OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MP and leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre claims a “technical” issue prevented him from voting for a motion brought forward by a fellow MP calling for an end to Canada’s COVID travel mandates.
In a statement on Twitter, Poilievre said he opposes the “unscientific vaccine mandates,” adding he has been “opposed them from day one and I will oppose them until they are all removed.”
“I attempted to vote for MP Melissa Lantsman’s motion ending all COVID travel restrictions. I was voting remotely as I was in Thunder Bay, but the voting application did not register my vote as a result of a technical problem,” Poilievre said.
“I will be raising a point of order to alert the speaker to the issue and asking for my vote to be properly counted as favouring the end of these rules.”
Yesterday, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with the help of the NDP, voted against a motion from Lantsman calling for the return of pre-pandemic rules and service levels for travel. As a result, the motion failed to pass by a tally of 201 against and only 112 for.
Today, the official House of Commons voting results only show MPs who voted for or against Lantsman’s motion.
Yesterday, the voting results, however, showed that Poilievre as well as some other CPC MPs had abstained from voting for Lantsman’s motion. Several Liberal MPs also abstained from voting as well.
An MP abstaining from a vote does not indicate that one either opposes or supports a motion or bill, it should be noted.
Poilievre in his CPC leadership campaign has dubbed himself as the freedom candidate and has in recent days spoken out against Trudeau’s travel ban on the vaccine free.
Poilievre ripped yesterday for apparent non-vote
Many immediately took to Twitter yesterday to blast Poilievre for missing the vote to support Lantsman’s motion.
People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader and former MP for the CPC Maxime Bernier blasted Poilievre’s apparent non-vote.
“Today Liberal, NDP, Bloc and Green MPs rejected a motion to allow unvaccinated Canadians to travel. @PierrePoilievrecould not be bothered to vote, even electronically if he was away from Ottawa. Too busy promising to make Canada the freest country on earth,” Bernier tweeted yesterday with a screenshot showing Poilievre’s lack of vote.
Twitter user Thoughtful Chrysalis yesterday also chided Poilievre’s non-vote with a screenshot as well.
“Imagine buying a CPC membership to vote for Pierre Poilievre to end the federal Covid mandates and restrictions across Canada and he doesn’t even vote for his own party’s motion on ending the mandates and restrictions,” Thoughtful Chrysalis wrote.
Even one of Poilievre’s rivals in the CPC leadership race, Brampton, Ontario Mayor Patrick Brown, chided Poilievre for abstaining from the vote.
Despite Poilievre clearing up yesterday that he intended to vote for the Lantsman’s motion calling for a return to normal travel rules, Bernier was not buying it.
Today, Bernier took to Twitter to say that Poilievre claiming to suddenly be against mandates is an “outright lie.”
“A few MPs had the courage to challenge their wet noodle leader and defend Canadians’ freedoms, but @PierrePoilievre remained completely SILENT for two years until the Freedom Convoy arrived in Ottawa and O’Toole resigned. This is an outright lie,” Bernier tweeted, highlighting a section of Poilievre’s explanation for his non-vote where is said he has been against the mandates “from day one.”
Late last year, Trudeau put in place a mandate that in effect bans those who have chosen not to get the COVID vaccines to travel ban by air, rail, or sea. The travel vaccine mandate bans Canadians from flying within Canada as well as out of the country. Very few exceptions are given.
About two weeks ago, CPC MPs Lantsman and Michelle Ferreri demanded on behalf of their party that Trudeau end his “vindictive” COVID jab travel mandates, saying recent testimony proves it is causing nothing but chaos at airports.
Pro-life CPC MP and leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis yesterday voted for Lantsman’s motion calling for an end to Trudeau’s COVID travel mandates.
At the first CPC leadership debate earlier this month, Lewis called out Poilievre for only speaking out against COVID mandates until it was “convenient.”
In recent days, Lewis has ramped up the pressure on the Trudeau government, saying it needs to get rid of its “unscientific” and administrative “nightmare” COVID travel vaccine passport, or ArriveCAN app as it is known.
Lewis is the only pro-life candidate in the CPC leadership race.
Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) has given her a “green light” rating as a “supportable” pro-life candidate for her strong voting record in favor of life.
CLC gives Poilievre a “red light” rating for his spotty voting track record regarding life issues.
Trudeau’s vaccine mandate is being challenged in court by PPC leader Bernier.
The CPC will elect a new leader on September 10. Those hoping to vote for the party leader must be active party members. The cut-off date to buy a party membership before the election is June 3.