Mike Bernier wants to be perfectly clear. This is not a political issue. This is not a political statement. But if he can use his position to help promote people getting the vaccine, he is going to do it.
“I think the whole COVID issue maybe started a little bit along political lines, but as the reality of what the detrimental effects were set in, and the pressure it was putting on health care systems around the country and across North America, you’ve seen conservative leaders in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta coming around when they needed to. Some people are trying to make it sound political, but if it is political, then how come someone like Jason Kenney—who is known for being about as right wing as you can get—even he is started to implement similar policies and procedures and pressure points for vaccinations as every other province. I think that argument has kind of disappeared as the pressures have really impacted the different provinces.
Bernier recently tweeted “I have had many people in my riding say they won’t vote for me again because I promote the vaccine. So I promise to keep doing my job and promote the vaccine so hopefully they can stay safe and healthy to exercise that right.” He says he was shocked at how much response the tweet garnered.
“In the first 24 hours. I had over 350,000 likes and shares,” he says. “It was quite something. It just blew up. But I wrote it because I was getting a lot of pressure locally. I was getting a lot of private messages on social media from people in the region who were really upset with me promoting the vaccine and saying if you keep doing this, I’m not voting for you again. People kept telling me to be more neutral on this issue, which interestingly meant a lot of people who are against the vaccine were wanting me to take their side and a lot of people who are in favor of the vaccine want me to take their side.”
Bernier says for him the choice was simple. “One of the first things I did was I went to my doctor and asked for his advice. He said everybody should get vaccinated. Science has proven that it’s the right thing to do. I trust my doctor, my doctor told me to do this. And so I did. And I’m promoting the fact that I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Bernier says the numbers speak for themselves. “Especially now, as the majority of the province has high rates of vaccination, and you’re seeing fewer and fewer people because of that, who are vaccinated, getting sick or requiring hospitalization, which is a good thing. Right?”
Bernier is troubled by the fact that so many people have stopped trusting their doctors. “If you think I’m a politician, and I’m just spewing political gab, then fine, don’t trust me. But do trust your doctor. I have talked to many of the doctors in the South Peace, and I have yet to find one that is not telling their patients to get vaccinated. If you don’t want to listen to me, don’t listen to me, but make an appointment. If you’re not vaccinated, go to your doctor and see what they recommend you do. If you have a stomach ache, if you have a headache, if you break your arm, if your child has a fever. Who do you go to? And who do you trust for their recommendation? It’s the local physician. It’s your GP. So why are you not treating your doctor with the same respect when it comes to their advice around COVID and the vaccination?”
Even then, Bernier says, people are resistant. “I’m baffled that we trust our doctors for everything, except this one thing. People are not listening to a lot of their physicians on this. I talked to a doctor yesterday, and he said, he was getting frustrated. ‘I have people coming in and ask me if they should get vaccinated, and I tell them yes, they need to get vaccinated. But then they argue with me, they argue with the doctor about what they’ve seen on Facebook.’ He tells me, ‘you know, nobody’s ever argued with me before. If I want to go get a blood test, or I think they might have cancer, or you know, they need to have an MRI. They listen to take my advice. I tell them to get vaccinated for Covid and they’re arguing with me.’
Bernier says that his party has been encouraging people to get the vaccination since day one. “We’ve been promoting vaccinations. We talked about it right at the beginning and said, ‘we cannot politicize a health crisis.’ We can ask tough political questions, or we can go after the NDP for supports for businesses, things like that. But we were not going to politicize the crisis, because it’s not a political game. This is about people’s health and wellbeing. The NDP give us lots of areas where we can criticize them for what they’re doing for our economy and for British Columbia or failing to live up to almost every election promise. But this is not the time to play politics.
“Which is why, I think, that tweet of mine went so viral, because I was saying that people are wanting us to politicize this, but it is the wrong thing at the wrong time. It might seem weird bedfellows to be supporting an NDP government. And I think that maybe is part of the challenge for a lot of rural British Columbia. It’s an NDP government, and rural British Columbians—especially up here—never in history have they voted NDP. So why would they listen to an NDP government’s position on anything? The NDP usually ignore rural BC, so I think that’s why it’s put a little bit more pressure on myself and Dan Davies and others when we’ve been basically siding with the government are saying it’s the right thing to do. That’s because that’s not a normal practice a normal thing for us to do or for people to see.”
He says while the issue is more noticeable here, it is something that is seen around the whole province. “People just want to be left alone up here, they just want to work. They want to raise their families, they want to go snowmobiling on the weekend. And the last thing they want is government interference. But this crisis is different than anything that I’ve seen in my lifetime. And people are getting caught up in the information overload. And they are struggling to figure out what’s true, what’s real. And social media has not helped by any means, but I think all politicians get a little bit of pressure. Definitely more so in rural BC.
He says it would be very easy to not comment on the issue. To avoid the conversation and not take a public position. “I just don’t think that’s the right thing to do. You’re elected to look at the information and make the best decisions possible for the people in your region. And sometimes that’s not easy.“
He says he’s not impressed with people who have been comparing the vaccine passport to Nazi Germany “I get very offended when people use that example. One of the first things I did was talk to some constitutional lawyers, even some local lawyers to ask if there were any rules being broken. I have yet to find a legitimate lawyer, that has come back to me and said that the law is being broken. Now, people might not like the pressure, but that comes with the choice that they made. And that’s the choice of whether or not to get vaccinated.
“I know that people don’t like government interference in my life, but tell me one thing you do in your life that is not regulated or controlled or mandated, or policy driven by government in some way. It’s changed over the years—whether it’s smoking, age, drinking, age, driving, speed limits, WCB, having a healthcare number, a social insurance number. Everything we do, is regulated by government in some way. And it changes over the years with the intentions of trying to help society move along as best as possible in the safest way possible.
“We forget that we live in the best country in the world. And that’s even with all of these rules and regulations before COVID began. But people have to realize that the choice is still there. And I respect people for that choice. They just have to understand that with choice comes responsibilities and consequences. As hard as that is, it’s been a difficult side for me to be on at a local level. I’m hoping that as we get through this, people can at least respect the fact that I have to take a position on this, which I have done and I’m not backing down from it.
He compares the push back with a similar push back to automotive safety regulations over the years, like seat belts. “Over the years, we put stop signs up, because people were driving through four way intersections and T boning and killing each other. And people can get mad about government interference, but it’s done for public safety. Vaccines are not new. Vaccines have been around over 1000 years. I did some research on this, in fact, the first inoculations that I could find were back in 200 BC. So this is nothing new. Governments, leaders, countries have always done what they can to try to keep their people safe. And if you look across Canada, every single politician—Premier, Prime Minister, MLA—every single one is out with the information saying, ‘Look, it’s the right thing to do.’ And if you don’t want to trust the politicians talk to your doctor, because I know where most doctors stand on this issue.
He says as MLA he sits in a place of privilege. “I’m very fortunate that I’m able to get information right out of the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Every couple of days, I talked directly with Bonnie Henry, who keeps the liberal caucus in the loop. We’ve had lawyers and constitutional lawyers come in to address our caucus, to address the government and to give advice. Before the government made any policy announcements, they have gone through all of the legal avenues to have it tested to ensure that they’re not doing anything that can be legally challenged. And I get to talk to a lot of influential medical professionals. So yes, I am privileged and lucky to hear a lot of factual information, which has also helped me in the decision that I made to help support the vaccine, and which is also why I’m confident in the message of trying to encourage other people because, you know, I’ve got that information. I’m not relying on snapshots that have been possibly manipulated, and put on social media, I’m talking directly with the professionals and hearing what they have to say. People still have the right choice, but I want them to make that decision based on factual information, not something they saw shared on Facebook.
“I will never ever say something that makes every single person happy on every single issue. This one here? It has just been a lot more personal, a lot more entrenched for people. We are polarized on opinions of right or wrong. This is hitting people, personally, and I think that’s why it’s been a lot more a lot more emotional. For a lot of people—and I completely appreciate and respect that. I’ve had a lot of people in Tumbler Ridge reach out, some saying thank you, some saying ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I have no problem having those conversations with people.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
