ONE LIBERAL DATES TO QUESTION HIS HIGHNESS

   The calls are coming from inside the House, prime minister. On Tuesday Quebec City Liberal MP Joël Lightbound went rogue on COVID policy, which is to say he politely questioned Justin Trudeau’s policies and performance. Lightbound noted “with regret,” and correctly, that the empathetic face of the Liberal government — the Justin Trudeau who rejected the idea of requiring vaccination to attend a Toronto Raptors game — vanished at the first sign of political gain to be had.
   “I fear that this politicization of the pandemic risks undermining the public’s trust in our public health institutions,” Lightbound averred, again correctly. He suggested it might not be the acme of insanity to drop the vaccination requirement for truckers crossing the border. At the very least, he argued, Ottawa should be offering Canadians a clear “road map” out of the pandemic: Which current measures will be abandoned and under what conditions?

   Trudeau is more than capable of making the situation worse with a few poorly chosen words, however, and that’s just what he did on Monday. “This blockade, and these protesters, are not the story of this pandemic. They are not the story of Canadians in this pandemic,” he told the House. “This pandemic has sucked for all Canadians, but Canadians know that the way to get through (the pandemic) is by continuing to listen to science.”