Tory Bid to Prevent Future COVID Vaccine Mandates Fails in Parliament

Storm clouds pass by the Peace Tower and Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Aug. 18, 2020. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

A Conservative private member’s bill that would have prevented the federal government from imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates on government employees or restricting unvaccinated Canadians from boarding public transit has been defeated in the House of Commons.

Bill C-278, also known as “An Act to prevent the imposition by the federal government of vaccination mandates for employment and travel,” received 114 “yea” and 206 “nay” votes on Oct. 25.

Pierre Poilievre first introduced the private member’s bill when he was running for the Conservative Party leadership in 2022. It was picked up by Conservative MP Dean Allison, who has been critical of COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

On Oct. 24, Mr. Allison told the House of Commons that it was wrong to “divide and discriminate against Canadians based on a personal medical decision,” calling the vaccine mandates for COVID-19 “heavy-handed.”

“They wanted to exact some sort of punishment on folks who did not agree with their stance on imposing unscientific mandates that drove a wedge with families, friends and neighbours. Families were torn apart because of the government’s stigmatization of Canadians. This must never happen again, ever,” he said.

During question period on Oct. 25, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Mr. Poilievre “doesn’t truly want to accept” that over 80 percent of Canadians willingly got the COVID-19 vaccine.

“He has a hidden agenda driven by ideology, an ideology rooted in denying that the government had to act fast in a once-in-a-century moment to keep Canadians safe,” Mr. Trudeau said.

“He continues to play divisive games to try and divide Canadians on a matter core to public health and public safety. We’ve always stood up for the safety of Canadians while he chooses to wear a tinfoil hat.”

According to a recent poll by Abacus Data, 55 percent of Canadians had “no problem getting vaccinated” for COVID-19, while 23 percent had “some doubts” about their safety, and 12 percent “reluctantly got vaccinated” despite safety concerns. A total of 10 percent agreed with the view, “I did not get vaccinated because I don’t trust people who said they were safe.”

‘Unreasonable Overreaches’

During C-278 debates on Oct. 24, Mr. Poilievre said the bill would target the “unreasonable overreaches of the federal policy and unjustified abuses of federal government power.” He said the bill followed the scientific evidence of COVID-19 vaccines and “what they do,” and responded to the evidence “from the experience of the government’s decision to exploit a public health situation for partisan political gain.”

Mr. Poilievre said the prime minister “punished” Canadians who chose not to get vaccinated for COVID-19 after previously saying the decision on whether to get them would be a  matter of personal choice.

“He flip-flopped and said he would make it mandatory, and three days later, he called an election and attempted to exploit that political moment in order to regain power,” he said.

The issue of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination was featured prominently during the 2021 election, with Mr. Trudeau putting in place policies that barred unvaccinated Canadians from working in the federal government or boarding trains and planes. Then-Conservative leader Erin O'Toole was opposed to mandatory vaccinations for federal public servants and instead recommended rapid testing to allow the unvaccinated to keep their jobs.

During the last Conservative Party convention in September 2023, 68 percent voted in favour of a resolution that would do away with vaccine mandates and that affirmed “Canadians have the freedom and right to refuse vaccines.”