Strong Opposition to Vaccine Passports is Stopping Their Implementation Across Canada

Despite Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney often being the most frustrating to their constituents when it came to the lockdown rules, it seems that the magnitude of people’s discontent with the draconian public health rules has finally gotten through to them.

Both Premiers, as well as Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, have announced that their provinces will not be implementing vaccine passports in order to participate in the local economy, access public institutions, attend events, etc.

Although many supposed “Conservative” politicians have been seemingly absent for the past year and a half when it comes to upholding civil liberties and the Canadian Charter, it seems that now as the polls have shown the unpopularity of modelling leftist governments disregard for rights and freedoms those same “Conservative” politicians are trying to buy it all back.

It explains why Kenney, despite having some of the harshest lockdown measures in Canada, including multiple jailings of pastors, was the first premier to move to have all the restrictions officially lifted.

From March of 2020 to today the UCP has gone from having a diminished but still comfortable lead over the Alberta NDP to now having to play catch up, while the newly created Wildrose Independence Party is starting to significantly dig into the UCP’s conservative voter base.

Doug Ford’s PC Party was actually quite unpopular back in March of 2020 and got more popular in the midst of the lockdowns, likely due to Ontario’s more centre-left culture, but now that the lockdowns have dragged on far too long even for more liberal Ontarians, the PC Party polling numbers are started to slump once again. 

Ford and Kenney likely figured out that his brief pandemic support from Liberal voters was not going to last and his base wouldn’t come back to him if he kept chasing the supporters of left-wing parties.

Some polling out there on the issue of vaccine passports claims that the program proposals are popular, but there is a difference in the fervor of those in support of the passports and those against it. Even as the presumed minority those opposing vaccine passports are going to make the program an election issue, and those in support probably aren’t exactly married to the idea of having the program implemented. 

On top of that Conservative parties understand that opponents of vaccine passports are going to mostly be conservatives so pushing for vaccine passport programs may lose them support while not pulling away any support from the NDP or Liberals.

It is easy to see how committed conservative Canadians are to holding their elected officials to account through the various anti-lockdown rallies, political organizing online, and conservative media organizations starting to hit back against politicians they may have supported in the past.

This should be a lesson to small “c” conservatives out there that even flaky lib-con politicians can be moved on issues when proper pressure is applied over time and you refuse to give your support to a party you once voted for if they begin to betray your trust. It was just a few months ago that Kenney declared that he wanted a new base, but after a year of relentless opposition to his big-government public health initiatives, he seems to be trying to run back to his base, despite the base not looking to take him back any time soon.

It will be interesting to see if Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister who has already announced a vaccine passport program will now back off of its implementation as other Conservative premiers begin buckling to the public pressure from their conservative constituents.