With provincial and international jurisdictions easing COVID restrictions, some Liberal MPs say the vast majority of their caucus want the federal government to drop travel vaccination requirements, allowing unvaccinated Canadians to board domestic flights.

Several Liberal MPs interviewed for this article said that most caucus members want all federal pandemic restrictions dropped as soon as possible.

“The massive majority of Liberal MPs want the mandates to end,” said one Liberal MP who spoke on not-for-attribution basis to offer their candid opinion.

“People are saying ‘What the hell, why are [unvaccinated] people not allowed to fly domestic, you know, like, at least let them fly domestic with masks on. You can go into a shopping mall with them, you can go into an elevator with them, you can go into a movie theatre with them.”

Three-term Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Ont.), a medical doctor and a member of the Health Committee, said the vaccine mandate for air travel should be removed.

“The need for mandates has certainly changed and the calculus is not the same now as it was two months ago, three months, or six months ago,” he said in an interview with The Hill Times. “I would suggest that the vaccine requirements for being on planes and at workplaces at the moment, I don’t think the benefits of that mandate warrant the cost.”

Powlowski said that he still wants air travellers to wear masks when they’re on the plane. He said he would leave the timing of when to ease the federal mandates up to the government as it has to take a number of factors into consideration before making these decisions. Citing caucus confidentiality, he declined to say what his colleagues think about this issue and what kinds of answers MPs are getting internally from cabinet ministers on this issue.

“On the other hand, the mask mandate for flying, for example, I think is still warranted, if you’re gonna sit beside someone for two hours or six hours,” he said. “It’s everyone, whether you’re vaccinated or [not], and especially if you’re going to put a bunch of people on the plane, some of whom are non-vaccinated and things, then there is increased risk. So I would probably keep the mask mandate, that would be my opinion.”

Ontario Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski says he’s in favour of lifting vaccine mandates for air travel, but will leave up to the government when they want to do it. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

According to federal travel requirements, all passengers taking a domestic flight must be fully vaccinated. Passengers arriving in Canada from out of country are also instructed to use the ArriveCan app and may be subject to random COVID testing. The federal Health Department and Public Health Agency of Canada announced recently that the federal mandates have been extended until the end of June.

According to the Government of Canada, 81.7 per cent or 31.2-million Canadians have received two doses of the COVID vaccine as of May 30.

Provincial jurisdictions have already lifted or have been easing most of the COVID restrictions and vaccine mandates, citing high vaccination rates, reduced hospitalizations, and lower COVID case counts. Most recently, Ontario announced that as of June 11, most provincial masking requirements would be over, including for passengers on public transit.

“With high vaccination rates and Ontario’s COVID-19 situation continuing to improve, most of the province’s remaining provincial masking requirements, including public transit, will expire as of 12 a.m. on June 11, 2022,” Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief public health officer, said on June 8.

Late last month, Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, Ont.) put forward a motion in the House calling for an end to all travel restrictions. It was defeated by a vote of 202 to 117.

Speaking on not-for-attribution basis, several Liberal MPs said the issue has been raised numerous times in regional and national caucus meetings, but they did not get a satisfactory answer from cabinet ministers or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) as to why federal measures are still in place when provinces and countries have eased most of their restrictions for residents.

Liberal MPs tell The Hill Times they aren’t satisfied with the answers from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet as to why the travel vaccine mandates are still in place. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

“There’s never any straight or particularly convincing answer, I would say, let’s just leave it at that,” a second MP told The Hill Times.

Another MP said that the answers they’re getting from cabinet ministers are very vague, especially when the COVID situation has changed significantly over the last few weeks.

“The answer is: ‘We’re listening to science and experts,’” said the MP, adding they want more specific answers from the government. “That’s been the message from the very beginning.

Sources told The Hill Times that Liberal MP Brendan Hanley (Yukon), a former chief health officer of the territory, has done more than one presentation at national caucus meetings to make the case for dropping COVID-19 restrictions. He was not available for an interview with The Hill Times.

MPs report frustration with contradictions ‘in the system’

During the Ontario provincial election, sources said residents raised the issue with several Liberal MPs as they campaigned with their provincial cousins.

“People are comparing our jurisdiction to international jurisdictions: I don’t think there’s many countries in the world where even for domestic flights, you have to be fully vaccinated now,” said a fourth MP. “The numbers have adjusted drastically, and we’ve stabilized the situation. No. 3, the pressure on the healthcare system has diminished. And No. 4, there’s a level of frustration now from people because, they can go into a restaurant sit next to each other for two hours, they can be on a subway for an hour, but they can’t take a domestic flight. The frustration is that there’s contradictions now in the system.”

The MPs also told The Hill Times that COVID mandates are one of the key reasons for the notoriously long line-ups at some airports, like the “chaos” reported at the Toronto Pearson International Airport making repeat headlines for ongoing disruptions.

Some Liberal MPs said that even if the federal government does not want to lift all restrictions at the same time, they can do it gradually but they should start with dropping the vaccine requirement now.

“The caucus has spoken on this issue and it was pretty clear where people are at on this issue, that people do want to see things change,” said a fifth MP.

“We have to measure all the costs, not just singular life and death question, but also how we live while we are living.”

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra told reporters on June 8 that the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has recently hired 865 staffers, saying it will help shorten long line ups at airports. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra (Mississauga-Centre, Ont.) told reporters on June 8 that the government is constantly assessing and reassessing the situation. He said Ottawa will make a decision about changing mandates when it’s satisfied it’s the right time. He announced the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has hired 865 more staffers across the country help manage the volume of travellers to address the long lines, with 644 hired for Toronto and Vancouver airports alone, where wait times have been the worst. On top of that, he said, the Canada Border Services Agency is also in the process of hiring summer students and staff to help manage the volume of passengers at airports.

“We’re always erring on the side of public safety,” said Alghabra. “We committed to Canadians that we want to do everything we can to protect their health and safety and we’re seeing people and governments and jurisdictions try to grapple with making the right decisions and the right balancing act with balancing public health and economic fluidity. That’s what we’re doing.”

The Hill Times