Rally cancelled due to security concerns
LIBERALS PULL TRUDEAU STOP AFTER ANOTHER PROTEST AGAINST COVID-19 SAFETY MEASURES
The Liberal campaign cancelled an early evening rally on Friday after an unruly group of demonstrators denouncing Justin Trudeau and pandemic policies set off safety concerns.
Dozens of local Liberal supporters, some with young children and dogs, gathered in a hotel parking lot in Bolton, Ont., northwest of Toronto, to hear Trudeau speak.
Dozens of protesters followed the Liberal campaign to the rally. They used expletives in chants, waved their middle fingers, and made references to the Nazis over megaphones as a line of police stood in front of them.
It was the third such incident Friday where Trudeau was confronted by angry demonstrators upset with his government's push on vaccine passports and vaccine mandates for travellers.
“That's a choice that they are expressing loudly and clearly,” Trudeau said Friday.
“But it's not just a choice that they're making for themselves. It's a choice they're imposing on others. We only finish with this pandemic if everyone steps up, not just for themselves, but for each other.”
However, Trudeau did not provide a direct answer when asked if he had special permission for more than the provincial limit of 25 people to crowd into the restaurant for his announcement.
Protesters who oppose masks, vaccines and lockdown measures to fight COVID-19 have dogged the Liberal leader on the campaign trail, but he has usually politely waved back and often yelled through his mask, “get vaccinated.”
Some have brought their children to yell at Trudeau, with one on Friday night holding an orange sign that read “I need freedom.”
The crowd cheered when officials announced that Friday's event was cancelled.
The Conservatives in a statement condemned the use of obscene and extreme language by some protesting Trudeau's appearances.
“Many families, some with young children, attend events such as these. It should be a positive experience, whatever their political affiliation,” the campaign said in a tweet.
Earlier Friday, Trudeau admitted not all Liberal candidates have been fully vaccinated, despite his party's election pledge to make vaccines mandatory.
During a campaign stop for a vaccine announcement in Mississauga, Ont., National Post columnist John Ivison asked Trudeau whether all his 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 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.
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.”