PM puts politics above country

Opinion

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This article was published 15/08/2021 (1230 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s hard to imagine anything more politically self-serving than calling an unnecessary election during one of the worst public health emergencies in Canada’s history. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did that Sunday, paying a visit to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to formally request she dissolve Parliament and send Canadians back to the polls Sept. 20.

It’s been less than two years since the last federal election, when the Liberals were reduced to minority status in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

This is political greed at its worst. By calling an election for no other reason than to try to regain majority status, while Canada remains in the throes of a deadly pandemic, Trudeau is showing he is willing to put his own interests, and that of the Liberal party, ahead of Canadians.

This pandemic is not over, not by a long shot. Canada’s vaccination rates are nowhere near where they need to be to wrestle the SARS-CoV-2 virus to the ground and return to a semblance of normalcy. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise again in many parts of the country, including in Ontario and Quebec, due in large part to the more contagious and virulent Delta variant. Canada has just entered the fourth wave of the pandemic and there are significant risks that hospitals could be swamped again with COVID-19 patients. Provincial and federal governments need to be committed with laser-like focus to doing everything possible to boost vaccination rates and mitigate further transmission of the virus. There is no higher priority right now.

An election will undermine those efforts. Government cannot give the pandemic its full attention when it’s politicking on the campaign trail.

There are still many challenges ahead in the pandemic: Children under 12 are returning to school in September and are not eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. They will not likely be fully immunized until December at the earliest. Steps must be taken to protect them from severe illness, while finding ways to mitigate transmission to more vulnerable people. Federal and provincial governments should be working around the clock to ensure a safe return to school.

There is also a need for Ottawa and the provinces to develop a national vaccine passport, not just for international travel as was announced last week, but for domestic use as well. That type of work requires collaboration and negotiations between the two levels of government, a task that will be delayed during an election.

Public health is a shared responsibility between Ottawa and the provinces. Both levels of government should be fully engaged to fight the pandemic. The federal government cannot do that when the prime minister and cabinet are temporarily absent from their executive duties.

There is no valid reason to call an election right now. Trudeau’s claim that he needs a fresh mandate from taxpayers to spend more of their money on the Liberal party’s pet projects is bogus. The claim that opposition parties are holding up the Liberal government’s legislative agenda is equally specious. Parliament has operated as it normally does in a minority setting, even passing a budget in the spring. Government has not been prevented from responding to the pandemic. There is nothing so pressing at the moment that requires the country to turn its attention away from the pandemic and towards a general election.

The federal government should be focused on boosting economic growth, getting its fiscal house in order and making good on previous election commitments, like providing First Nations with safe drinking water. Trudeau doesn’t need a fresh mandate from Canadians to do those things.

Calling an election during a pandemic is the height of political arrogance. It’s an insult to the thousands of health care workers still battling the pandemic on the front lines. It shows contempt to businesses and not-for-profits, many of which are still struggling to remain solvent. Sunday’s election call says to Canadians in no uncertain terms that their interests should take a back seat to the political aspirations of Justin Trudeau.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca