Apparently you didn't read the news reports thoroughly. A common error
when one has prejudged the subject. The newspapers in Canada probably
gave a more thorough effort to the story as well.
- He was told repeatedly that he was not contagious in the days leading up to
his departure, and this was backed up by negative test results. He was not
told it was okay to travel, but after he asked whether he was forbidden
to travel he was told he was not. Since he was going to his own wedding,
it is quite reasonable to go ahead in the face of such weak opposition.
Don't forget that nobody knew it was the drug-resistant form at the time.
- He could not fly directly back to the U.S. because his return ticket was
cancelled and he could not get a new reservation to fly directly back. They
belatedly put him on the No-Fly list (as though he was a terrorist) after
he was already on a jet to Montreal. It's not like he was defying Homeland
Security after all.
- The americans suggested he turn himself in to quarantine in Rome, but he was
not sure they had sufficient expertise to deal with the matter anyway. Far
safer to get home quickly before the disease could develop at all, and where
his new father-in-law, a TB expert, could be of some help.
- He was told that the only option the americans could give him was to send a
CDC plane (a plane not suitable for carrying quarantined people anyway) and
that it was unlikely that they would be able to send the plane quickly in any
case because they were completely unprepared for such an "emergency". As it
turned out they couldn't even do that for him, so he and his new bride were
effectively stranded by their own government with no solution in sight.
In any case the panic was certainly over the top, as the Montreal Gazette reports:
Everything you need to know for a dinner-party conversation about ... Infected travellers.
In fact, as the Canadian newspapers reported, most of the publically
expressed hatred and anger occurred when Mr Speaker was revealed to be a
personal injury lawyer, not when he was just a groom on a honeymoon. How
fair is that, eh?
