Tories Question Travel Mask Mandate as Maskless Trudeau Appears on Steam Train

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits family farm owner Derek Lutz's orchard in Summerland, B.C., Monday, July 18, 2022. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

Conservatives are criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for appearing maskless on a steam train in British Columbia on July 18, while his government is still maintaining federal mask mandates for travel.

“With access to advice from [Health Canada] - PM Trudeau is demonstrating it’s safe to not wear a mask on transportation like trains and planes,” Tory health critic Michael Barrett said on Twitter on July 19.

“We knew it was. Glad he knows it now too. Legalize smiling. End the mandates.”

In the 8-second clip posted on Trudeau’s Twitter account on July 18, he can be seen shaking hands and taking a selfie with passengers on the stationary train.

“It was all smiles on board the steam train in Summerland today!” tweeted Trudeau.

Trudeau was on board the Kettle Valley Steam Railway which is pulled by a restored 1912 locomotive. The tourist attraction is not covered by the federal mask mandate that applies to passenger trains and airplanes.

“All aboard the Trudeau hypocrisy train,” Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan said on Twitter in a reaction to the video clip.

“He can be unmasked and it doesn’t matter if people are unvaccinated on this train for photo ops, but other Canadians can’t have this same treatment in planes and trains.”

Trudeau’s visit to the train was unannounced, and took its operators and passengers by surprise, according to the Penticton Herald.

The prime minister’s itinerary for the day carried few details, only saying he would visit a children’s camp and a local food processing facility in Kelowna, then a family farm in Summerland.

The federal government has reacted much slower than provincial jurisdictions in removing COVID-19 restrictions.

The province of B.C. removed its mask mandate in most settings back in March. In Quebec, where pandemic health measures were among the strictest in Canada, mandatory masking on public transit was dropped on June 18, a month after it was removed in most other settings.

On June 20, Ottawa suspended its vaccine mandate for travel and federally-regulated workplaces, while keeping the option open to have it reinstated should it decide to do so.

So far, with COVID-19 cases rising in Canada caused by Omicron sub-variants, provinces have reacted in a different manner than in previous waves.

Public health authorities in Ontario and Quebec, for example, have mentioned taking a more risk-based approach, such as not unconditionally recommending vaccination for young children.