LILLEY: Time for Trudeau to change travel advice for Canadians

This message of avoiding non-essential journey — and even avoiding journey inside Canada lest we unfold COVID from one neighborhood to a different — was hammered residence on the weekend by Well being Minister Patty Hajdu. In an interview with International Tv, Hajdu spoke out towards each home and out-of-country journey, apparently oblivious to the document of her personal authorities.

This isn’t an try to attain a partisan political level. The Trudeau Liberals have been sending combined messages about journey for months now.

Whether or not we have a look at the election that simply concluded or the prime minister’s journey to Tofino, it is a authorities that’s all about journey inside Canada when it fits them. As for international journey, they’ve been jetting across the skies for months now.

This week alone, we’ve got Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in Washington for conferences and Commerce Minister Mary Ng in Sorrento, Italy. The prime minister is predicted to journey to Europe once more, this time for a G20 convention in Rome after which probably for the local weather change summit in Glasgow.

All of those summits have the choice of video convention participation. That is how world leaders met for a lot of the pandemic, and it labored.

True, in-person conferences and relationship constructing are essential, however so is a constant message. Telling your residents to remain residence and never journey whereas the management of the federal government racks up frequent flyer factors is a lesson in hypocrisy itself.

I’m not arguing that these authorities leaders ought to keep residence; they need to absolutely be going to those summits, however my mother and father must also be free to go to Florida with out the inference that they’re ignoring authorities well being recommendation.

It’s time for this message to alter.

Let’s be clear: International Affairs Canada doesn’t say you’ll be able to’t go away, simply that you just shouldn’t. Buried beneath all of their suggestions to keep away from non-essential journey is a press release that it’s as much as you.

“The choice to journey is your alternative, and you might be accountable for your private security overseas. We take the security and safety of Canadians overseas very severely and supply credible and well timed info in our Journey Recommendation to allow you to make well-informed selections concerning your journey overseas,” the federal government web site states.

Journey of any sort inherently comes with danger. Canadians needs to be handled as adults, warned of these dangers, after which left to make their very own selections with out being badgered by bureaucrats in Ottawa. Because it stands, many will have a look at the American border reopening and consider that it isn’t secure for them to go south.

Given the neighborhood unfold of COVID-19 in the USA is way increased than right here in Canada, that pondering is perhaps prudent. However there isn’t a info supplied on that entrance, no factors of comparability supplied — only a warning.

Wouldn’t or not it’s useful to know that instances per 100,000 inhabitants have been decrease in California and Florida than in Alberta and Saskatchewan? That California is decrease than British Columbia?

Canadians needs to be given the straight items after which allowed to chart their very own course. Mine could take me to Florida.