Canada will put unvaccinated federal employees on unpaid leave and make COVID-19 jabs complusory for air, train and ship passengers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday, as he unveiled the world’s strictest vaccine mandate policies.
Federal employees will be required to declare their full vaccination status through an online portal by Oct. 29. Workers and passengers age 12 and older on trains, planes and marine transport operating domestically – which are federally regulated – must show they have been inoculated by Oct. 30.
Trudeau said: “These travel measures, along with mandatory vaccination for federal employees, are some of the strongest in the world. If you’ve done the right thing and gotten vaccinated, you deserve the freedom to be safe from COVID.”
There are almost 300,000 federal service workers, plus 955,000 federally regulated workers, representing about 8% of Canada’s full-time workforce, according to the Treasury Board, which manages the public sector
The government’s new vaccine mandates were a pledge by Trudeau during his campaign for re-election last month. The Liberals returned to power in a closely contested election, but fell short of winning a majority.
80% of Canadians have taken their jabs over the age of 12.
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