COVID cases are rising. Will federal party leaders change how they campaign to avoid a crisis?

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This article was published 03/09/2021 (1514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Amid a “rapid acceleration” in COVID-19 cases that was revealed during Ottawa’s first modelling update since the federal election was called, political leaders on Friday faced the question: Would they consider altering their campaigns to avoid prolonging the crisis?

With just over two weeks to go in the campaign, a forecast released by the Public Health Agency of Canada said the number of new COVID-19 cases in Canada could surge to 15,000 a day by the beginning of October.

The stark projections were shared Friday afternoon, after the three main party leaders took morning questions from reporters.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, speaking in Montreal following Thursday’s televised French-language debate, said his party has a “plan to very carefully monitor public-health guidance.”

“We have a studio that we’ve used, in part to make sure that our campaign is always ready to have a hybrid (option),” O’Toole said, referring to the party’s space in a downtown Ottawa hotel.

“I want to meet as many people as possible to talk about our recovery plan, but we have to make sure that public health and safety is paramount.”

A party spokesperson later told the Star that the Conservatives will continue to follow public health measures and expect candidates to do the same in their respective jurisdictions.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also said he was prepared to change course on his campaign should public health experts advise it.

“We will follow the counsel that we receive, and we do have a contingency plan in place where we can shift to a virtual campaign if need be,” Singh said Friday morning in Quebec City.

Later in the day, Singh told reporters that the party was looking at “new protocols” in light of the new projections, but said the NDP would provide another update on what it planned to change.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau did not directly respond to a question about whether he would continue campaigning in his current fashion, instead stating that Canadians who have followed public health advice and been vaccinated against COVID-19 are “on track to having a much better fall.”

“But those who chose not to get vaccinated are now facing a fourth wave,” Trudeau said during a campaign stop in Mississauga. “A wave that puts them at risk. That risks overloading our health-care systems across the country, and that also puts everyone else at risk of further lockdowns, of slower economic growth.”

Asked following the modelling update whether it would pivot to more virtual campaigning, the Liberal party referred to Trudeau’s morning remarks, which commended Canadians who have “done the right things.”

But O’Toole and Singh again pounced on Trudeau Friday for plunging the country into a snap election campaign during the pandemic, a subject that dominated the early minutes of Thursday night’s parring match.

During the debate, Trudeau also suggested that Canadians could find themselves wrestling with another election in 18 months if a minority government is elected later this month.

Asked Friday whether he would stay on as Liberal leader if the Conservatives were to form that minority, Trudeau said he was “not done fighting for Canadians.”

Friday saw Singh capitalize on the debate’s focus on Quebec, choosing to release a platform specifically targeting the province and its “distinct identity.”

The NDP leader promised to meet the Quebec government’s calls for an increase in transfer payments for health care, but kept quiet on the details of that plan and whether the funding would come with strings attached.

The NDP platform commits to protecting the French language, restoring Quebec’s cultural sovereignty and enabling it “to integrate the Canadian constitutional framework.”

According to The Signal, Vox Pop Labs’ election forecast for The Star, the NDP is polling behind the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives in the province.

O’Toole, meanwhile, set his sights on gun control and organized crime, saying the Conservatives would “maintain the ban on assault weapons.”

“We will make sure that we work with police and we work to make sure that there’s a transparent process to keep people safe and to make sure that we tackle rising gun violence, particularly through organized crime and gangs,” O’Toole said. “We need to stop the smuggling and have a process to do that.”

The Conservative platform says it would repeal regulations enacted by the Liberals in May 2020 that banned some 1,500 types of “military-style assault” weapons. O’Toole’s campaign did not clarify which firearms the party would prohibit.

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In Mississauga, Trudeau announced that on top of provincial proof of vaccination documents, a Liberal government would add “a federal element of certification” to vaccine passports that would be used to permit international travel.

“It is an interim measure that will be very good for the next year or so, easily,” Trudeau said.

“We will be bringing in that more formalized version in the coming months or a year, perhaps, but the priority is giving people a solid document that will allow them to do both things: engage provincially in local businesses … and travel internationally with something robust enough and approved by the government of Canada that will be accepted at airports around the world.”

With files from Stephanie Levitz

Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @R_SPatel