Madam Speaker, the deliberate politicization of the pandemic has undermined trust in our public health institutions and has damaged national unity, with western alienation, rich versus poor, urban versus rural and vaccinated versus unvaccinated. The divisions in this country are real.
During the election, the Prime Minister chose to capitalize on Canadians' fear and sowed division for his own political gain. Shame on the Prime Minister, who, for the first half of the pandemic, told Canadians there were vaccines for those who wanted them. Then, sensing political gain, that message morphed into one of partition. He said people have the right not to get vaccinated, but they do not have the right to sit next to someone who is.
The Prime Minister's opportunism has created two classes of Canadians. Canadians now watch as the rest of the world moves forward with ending mandates and removing restrictions, while our government has no clear plan to do the same. It is time for the government to listen to the experts, trust the science and find a more sustainable way to end the pain, the trauma and the frustration of two long years of isolation.