Letter to the Editor: Devastating effects from lockdowns for rural Canada

Dear Editor,

While the provinces and most of the world have opened up, removed mandates, and have charted a path forward to living with COVID-19, here in Canada Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Government have not followed suit.

We have seen devastating effects from the lockdowns, both with the economy and with people’s mental health, and the vast majority of experts now agree its time to end mandates, while others question how well they even worked.

There are an estimated 6 million Canadians that are not allowed to fly, travel by train, or leave our Country. Further, the vaccine mandates have seen thousands of public servants, soldiers, police officers and federally regulated employees be put on leave without pay… basically fired. Whether one agrees with getting the vaccine, or not, one has to consider how the governments ability to fire someone because of a personal medical decision that was not a part of the initial terms of employment.

The consequences to this are devastating to those affected, and in the case of rural Canada is meaning that there are serious service disruptions. We are seeing disruptions in Sedalia, Czar, Youngstown, Hugehenden, and other communities.

Conservatives have and continue to support the use of vaccines… but it is nonsensical, unscientific, and discriminatory to fire thousands of Canadians for their refusal to do so. Conservatives are fighting to end mandates so Canadians can travel, access services, and get back to work.

Please feel free to write me an email and share my email address with those who are concerned – Damien.Kurek@parl.gc.ca. I will be forwarding letters written about this to the Prime Minister to ensure that he hears clearly how devastating this is to folks in rural Canada.

Sincerely,
Damien C. Kurek, MP
Battle River—Crowfoot