Juno News - Cathay Wagantall returns to Parliament following end of vaccine mandate

A strict vaccine mandate for anyone wanting to access the House of Commons precinct has finally come to an end, allowing unvaccinated members of Parliament and staff to return to work in person. Several people disagreed with this policy, including Saskatchewan Conservative MP Kathy Wagenthal who attempted to defy the mandate but was removed from the precinct.

00:00:00.320 Elicante Natel for True North on Parliament Hill

00:00:03.280 were a strict vaccine mandate for anyone wanting to access the House of Commons precinct

00:00:08.880 has finally come to an end, allowing unvaccinated members of Parliament and staff to return to work 0.98

00:00:15.680 in person. Several people disagreed with this policy, including Saskatchewan Conservative MP

00:00:22.480 Kathy Wagenthal, who attempted to defy the mandate but was removed from the precinct.

00:00:28.720 Given that the mandate is now over, she is able to return to work and I had the opportunity

00:00:35.280 to speak with her in her Parliamentary office. Can you start by telling me how it feels to be

00:00:41.120 allowed back into your office? Amazing, on a personal level. The fact that I even have to

00:00:47.760 hear the word allowed raises a certain amount of angst in my heart when you realize the draconian

00:00:55.360 measures that were taken in regard to members of Parliament and their office, but very glad to be

00:01:00.160 back here. Were you surprised by the Liberals mandate announcement? Did you think it would come this

00:01:06.640 quickly? Actually I didn't and was really quite amazed that they made that decision when they did,

00:01:13.200 although at the same time I was just overwhelmed by the amount of response, even just to my small

00:01:19.120 presser that showed that Canadians were really at a point of wanting these changes to take place and

00:01:24.880 I'm glad that they responded the way they did. The Liberals said that vaccine mandates, which were

00:01:31.200 supposed to be a temporary measure, were suspended rather than terminated. Given that they are planning

00:01:37.200 to change the definition of fully vaccinated and have opened the door to bringing back restrictions in

00:01:42.560 the fall, are you worried that you and others may once again be barred from not only flying but

00:01:48.720 accessing Parliament? Yeah, I was really disappointed to hear that word suspended. It shows that holding on

00:01:57.440 to that power that has caused so much angst in our lives as members and our staff as well, but of course

00:02:04.320 the impact on Canadians in general is terrible. So I was very disappointed and I don't think Canadians are 1.00

00:02:10.080 going to respond well if they do try to make those changes again in the fall.

00:02:15.520 You saw James Topp in Northern Ontario and so he's planning to meet with MPs here in Ottawa. Will you be

00:02:23.360 meeting with him when he arrives? I actually met with him going both directions as I was traveling to

00:02:28.880 Ottawa by car. I met him at Portage La Prairie and then six weeks later I met him. I was heading

00:02:36.640 back home and he was on his way here around Thunder Bay. So we've met twice and had good conversations.

00:02:42.560 I've helped him out with a couple of things and he's aware that I'm not able to be here personally,

00:02:47.920 but we have talked extensively and I've encouraged my colleagues to meet with him as well and staff.

00:02:54.320 So I think he's good and I'm just excited to have him come and really encourage my colleagues to go out

00:03:01.280 and spend some time with him. Do you think the Freedom Convoy had anything to do with last week's

00:03:06.880 announcement or do you think it was other factors such as the chaos at airports? I think they had an

00:03:13.760 impact absolutely and as we're hearing the outcome of the investigations where we're seeing that the

00:03:20.560 Liberals were basically telling falsehoods about what the convoy was doing and the impact that they were

00:03:25.840 having. So I have always encouraged them to say that what they did made a difference. It certainly

00:03:31.840 did at the provincial level and enabled things to begin to open up there and I can tell you as drive

00:03:37.760 as I drive home or have been driving home I don't need to anymore. It amazes me the number of Canadian 1.00

00:03:43.920 flags that are still along that route. So I just really encourage them for what they've done.

00:03:49.600 Conservatives only really started pushing for an end of vaccine mandates once Erin O'Toole was 1.00

00:03:56.800 ousted as leader. Under his leadership the party had been criticized for not defending Canadians'

00:04:01.600 personal health sources while Trudeau was making vaccines a wedged political issue. Do you think

00:04:06.720 had the Conservative Party stood up against mandates in August 2021 rather than February 2022, Canadians

00:04:14.560 may be better off today? That's a very good question Eli. Actually I have to say that I feel

00:04:21.680 that was a significant error on the part of our leader at the time and the decisions that were made

00:04:27.440 around the campaign. Definitely that angst was there across this country. I have to say though I'm really

00:04:34.400 really pleased with the approach that our colleagues took in the House in the last months and it made a

00:04:42.720 significant difference. So I am glad that in spite of that we were able to do what we should have been

00:04:48.160 doing and really held him to account in the House. I guess a final question. You have received a lot of

00:04:56.560 support from your caucus colleagues and other MPs as well. We saw unvaccinated MPs yesterday for to get 1.00

00:05:01.760 standing ovations. Are you happy that the caucus has decided to come around you even if this may be a controversial issue?

00:05:11.120 You know what? They've been working so hard in the House to push this issue and I think what it took was

00:05:18.880 that realization that there were actually live members of parliament that were not allowed in our

00:05:25.360 place. So I like to think that my presser gave them an extra boost of encouragement to continue on with

00:05:31.040 what they were doing and the fact that we have the outcome that we do now is really good and everyone is

00:05:36.880 very excited and I'm so glad that we were able to do this as a team in a way that brought it to the

00:05:42.240 forefront the way it should have been in the first place and we are all back in the House. I'm looking

00:05:46.640 forward to seeing everybody. A lot of hugs and especially those that were my colleagues that were

00:05:51.840 also not included in their place in the House until now. Kathy Wagenthal, thank you so much for

00:05:58.320 speaking with me today. You're welcome. Thank you. As you saw, she is pleased to finally be able to return

00:06:04.880 to work in person where she belongs. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting True North by

00:06:11.440 visiting donate.tnc.news. For True North, I'm Elie Campain-Enterre.

Juno News - June 22, 2022

Cathay Wagantall returns to Parliament following end of vaccine mandate

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