Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer said political candidates in an expected federal election this year must campaign with masks on, recommending those who are fully vaccinated to also follow suit. "I encourage all political campaigners and their teams to follow those rules and get vaccinated," Dr. Theresa Tam told reporters.
"Is it safe to do this right now?" asked a reporter. "I have no say on the timing of any election," replied Tam. Canada has never held a general election in a pandemic.
"Anyone who is doing any campaigns or gatherings has to follow the local public health rules wherever they are doing that," she said. "Right now as you know, provinces have their opening stages," Tam added, urging people to respect the rules.
"Even if you are vaccinated and you don’t know who else is around, whether the people you are encountering are vaccinated or not, then the most prudent, precautionary thing to do is wear a mask and make sure there are some distancing measures," she said.
There is guidance provided on how to reduce your risk in terms of wearing a mask, according to provincial circumstances and epidemiology. "Whatever people are doing for their elections campaigns, that is one thing they have to remember."
Various elections held since the outbreak of the pandemic were marked by low voter turnout, not high rates of infection. Turnout in two federal byelections in Ontario last October 26 averaged 31 percent in Toronto Centre and 26 percent in York Centre. Individual polling stations in North York, Ontario saw as few as eight percent of eligible voters cast ballots.
Turnout was 53 percent in a Saskatchewan election on October 26, 2020.
Dr. Michael Boda, chief electoral officer in Saskatchewan, testified last November 3 at the House affairs committee that voter turnout "has consistently been dropping" even before the pandemic. "An election management body’s job is not necessarily to get the vote out, at least not in Saskatchewan," said Boda.
"It is to reduce barriers for all voters so they would have access to the ballot," said Boda. "That is something we have worked on for many years."
Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski told the committee that turnout below fifty percent nationwide would be "just unacceptable." The lowest turnout to date was 59 percent in a 2008 campaign.
"I’ve seen that steady decline over the years and I’ve always thought it would be a tragedy, and I’m choosing my words carefully here, if in the future we would have as low as thirty or forty percent of Canadians electing their national government," said Lukiwski.
Turnout averaged 52 percent in BC’s previous provincial election on October 24, 2020.
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