Polls tighten, Conservatives and Liberals joust on campaign trail while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pays tribute to Jack Layton

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This article was published 22/08/2021 (1477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA—The New Democrats invoked the memory of one of their most beloved leaders, the Conservatives pivoted away from past policies and the Liberals went on the attack as the federal election campaign hit the one-week mark on Sunday.

The day marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Jack Layton, who led the NDP to a historic result in the 2011 election campaign, only to die a few months later from cancer. Under him, the NDP upended the political landscape by winning 103 seats and forming the official Opposition, but in the years since, they’ve lost much of that ground.

Current NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he’ll make it up by leading as Layton did — with hope, optimism and courage.

“That’s exactly the same type of work that we want to do,” Singh said during an event celebrating Layton’s life. “We want to show people, if you vote New Democrat, you get someone on your side, you get someone who’s going to fight for you.”

With the election just a month away and polls over the weekend suggesting the gap between the Liberals and Conservatives narrowing and the NDP picking up steam, the Liberals this week will be criss-crossing the country in ridings they hope to win, starting in Atlantic Canada.

Leader Justin Trudeau will pitch the messages he took to supporters in New Brunswick on Sunday: the urgency of getting more Canadians vaccinated — especially to protect kids about to head back to school — and the Liberal plan for what life will look like when the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror.

He noted rising cases among vaccinated people, and growing hospitalizations, in making the argument that his government deserves re-election to finish the fight against COVID.

“Elections, especially an important election like this one, which is going to decide not just how we end this pandemic, but how we build stronger for the future, (are) also about choices,” Trudeau said. “It’s about a choice that Canadians need to make.”

At least one poll released Sunday suggests voters are split when it comes to making that choice.

The most recent nightly tracking survey from Nanos Research gives the Liberals 34.3 per cent of the vote, and the Tories 32.4 per cent, effectively a dead heat.

Others suggest the gap remains a little wider still, so the third message Trudeau will take to voters this week is — a Conservative government led by Erin O’Toole is the wrong choice.

The Liberals have wasted little time trying to sow doubts in the minds of voters about a Conservative government and clearly lay out some differences — first, by hammering them on opposing mandatory vaccinations, then by raising the spectre that the Tories would place hard-won rights of women to access abortions at risk, despite O’Toole making it clear he supports access to abortion.

On Sunday they used Twitter to circulate a video clip of a 2020 interview given by O’Toole in which he explored the idea of private health-care delivery, saying it was proof he would turn his back on health care.

The Conservatives immediately pointed out the video had been edited, and left out O’Toole’s commitment to a universal system.

Twitter later marked Trudeau’s retweet of one the original postings of the video as “manipulated content,” a label the social media giant gives posts it determines contain media that “are significantly and deceptively altered or manipulated.”

For their part, the Conservatives kicked off Sunday suggesting the Liberals must have a hidden agenda to raise taxes or launch untested programs as the party has yet to roll out a platform.

“What is Justin Trudeau hiding in his risky plan for Canadians?” they said in a statement. “Canadians don’t know. Justin Trudeau won’t say.”

The Liberals have said a platform will be released in due course, and note they have made some new commitments thus far in the election, among them $9 billion for long-term care.

During the years the Conservative party was led by Stephen Harper, the Liberals often threw out the accusation that Harper had a “secret agenda” — advertising to that effect was one of the factors many believed cost Harper a stronger showing in his first campaign as leader in 2004.

Though in person and on social media, the Liberals blast O’Toole, so far their ad campaigns haven’t gone in that direction, and new ones are expected soon that keep striking a positive and optimistic tone.

Since he’s taken over the Conservatives, O’Toole has promised a different approach than his predecessor.

On Sunday, he laid out a distinction: his Conservative government would not oppose supervised drug injection sites.

The Harper government ended up before the Supreme Court over the program after refusing to allow a Vancouver site a continued exemption from the Criminal Code. The government lost the case but would later go on to pass a law making it tougher for such sites to open.

During a campaign event at a recovery centre in New Westminster, B.C., O’Toole said his government would not stand in the way, but the sites must be part of a package that includes compassion within the criminal justice system and support for recovery and wellness.

He promised $325 million for new drug treatment beds, 50 additional recovery community centres and $1 billion over five years to fund Indigenous-specific mental health and drug treatment programs.

The Tories will spend the second week back in hybrid campaign mode, beginning with telephone town halls with supporters from a purpose-built studio in Ottawa, a COVID-safe setup the party says has allowed O’Toole to connect with tens of thousands of voters.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

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“I want more Canadians to be able to ask me a question on Canada’s recovery plan,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“I’m here to be accountable for you.”

Singh said the New Democrats will take their fight to ridings they’re hoping to pick up in southwestern Ontario and elsewhere, but also begin to hit up incumbent seats to solidify support there.

He also promised that after the election, the NDP will introduce a bill in the House of Commons to change the name of the riding Layton held from Toronto-Danforth to Danforth-Layton. The riding is currently held by the Liberals.

Stephanie Levitz is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @StephanieLevitz