national unity and people coming together that I’ve ever seen.
And Trudeau chose to be the villain.
He had a choice here. He didn’t have to be the bad guy. He could have gone along with the premiers and been the good guy.
Instead, he chose to listen to Joe Biden and Klaus Schwab over the people of his country.