Manitoba parties advise caucuses against travel

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This article was published 21/12/2021 (1579 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada is advising against non-essential international travel to slow the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.

Provincial politicians in Manitoba are being asked by their leaders to follow that advice.

Tory Premier Heather Stefanson is staying in Manitoba and has directed her cabinet and caucus to “refrain from non-essential international travel this holiday season,” press secretary Olivia Billson said Monday.

This time last year, when chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin advised against travel outside of the province, at least one MLA and a number of government officials made headlines for violating that directive, including Tory MLA James Teitsma (Radisson) who took a family vacation to the Rockies and former clerk of the executive council David McLaughlin, who travelled to his family home in Ontario.

Don Leitch, who replaced McLaughlin in November, did not respond to a request for comment late Monday.

“Hopefully, people will have learned from last year,” said University of Manitoba political studies professor Christopher Adams.

“I would think that that every premier in this country has had a stern conversation with his or her caucus about following government guidelines.”

When asked to confirm if any Progressive Conservative MLAs have travel plans outside of Canada this holiday season, a party spokesperson reiterated the premier’s statement.

“While we continue to stress that vaccination is the way out of this pandemic, we are acting out of an abundance of caution as we continue to learn more about the impacts of the Omicron variant,” the PC caucus spokesperson added in an email.

The NDP said no members of the official Opposition are travelling out of the country this holiday season.

“Caucus leadership has given direction to cancel any international trips for MLAs and staff,” said NDP Leader Wab Kinew’s press secretary, Emily Coutts.

None of the three Liberal MLAs are travelling out of the country this holiday season.

“The guidance from leadership is that all of our MLAs are expected to follow public health guidelines, which at this time is advising against all non-essential travel,” said spokesman Colin Roy.

Most communications staff who responded to inquiries about avoiding international travel didn’t balk when asked to divulge whether or not their elected officials are adhering to public health officials’ call for eligible Manitobans to get booster shots.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont and longtime River Heights MLA Jon Gerrard were scheduled to receive their third doses Monday, Roy said, while Tyndall Park MLA Cindy Lamoureux is due to receive hers in January.

The NDP said all MLAs are being encouraged to get booster shots, “and all plan to,” but specific dates were not available.

The premier received her third dose of COVID-19 vaccine in October, said Billson. The PC caucus did not respond when asked if members were directed to get third doses.

Last week, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler wouldn’t comment on getting vaccinated, even though it was mandatory for cabinet minsters.

The minister responsible for the Emergency Measures Organization told reporters Dec. 16 his personal health information is private, and his belief in civil liberties compels him to keep that information private.

 

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca