FIRST READING: Why does Trudeau go maskless overseas (but not in Canada)? & More News Here

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TOP STORY

Even as his authorities stubbornly ignores native and nationwide developments towards lifting masks mandates, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is proving extraordinarily keen to go maskless himself — offered it occurs on international soil.

On May 8, the prime minister was in Ukraine, a rustic that noticed solely 45 per cent of its grownup inhabitants totally vaccinated on the eve of the Russian invasion. There have been hugs with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, handshakes with Ukrainian officers and tightly packed indoor press occasions. In not one picture can Trudeau be seen carrying a masks.

Compare that to 2 days prior, when Trudeau visited Hamilton, Ont. for a photograph op with just lately arrived Afghan refugees.

Of Hamiltonians over the age of 12, 84.4 per cent are “fully vaccinated.” At the time Trudeau visited, all the pieces from hospital admissions to case charges to wastewater information confirmed that town’s COVID charges have been in steep decline. What’s extra, Trudeau has himself obtained three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. He additionally has pure immunity from a COVID-19 an infection in January.

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Despite all this, Trudeau spent your entire go to carrying a masks. Not an N95 masks as per the main advice from the Public Health Agency of Canada, however a loose-fitting surgical masks whose utility has been more and more questioned ever for the reason that rise of extra transmissible COVID-19 variants akin to Omicron.

“As the Public Health Agency of Canada says, wearing a mask is an added layer of protection against COVID-19,” learn a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office when requested concerning the discrepancy.

It’s removed from the primary time that Trudeau has appeared to look at one set of masking guidelines for Canada, and one other whereas overseas.

In October 2021, Trudeau was photographed at a maskless bar gathering in the Netherlands together with the nation’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Later that month, Trudeau was sporting a face masks outside on the grounds of Rideau Hall in advance of a cupboard swearing-in ceremony. The disparity was regardless of comparable case and vaccination charges between Canada and the Netherlands on the time.

In March, Trudeau was maskless whereas assembly and shaking arms with Queen Elizabeth II. A month later, throughout a visit to Kitchener, Ont. to advertise his new federal finances, Trudeau could possibly be seen carrying a masks throughout out of doors occasions.

On April 24, Trudeau posted an image to social media celebrating the birthday of his spouse Sophie Grégoire Trudeau. Both of them have been pictured carrying face masks whereas on swings collectively, though as a married couple who share the identical family, they’ve presumably spent your entire pandemic in the identical COVID-19 bubble.

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This is all taking place as Trudeau’s authorities stubbornly bucks each native and worldwide developments in the direction of abandoning extraordinary measures associated to COVID-19.

While provincial governments have lifted virtually all of their COVID-19 mandates, Ottawa hasn’t budged on strictures that even on the top of the pandemic have been seen as among the many world’s most stringent.

This features a blanket ban on air and rail journey for any Canadian over the age of 12 not displaying proof of vaccination, in addition to a unbroken vaccine mandate for federal public servants. ban on authorities employment for the unvaccinated. Airports and rail stations stay a number of the solely public venues in the nation the place masking and vaccination standing continues to be topic to authorities order.

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While Canadian public well being officers justified the imposition of those measures as a key software to curb transmission, epidemiologists are questioning their utility as extra transmissible COVID variants are proving in a position to unfold among the many unvaccinated and in spite of masking.

“The justification behind vaccine mandates is that they help prevent transmission. But this does not seem to be the case any longer, with the Omicron variant,” reads a current op-ed by McMaster University infectious ailments doctor Zain Chagla printed in the Globe and Mail. Chagla referred to as for a full dismantling of Canadian vaccination and quarantine mandates for travellers.

Continuing federal orders are additionally placing Canada more and more out of step with the worldwide neighborhood. Masks have been elective on U.S. flights for almost a month after an analogous federal mandate was struck down by a U.S. district decide. The U.Okay. started backing off on in-flight masks in March. The European Union is dropping masks mandates in its airports subsequent week.

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IN OTHER NEWS 

Remember that political scandal a couple of years in the past the place then-minister of justice Jody Wilson-Raybould was expelled from the Liberal caucus allegedly as a result of she wouldn’t bend to ​stress to grant a deferred prosecution settlement to SNC-Lavalin over worldwide bribery fees associated to the household of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi? Well, SNC-Lavalin simply bought a deferred prosecution settlement (the primary in Canadian historical past) over one other bribery cost – this one surrounding contracts to rebuild Quebec’s Jacques Cartier Bridge.

A candidate in the Ontario election has been dropped by his get together due to one thing he mentioned when he was 13 years previous. Alec Mazurek, 21, was to run for the Ontario Liberals in Chatham-Kent-Leamington, however was dropped after NDP researchers discovered an eight-year-old Facebook publish in which the teenaged Mazurek used the phrase “faggots” in a photograph remark. To this article’s data, that is the youngest ever indiscretion for which a would-be Canadian politician has been stripped from an official poll.

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In different rejected candidate information, the Ontario Liberals rejected the appliance of an achieved Indigenous lawyer who needed to be their nominee in Sault Ste. Marie. Instead, they went with a literal high-schooler. In a write-up for the National Post, Sabrina Maddeaux says she suspects it’s as a result of the lawyer, Naomi Sayers, used to work as a stripper. “Liberals can’t credibly declare themselves feminists then run their nominations processes like purity trials,” she wrote.

You could have seen the occasional Canadian abortion rally (both professional or anti) in response to information out of the U.S. that their Supreme Court could also be clearing the way in which for state-level abortion bans. But in a current Maru Public Opinion ballot, an unimaginable 72 per cent of Canadians mentioned they needed to stay with the abortion establishment. That establishment, in fact, is the dearth of any legal guidelines in any way.  

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The first official debate of the Conservative management race featured a bizarre Dating Game-style section in which the candidates have been requested a sequence of private questions in order that voters may “get to know them.” The National Post compiled their exhaustive solutions right here, however listed below are the highlights …

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