diff --git a/pkg/controller/scheduler.go b/pkg/controller/scheduler.go
index 421632f3..a6f9ddd3 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/scheduler.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/scheduler.go
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ func (c *Controller) advanceCanary(name string, namespace string, skipLivenessCh
 	// create primary deployment and hpa if needed
 	// skip primary check for Istio since the deployment will become ready after the ClusterIP are created
 	skipPrimaryCheck := false
-	if skipLivenessChecks || c.meshProvider == "istio" {
+	if skipLivenessChecks || strings.Contains(c.meshProvider, "istio") {
 		skipPrimaryCheck = true
 	}
 	label, ports, err := c.deployer.Initialize(cd, skipPrimaryCheck)