If we’re still in a pandemic, why is 2-time-COVID-carrier Trudeau globetrotting again?

As I write this, the prime minister announced that he has COVID-19… for the second time. Coincidentally, it is one year ago that I got a $6,200 fine in Toronto for refusing mandatory hotel quarantine after returning from a work trip to Nashville.

For months (maybe years), Justin Trudeau has been urged to remove the travel restrictions that many organizations feel are unscientific, unnecessary and largely ineffective. While he’s eased some in recent weeks, his testing and vaccination requirements continue to make international headlines.

I had to modify my original column written Monday afternoon because it was announced later in the day that on Tuesday the federal government would end vaccine mandates for travel by plane and train.

From my original column: In light of his second positive test, I sense Trudeau will use that as an excuse to keep travel restrictions in place for certain people. It’s unlikely he’ll have a change of heart and say, “Well, I’ve been travelling and brought the virus back to Canada so let’s ditch the mandates because they’re useless.”

Then, I did some thinking about the two revelations.

The guy who urged us throughout the pandemic — a pandemic he reminds us we’re still in — to stay put and not travel, saying it was irresponsible, has been globetrotting and came back with the virus.

Remember, though, we were bad people — putting at risk our family and neighbours —  for taking work trips out of the country because business can be done by video conference, right? In fact, it seems like since he released the federal budget earlier this year, Trudeau has been plane happy and flying everywhere to promote it. (Yet crying about climate change, however that’s a topic for another column.)

He was on the East Coast when Prince Charles arrived. He met with the Ukraine president in Europe to discuss Russia. He was in Winnipeg for a building announcement. He was on the West Coast for residential school ceremonies. He was in L.A. with Pres. Biden. But remember: We’re still in a pandemic.

So, which is it? Is travel during a pandemic still dangerous or not? If a pandemic is a pandemic, doesn’t it stand to reason that travel is still travel? Are we in pandemic lite now? Is this lesser pandemic? Or, again, is a pandemic a pandemic?

And you can’t help but wonder if Ottawa was planning this mandate announcement before Trudeau’s positive test result. If not, it’s coincidental timing for sure. And, is this a political move because it shows that the restrictions made no difference in Trudeau’s case so he looks stupid if continuing to enforce them?

In the coming days, will Trudeau admit that he kept the mandates in effect for too long? Will he fess up to crippling the tourism industry longer than it needed to be?

It’s been 365 days since I was made to feel like a criminal for flying to the U.S. during a pandemic and I have never once had COVID-19. Here, our PM announces he’s got it for the second time during a pandemic after coming back from the U.S.

So, do we call him a criminal because of this?