MLAs should’ve reconsidered vacations

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/01/2022 (1720 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The southern vacations of a pair of western Manitoba MLAs that were taken in and around the Christmas holidays have been held up to public scrutiny through reporting in the media over the last few weeks. 

And readers may well ask why they need to be singled out for questions over their vacation plans, especially considering they’ve done nothing to violate pandemic restrictions. It’s a fair question. 

If you’re like me, and you have a presence on social media, you will likely have scrolled past the vacation photos of at least one relative, friend or simple acquaintance on your Facebook feed within the past few weeks. Look, there’s Jim in France eating a croissant on a balcony, and oh look, it’s Samantha taking a selfie outside the Parthenon in Greece. 

But that’s just the point, really — most of our social media “friends” are not public figures … well, at least many of mine are not. 

While there was nothing unlawful about taking a plane outside the country for a little R&R down south in the month of December last year, it seems strikingly tone-deaf for a politician to do so when their own government is asking Manitobans to stay home, batten down and limit holiday gatherings. 

Recall that the Government of Canada issued a global travel advisory on Dec. 15, cautioning Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada, due to the risk of the omicron variant. 

It was advice that Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson echoed only two days later, Dec. 17, when she advised members of her cabinet and caucus not to leave the country. 

As the Winnipeg Free Press reported this week, Riding Mountain MLA Greg Nesbitt travelled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Dec. 15 — the same day federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos advised against all non-essential international travel. 

Mr. Nesbitt’s trip had been booked well in advance according to a statement from his office. 

“I had left very early that morning, and the federal travel advisory was not issued until later that afternoon,” Nesbitt wrote. “Upon my return, I followed all safety protocols and isolation requirements.” 

We have no reason, at this point, to doubt his claim to following safety protocols. And clearly, he was able to travel down south without any impediments from the Canadian or Mexican governments. Nor was he unable to return to Canada. 

Last week, the Free Press also reported that newly-minted Westman cabinet minister Doyle Piwniuk spent nearly four weeks in Florida. Mr. Piwniuk, who was sworn in as transportation and infrastructure minister in the recent Manitoba government cabinet shuffle, drove to the United States on Dec. 11 to tend to the maintenance of his property. 

“The federal advisory on non-essential travel went out on Dec. 15, and the [Manitoba] premier’s orders against international travel on Dec. 17,” read a statement from his press secretary last week. “The minister had departed [before] both directives were issued, otherwise he would not have travelled.” 

In his interview with the Sun yesterday, Mr. Piwniuk stuck with that explanation, stating he would not have left the country had he been given those instructions from the premier prior to the start of his journey. 

Again, we have no good reason to doubt the veracity of that statement. It is, perhaps, worth noting that the Turtle Mountain MLA had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in late November, and had gone into isolation as a result. He said he was double vaccinated at the time, and did not have any symptoms of the virus. 

Generally speaking, it would appear the two MLAs were following the rules as they knew them — again, foreign travelling was not and is not illegal at this point in the pandemic. The vast majority of Canadians are fully vaccinated, and other countries have the right to decide whether they want to continue to have Canadians pass through their borders. 

The concern over MLAs travelling beyond our borders on vacation — or if you’re Mr. Piwniuk, to check on property that he had been unable to see over the past two years in the Sunshine state — is not whether they did something illegal or against public health orders. It’s the political optics of their decisions that go against the spirit of what Manitobans and Canadians were being asked to do at the time. 

For it’s not like there wasn’t any warning before they left. The World Health Organization signalled in early December that the omicron variant was quickly spreading around the world, prompting Minister Duclos to issue a warning that the variant’s advance “should be a serious alarm bell.” 

“There is uncertainty and risks with travelling in other countries over the next few weeks,” he said 

We should expect our elected officials to heed such warnings because when they don’t, they make it look like there’s one set of rules for the public and another for the so-called “ruling class.” 

Not only does that make for very bad politics, it shows poor leadership. And we have a right to expect better.

» Matt Goerzen, editor