In the past few days, I have heard from many constituents regarding the vote that took place today on the Conservative motion to table a plan in the next couple weeks to lift all federally instituted COVID-19-related mandates and restrictions. I wanted to share the rationale behind my vote against this motion.

Like everyone else, I want this pandemic to be over, and for restrictions to be lifted that are impeding our return to our regular lifestyles. I am very cognizant of the significant impacts that pandemic-related restrictions have had on people throughout our communities and across the country, and the malaise that people feel that they remain in place without an end in sight. For that reason, I believe that the Federal Government, just as all other orders of government, needs to be transparent with the rationale for its decision making. When you ask people to make sacrifices, you need to be clear on why, or else it erodes trust in government decision making.

We have been guided by what the science and evidence has recommended from the beginning of the pandemic. The data that has been critical to the measures that have been enacted over the course of the pandemic relate to vaccinations, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions. I am of the opinion that we need to be ​clearer on what criteria and data we would need to see to lift the existing restrictions given what we know of the Omicron variant. We can also be clear on when and how that can change when the knowledge of the virus changes. We need to continue to practice this transparency as we practice adaptive management, as we are now.

With respect to federal restrictions, we will be lifting a number of travel-related restrictions later this week. I believe this is the right step, as many of these measures have ceased to have the rationale now that Omicron is ubiquitous in Canada as much as it is abroad.

The other restrictions that people write to me wanting to have removed are not brought in by the Federal Government, nor can the Federal Government lift them. These include but are not limited to health orders that have led to the closing of businesses or capacity limits, restrictions on gatherings, and on masking that have been brought in by the provinces and territories. Just as the Federal Government has brought in measures based on the data from public health experts in its area of jurisdiction, the provinces and territories have done the same. If you have questions regarding these topics, I suggest that you contact your local MLA.

I also think it is a mistake to treat mandates and restrictions as the same. Vaccines continue to be the best tool we have to bring this pandemic to an end, and it is vitally important that everyone gets vaccinated to help protect themselves, each other, and our healthcare system. We know that unvaccinated people are five times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19, and ten times more likely to end up in ICU; it is clear then that vaccination protects our healthcare system from being overwhelmed. The sooner that the critical numbers on hospitalizations and ICU levels go down, the faster restrictions can be lifted. As a result, I think that lifting mandates at this time would be counterproductive to our efforts to bring this pandemic to an end and restoring the full extent of freedoms that have been necessarily curtailed to keep our communities safe.

I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me to share their thoughts on today's motion.