Opposition slams Trudeau government over COVID-19 vaccine delays

OTTAWA – As concern and criticism grows over the Trudeau government’s vaccination strategy, the prime minister continues to take heat from the opposition over the country’s vaccine timeline.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner is slamming Justin Trudeau after he revealed that other countries, including the U.S., Germany, and the U.K., will start inoculating their people weeks before Canadians get their shots.

“Did you even bother to negotiate the right for Canada to manufacture these vaccines at home? And when are Canadians going to get these vaccines,” an impassioned Rempel Garner said during question period in the House of Commons Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet blasted the prime minister’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling the vaccine timeline for Canada “unacceptable.”

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Trudeau said on Tuesday that Canada is likely to receive shipments of COVID-19 vaccines — when they are available — after some of our allies due to a lack of domestic production.

“The very first vaccines that roll off an assembly line in a given country are likely to be given to citizens of that particular country. But shortly afterwards, they will start honouring and delivering on the contracts that they signed with other countries, including with Canada,” he told reporters outside Rideau Hall.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh calls Canada’s inability to make its own vaccines unacceptable.

“The fact that we’re the 10th largest economy in the world and can’t produce vaccines, there’s something deeply problematic about that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives call it a failure, but on Wednesday, Trudeau blamed the previous government for a lack in domestic production capabilities.

“What happened to domestic manufacturing in Canada? The Conservative government happened to domestic manufacturing,” he said in the House, his words met with shouts of opposition and support.

The prime minister will be holding his regular phone call with premiers on Thursday, during which vaccination rollout will likely be a key topic.

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