Not all Liberal candidates vaccinated, Trudeau admits

Trudeau also dodges crowd size question

Not all Liberal candidates have been fully vaccinated, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has admitted, despite his party’s election pledge to make vaccines mandatory.

The revelation came on Friday during a campaign stop for a vaccine announcement in Mississauga. National Post columnist John Ivison asked Trudeau whether all Liberal Party candidates were vaccinated, which prompted a roundabout answer from the leader.

“Every single Liberal candidate agrees fully with our approach on this. We have ensured that all our candidates have been vaccinated or are getting vaccinated. I believe there’s a couple who are about to get their second dose now, but we take very, very seriously the responsibility we all have if we’re getting out there going door to door to keep Canadians safe, and we absolutely will do that,” Trudeau responded.

The Liberals have pushed to make mandatory vaccines a wedge issue in the federal election.

Trudeau has been critical of Conservative Leader Erin O’toole for his refusal to support mandatory vaccines for his own candidates. O’toole has instead said Canadians should have a choice over their own health and recommends unvaccinated candidates undergo daily rapid testing.

Trudeau has previously warned virtually all federal workers of unspecified “consequences” for not getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Earlier this month, he announced the federal government would soon require all federal public servants and many other workers to be vaccinated. The mandate will also include air, train and cruise ship travellers.

“We are ensuring anyone travelling on a plane or a train must be vaccinated, but Erin O’toole won’t listen to the experts on this issue,” Trudeau said in a statement. “He can’t even convince his own candidates to get vaccinated.”

Trudeau also caught criticism at Friday’s stop for crowding at the news conference, held indoors.

Trudeau dodged questions from a CBC reporter as to whether the Liberals were cleared to hold an event that exceeds the number of people allowed indoors in Ontario.

Earlier this month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford defended his party’s decision to oust Rick Nicholls for not getting vaccinated, saying elected officials must “lead by example” on the issue. Ford said Nicholls, who represents Chatham-kent-leamington, also won’t be permitted to seek re-election as a Tory candidate after he “failed to provide a legitimate reason” for not getting vaccinated.

“It is my expectation that every PC caucus member and candidate not only support the role vaccines play in the fight against COVID-19, but also be vaccinated to protect themselves and the people in their community,” Ford said in a statement.

He wrote that elected officials “must rightfully be held to a higher standard,” adding their work puts them in regular interaction with the public and those vulnerable to the virus.

Ford, who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and has urged all Ontario residents to get immunized, has previously said he wouldn’t make the vaccine mandatory, because he considers it a constitutional right not to take the shots.

The directive applying to Tory caucus members was stricter than measures announced by Ford’s government this week affecting workers in education, health care other high-risk settings.

Those policies would see unvaccinated workers subject to regular COVID-19 tests before coming to work.