WATCH: Jordan Peterson slams Trudeau's mishandling of pandemic

Dr. Jordan Peterson unloaded on Canada's response to the COVID pandemic to host Dave Rubin in a recent episode of the Rubin Report, where he criticized his country's policies as well as its political leaders.

Peterson says he spoke with a senior advisor to one of the provincial parties, who told him that COVID policy is "driven by nothing but opinion polls" related to the popularity of the government.

"Policy is being driven by people who are more afraid than they should be," said Peterson.

"I wouldn't say I'm cynical about governments exactly... But I still found that extremely disheartening," he said. "I thought, at least, policies that I don't agree with, the restrictive policies, were at least driven by something remotely resembling a scientifically informed plan, and [the senior advisor] was irate at what had been happening. Enough to consider resigning," said Peterson of the unnamed government source.

Peterson said that the thing that surprised him most was "how rapidly we stampeded to imitated totalitarian state in the immediate aftermath of the release of COVID, and particularly "the breakdown of our rights for mobility, for freedom of speech."

"It's particularly grating to me in the Canadian context," said Peterson, speaking on the bill of rights made by Pierre Trudeau, of which he said he was not a fan.
"Now we have his son, and it's like, 'Yeah? what's it good for.'"

"It's extraordinarily annoying to see this happening, and then to find out there's nothing behind it besides the most instrumental and cowardly, random polling is extremely disheartening, and also maddening, and angering. All of those things at once."

Of actual polling data, Peterson said that "of course" the polling is "out of whack."

"How do you get accurate polling data? ... Who answers the poll calls when you do the polls? How did you construct the questions?... So it's not guidance from the polls, it's a quasi-informed random walk, that's a lot easier than thinking it through."

"Canadians that are unvaccinated cannot leave the country... like, What the hell, why is that?" Peterson continued. "...I got vaccinated, people took me to task [for not being vaccinated,] so I thought 'alright I'll get the damn vaccine: Here's the deal guys, I get the vaccine, you f*cking leave me alone. and did that work? No! So stupid me."

"That's how I feel about it. Like, now I have to get tested for COVID when I come back to Canada, and when I leave Canada. The restrictions to get into Canada are even more stringent than the Americans."

As of now, there is no way for an unvaccinated Canadian to board a flight to leave Canada, even for the purpose of moving. The government of Canada website states that if you're unable to provide proof of vaccination or a valid COVID-19 test result, you will not be allowed to travel. If you indicate to your airline or railway that you're eligible to board, but fail to provide proof, you could also face penalties or fines.