RE-RELEASE: Trudeau’s Liberals promised to end the blood ban. Now they say it’s “complicated”.

The Big Story

We've gained some new subscribers recently, and over the next few Sundays we want to help welcome them to the show by re-releasing some of our favourite episodes from the last few years. If you're new here, welcome! And if you've been with us for a while, we hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

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The promise was pretty clear: During his first successful campaign as Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau told LGBT voters that we would end Canada’s longstanding ban prohibiting men who have sex with men from donating blood. At the time, it seemed like a simple promise to keep. A few years later, he claimed it wasn’t so simple.

Now, it’s 2021 and Erin O’Toole is criticizing Trudeau for his failure as the Conservatives seek LGBT support. How is the blood ban still in place? When Trudeau claims his government will “follow the science” what is he referring to? Is a discriminatory approach really still necessary when technology has rapidly advanced and Canada needs blood more than ever?

GUEST: Justin Ling, investigative journalist

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We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

Through email at [e-mail]

Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemail

Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter