How COVID won the political battle

OTTAWA—Anyone watching the first Conservative leadership debate on May 5 may have thought they were watching a satire or some kind of theatre-of-the-absurd take-off on nasty populist politics. What came across as the debaters’ main concern was how supportive each would-be Conservative standard bearer was of the right-wing agitators who used trucks to turn downtown Ottawa and several border crossings into anarchistic gridlock in February. These were actions that, by the way, were illegal; hurt Canada’s reputation as an export nation; in the case of Ottawa, wasted $30-million in taxpayers’ money; and, in as much as any of it had anything to do with truckers’ rights or vaccine mandates, was largely, and stupidly, aimed at the wrong government. But the thrust of the debate among the Conservatives last week wasn’t about who among them had stood up for the rule of law, or who had criticized convoy organizers for encouraging people to believe they could overturn the election results, or which Conservatives had been alarmed at the often nasty treatment of ordinary Ottawa citizens, or the lost wages among the thousands of workers whose workplaces had to be closed. Instead, what the leadership rivals were debating was which candidates had backed the truck blockades earliest and strongest. “You did not speak up until it was convenient for you to speak up,” MP Leslyn Lewis said in an accusation aimed at Pierre Poilievre, the presumed favourite in the contest. “You did not even go to the truckers’ protest,” Lewis said, inaccurately. And centre-right candidate Jean Charest was roundly booed by the right-wing audience for repeating his line that Poilievre should be disqualified as a leadership aspirant because no lawmaker should be allowed to support law-breaking. After 26 months of COVID-19, this is where we have arrived. Would-be leaders of the official opposition—with reasonable expectations of becoming prime minister—are consumed with this outpouring of anti-government grievance in February related to the pandemic. The vast majority of Canadians got vaccinated and supported government efforts to strengthen our collective response to a deadly health emergency. But it is clear that a sizable portion of the public has come to view these restrictions as an imposition on … something. Their personal health decisions? Their right to infect others? Their human rights? In part, this represents an unexpected upsurge in the once fringe anti-vaxx movement. It also appears to reflect acceptance of the Conservatives’ specious argument that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, by putting the vaccine issue on the ballot in the 2021 election, used COVID as a wedge issue to divide the country. The question, looking ahead, is how this potent anti-government, anti-status-quo sentiment bursting from the pandemic will play out. The occupation of Ottawa did nothing to help Trudeau’s popularity, and appeared to capture the imagination of restive Canadians motivated by vaccine rejection, dislike of Trudeau and his progressive government, economic frustration, and all manner of disinformation and conspiracy theories. In February, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe put an end to his government’s proof-of-vaccination policy while also praising the truckers tying up Canada’s capital. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade At the provincial level, governments have been running scared of the anti-everything movement symbolized by the convoy fad. Despite January ranking as the deadliest month of the pandemic in Canada since vaccines became accessible, premiers were, by February, moving quickly to dismantle pandemic safety measures. In a reversal of Saskatchewan’s position, Premier Scott Moe muted an end to his government’s proof-of-vaccination policy while also praising the truckers tying up Canada’s capital. Commenting on Moe’s decision, Dr. Alexander Wong of Regina General Hospital told the CBC: “For better or for worse, this is what's going to happen across the whole country. The question is, why are we in such a rush to do all of this? It's clearly political." Notably, Quebec Premier François Legault backed away from his plan to join Greece and Singapore on imposing a health tax on the unvaxxed. Admitting he had misread the rebellious, unco-operative mood of many Quebecers, he said, “When we see what is happening in our society, when we see what is being said on social media, I am worried about Quebecers being divided. My role as premier is to ensure safety of Quebecers, but also ensuring a certain social peace.” In Ontario, with an election looming and right-wingers disproportionately questioning COVID mandates, Premier Doug Ford alarmed doctors and educators by doing away with restrictions despite the ongoing sixth wave of the pandemic and a lack of supportive data. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy slammed Ontario for rushing the reopening. “The message being sent out with these sorts of measures being changed is that this pandemic is over, and I think that’s very dangerous and it’s premature,” he told the media. “I think we’re going to regret this in the coming weeks.” But the verdict is in as far as the politics of collective COVID protection measures are concerned. The virus has ended up pulling the strings. Les Whittington is a regular columnist for The Hill Times. The Hill Times