Pierre Poilievre tells Trudeau ‘the rest of the world is moving on’ from COVID while he ‘hunkers down’

On Wednesday, Carlton MP and prime-ministerial hopeful Pierre Poilievre delivered a passionate speech in the House of Commons wherein he implored Prime Minister Trudeau and other members of the government to do away with COVID restrictions.

His remarks come amid ongoing protests across Canada, and recent news that some provinces have begun eliminating certain safety measures.

"The story that I'm hearing right now is that people feel like they're losing control of their lives," Poilievre began, citing examples of those who have been negatively impacted by government policies.

He mentioned the "countless small business people who've been flattened by endless lockdowns and rules that often seem to have no link to science," and the truckers, who he applauded for supplying Canada during the pandemic. They have been "prevented from doing his or her job, " Poilievre continued, "by a prime minister who's not interested in listening."

Poilievre then took aim at vaccine mandates, stating that while he is vaccinated and encourages others to do so, "everyone has their story," and thus the decision must be made by the individual. "Their bodies belong to them," he said. "They are masters of their decisions."

"Instead of listening to these people," said Poilievre, "the prime minister has insulted them and name called them, and left them with no choice but to engage in legitimate and peaceful protest. If he wants to put an end to those protests, if he wants to actually reunite the country, then he should do what others have begun doing, because freedom is on the march in this country."

"Mr. Speaker," Poilievre said, "let's get these restrictions out of the way, let's open up our economy, let's bring back freedom. Let's make Canadians the authors of their own stories again." These statements were met with roars of applause from fellow Conservative MPs.

After his speech, Poilievre was questioned by a Liberal MP about how long the protestors in Ottawa plan to remain, and whether he supports the movement.

"I don't want any of this to continue," Poilievre said. "In fact, the truckers themselves have said they will not stay here one minute longer than the prime minister continues to impose against the freedoms of Canadians."

Poilievre pushed back against allegations that the protests have been at all violent or hate-filled in nature, citing numerous examples of people he, or other MPs have seen in attendance.

"One person is responsible for this mess, and that's the prime minister," Poilievre concluded. "He caused this mess by attacking Canadian citizens and taking away their freedoms. The rest of the world is moving on ... but we've got this holdout; the prime minister is hunkering down, and out of spite and personal pride, refusing to lift these unjustified and unscientific restrictions. If he would only do so, then the truckers could get back to work, the other protestors could go back to their lives, and everything in Canada would get back up on its feet and we could get back to working on giving people control of their lives."