How COVID has shaped Tory leadership race
OTTAWA — The last time federal Conservatives were picking a leader, their race was transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than two years later, they are at it again. But this time, the race is happening during what appears to be the end of Canadians living under government-imposed pandemic rules.
The events of the past 25 months are shaping the contest for who will lead the Conservative party after Sept. 10. “The whole concept of talking about freedom is definitely a direct result of the pandemic,” said Chris Chapin, a managing principal at the Upstream Strategy Group, who worked on past leadership campaigns for Ontario Progressive Conservative candidates.
Longtime party MP Pierre Poilievre is running a campaign vowing to make Canada the “freest nation on Earth.” Opposing mask and vaccine mandates has been a large part of his message, which he has delivered to crowds that have at times swelled into the thousands.
Leslyn Lewis, the third-place finisher in the 2020 race, has also been campaigning against mandates.
She's also publicly opposed Canada signing on to a World Health Organization treaty, which she suggested to supporters in a recent email would threaten the country's “national health sovereignty.”
The governing body of the WHO has launched a process to draft and negotiate an international agreement to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
In another message, Lewis said she refuses to disclose her vaccination status “as a matter of principle” and promised to introduce legislation to protect those who choose to remain unvaccinated from “discrimination” if she were to win power.
Chapin added that Brampton, Ont., Mayor Patrick Brown's championing of religious freedom also likely resonates with those who spent months unable to attend church under pandemic rules.
For both Chapin and longtime Conservative strategist elanie Paradis, who is remaining neutral in the race, most of the meaning behind candidates' anti-mandate messaging boils down to selling memberships.