(OTTAWA) A Conservative MP who refuses to disclose her vaccination status tried to enter the House of Commons on Friday and was told to leave.
Posted at 7:30 p.m.
Cathay Wagantall, who represents Yorkton-Melville in Saskatchewan, said at a press conference she held on Parliament Hill that she had been told she would have to leave the House of Commons.
Mme Wagantall says she spoke with the Conservative House Leader on Friday, who advised her that while she could stay while the House sat, she would have to leave by the end of the day.
The House Board of Internal Economy in November 2021 set a requirement that anyone in the precinct must present proof of a COVID-19 vaccination, although Speaker Anthony Rota later ruled that the Bureau had exceeded its authority.
The Liberals and NDP then joined hands to pass a motion to extend hybrid sittings of Parliament, which also specified that anyone entering the precinct must be fully immune to COVID-19 or have a valid medical exemption.
Mme Wagantall says she left of her own accord, but believes once the session adjourned she would have been apprehended and deported.
After she left the building on her own, she was escorted by a Sergeant-at-Arms of Parliament.
She states that she arrived in Ottawa at the end of April and that before that date, she made three round trips to Ottawa on her own.
Mme Wagantall says she is not allowed in her office and has not accessed it since November 2021.
She adds that she is not allowed to fly or train, noting that it takes about three and a half days by car to get to the nation’s capital from her riding in Saskatchewan.
“Ontario is open. My province has been open for a long time. I don’t make a case of anyone who has suffered from COVID. But regardless, it is time for this country to move on,” she commented.
This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.