By Western Standard
December 16, 2021
-Western Standard
Anyone travelling abroad this Christmas who gets stuck because of the Omicron virus will be on their own, the Liberals say.
“Like it or not, we must therefore adjust to this new reality,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters on Wednesday.
“Once they have left Canada there is very little we can do to help them.”
Duclos repeated a federal advisory that Canadians avoid non-essential foreign travel.
“We have all had to make sacrifices,” he said.
“What evidence do you have that a non-essential travel ban out of the country is going to have an impact on community transmission?” asked a reporter.
“We see the situation abroad,” replied Duclos.
“We’re afraid and concerned with what could happen to Canadians who would choose to be abroad in the next few weeks. The situation abroad is already dire in many places and it’s going to get worse very quickly, so we are afraid for what could happen to them if they choose to travel.”
Conservative MP Dr. Stephen Ellis (Cumberland-Colchester, N.S.) questioned alarming health warnings over Omicron.
“We don’t have the science yet,” said Ellis, a family physician from Truro, N.S. and former pandemic advisor to provincial health authorities.
“We’ve asked Canadians to be immunized once, twice, three times, have your passport, we’re all doing those things, and the frustration I think we hear from Canadians is, what’s the end game here?
“We’ve gone from 75% to 80% to 85% to 90% vaccination rates. Let’s be honest folks, every one of you here knows we’re not going to get to 100 for whatever reason that is. We’re not going to get there. So then the pragmatic approach becomes how are we going to live with COVID in our lives?”
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