Trudeau Says The Feds Won't Make COVID-19 Vaccines Mandatory For Anyone In Canada

Justin Trudeau has confirmed that the federal government has no plans to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory in Canada.

Speaking on July 13, as part of a child-care announcement in Nova Scotia, the prime minister responded to a question about whether Canada would consider making vaccines compulsory for workers in health care settings.

This comes as other countries around the world, including France, Greece and Italy, have ordered their health care workers to get vaccinated.

Trudeau said that Canadians continue to step up to get vaccinated against COVID-19, so enforcement measures are not necessary.

"We're leading the world in terms of first doses, we're catching up with the world leaders in terms of fully vaccinated Canadians," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"The reality is that we are going to continue to do what is necessary – giving Canadians information, making it easy to get vaccinated," Trudeau added. "I am certain that we're going to continue to see numbers climbing across Canada as more and more people get their full vaccination doses."

Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin backed up this message from the PM, confirming that his province doesn't intend to require local health care employees to be vaccinated.

"We're going to continue to use the education model," he said. "There is choice when it comes to who gets vaccinated."