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CALGARY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – Danielle Smith, a former MLA running for leadership of the United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP), blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s divisive language against the vaccine free.
Speaking at a rally last Thursday in Calgary, Smith was asked by reporter what she would do to “stand up for unvaccinated people,” given Trudeau’s “rampant discrimination against unvaccinated people.”
Smith replied that she was “really frustrated when I saw that term and language that happened in September.”
“And part of it was — and some of you who follow my newsletter will say — ‘This is going to send such a terrible message to our kids,’” she added.
She then recounted an experiment from the 1960s where a teacher separated grade three students based on their eye color, treating one group better than the other one day, and then vice versa.
The teacher, Smith said, then saw how the students, within 15 minutes, become “monsters to each other.”
“And that to me is the devastation that we have, is this division,” she said.
“I have heard families have broken down over it. I’ve heard that grandparents are fighting with the parents about what to do with the kids. And there was no need for any of that.”
Trudeau said last year that Canadians who have chosen to not get the experimental COVID-19 jabs are “extremists,” “racists,” and “misogynists” who deny science.
He then put in place in late 2021 a mandate that banned the vaccine free from traveling within and out of the country by air, rail, or sea.
After much pushback from industry and opposition politicians, the federal government of Trudeau “suspended” the COVID travel vaccine mandate on June 20. However, the much-maligned ArriveCAN app has remained in place.
Smith: Everybody else should be ‘able to make the choice’
During her answer to the reporter’s question, Smith said that while everyone may have “hoped” in the early days that the COVID jabs would have offered a “sterilizing immunity,” it is clear the jabs should be optional based on what is now known.
“You don’t need three shots of polio and still get polio,” she said.
Smith said that what needs to happen is that COVID vaccines should be like the flu shots, which are offered to those who want them, “but everybody else should be able to make the choice.”
“We have to get people back to understanding that bodily choice matters. I’ve been a supporter of bodily choice in all things, including medical choice,” she said.
Smith then noted that what needs to happen is that “we need to change the human rights commission so you can’t be discriminated again, on the basis of medical choice.”
“We need to make sure you can’t be discriminated again, on the basis of your political views, and we’ve got to get back to having a rational conversation about the risks, and relative risks,” she added.
“I think that was that missing piece.”
Smith is running in the UCP leadership on a platform of freedom and has said she is against COVID jab mandates.
She said if she becomes premier that there will never again be lockdowns or jab mandates in Alberta, and she would not “enforce” any federal mandates imposed on the province.
Current Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in May announced his intention to resign as UCP leader as soon as the party elects a replacement.
From 2009 to 2014, Smith served as the leader of the Wildrose, which for a time was the official opposition party in Alberta.
In 2014, Smith and eight other Wildrose MLAs crossed the floor to join with the ruling Progressive Conservative Party under then-Premier Jim Prentice.
The UCP will elect its new Party leader in October of this year.