Liberal Joël Lightbound’s criticisms of the prime minister’s pandemic management were publicly echoed by a first deputy. Quebec elected official Yves Robillard said he shared his colleague’s discomfort with the divisive tone adopted by Justin Trudeau.
Joël Lightbound broke ranks on Tuesday to denounce, at a press conference, the tone of his government, which he criticized for having “politicized” the whole debate surrounding vaccination by drawing up “overly broad generalizations” and sometimes “so easy how absurd”.
“He said exactly what many of us think,” said Yves Robillard, MP for the riding of Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, in Laval, to the parliamentary media on Wednesday. The Hill Times. “I agree with everything Mr. Lightbound said. »
The latter, who represents a riding in Quebec, had reported the day before that “several” of his colleagues shared his opinion. Mr. Robillard is the only one for the moment to have supported these comments publicly.
But behind the scenes, other Liberals, like Mr. Lightbound and Mr. Robillard, have expressed concern that the Prime Minister will reject out of hand any challenge to health measures.
Justin Trudeau has been hammering for months that the majority of Canadians have “done the right thing” by getting vaccinated and brings back the demands of some Canadians who would like to see health measures eased to a “marginal minority” represented by the convoy that paralyzes the center -city of Ottawa.
Yves Robillard was slapped on the knuckles this winter after traveling to Costa Rica when the Liberal government advised its MPs not to travel abroad. The member lost his position as chairman of the parliamentary defense committee. A decision he denounced during his interview with the Hill Timesdemanding an apology from the government whip, Steven MacKinnon, who withdrew this position, which comes with a bonus of $12,700 a year.
Ammunition for the Opposition
The Conservatives are making a big fuss of the criticisms voiced by Mr. Lightbound and now by Mr. Robillard. They spent question period on Wednesday evoking their remarks to in turn accuse Justin Trudeau of “politicizing the pandemic”, “stigmatizing Canadians” and “sowing division” in the country.
The occupation of Ottawa by the convoy of demonstrators, however, also divides the Conservatives. Some deputies, in particular the Quebecer Pierre Paul-Hus, demanded their departure. Albertan Ron Liepert added his voice on Wednesday. “We are the party of law and order, and we should not support anything illegal,” he said. His Ontario colleague Melissa Lantsman also condemned the “dam of critical infrastructure” such as the Ambassador Bridge which connects Windsor and Detroit or the Coutts border crossing in Alberta.
The acting leader of the party, Candice Bergen – who herself met some demonstrators to offer them her support -, however, has so far refused to call on them to leave the place of their own free will. Former leader Andrew Scheer gave them a thumbs-up in the street alongside Parliament when he arrived on Wednesday.
Liberal Joël Lightbound said on Tuesday that he felt “discomfort” with the direction his government has decided to take. The tone reportedly changed on the eve of the last election, when the Liberals campaigned on a promise to impose mandatory vaccinations on travelers and public servants. Mr. Lightbound cited the concerns of people “who are concerned that they no longer know where public health stops and where politics begins” and said he believed that “governments have every interest in not brushing these concerns aside. the hand and not to demonize those who express them”.
Prime Minister Trudeau argued Wednesday that the Liberal Party “has always been a party of a diversity of opinions.” Mr. Lightbound remains a member of the Liberal caucus, but has given up the presidency of the Quebec caucus.
“But we have always been clear too: the best way to move forward is to ensure that as many Canadians as possible are vaccinated, because it is with vaccination that we go to through this pandemic,” Mr. Trudeau reiterated once again.
When they left their weekly caucus meeting, all the ministers and MPs who agreed to react to their colleague’s exit rejected Mr. Lightbound’s criticisms. Several other liberals, however, declined to comment.