PM’s self-isolation ends, but it won’t be back to business as usual
As an early adopter of selfisolation, Justin Trudeau could choose to get out of his home as early as Thursday.
But while public health rules could set him free, political communication rules will probably keep Canada’s prime minister grounded for at least a little while longer. How long? No one is saying.
Bounding out of his home on Thursday after 14 days of isolation at Rideau Cottage would not exactly fit with the message of self-discipline that Trudeau has been ratcheting up this week in his daily press conferences. This is the man who told Canadians to “go home and stay home” a few days ago.
A leader who wants Canadians to see the COVID-19 crisis as a long-term challenge, in other words, can ill afford to give the impression that his own inconvenience was short-term. On March 12, when Trudeau went into isolation after his wife tested positive for the virus, 14 days sounded like a long time. Today, two weeks later, the prime minister is cautiously trying to brace the public for days of self-isolation that could stretch into weeks, even months.
Asked on Wednesday about how he planned to handle the end of the 14-day isolation, Trudeau was deliberately vague.
“We will continue to follow all the recommendations of our health-care experts,” the prime minister said in response to a question in French. “That means every single day we follow those recommendations and if the situation changes, we will let you know.”
Trudeau was the first major world leader to go into selfisolation. Since then, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has done the same, though a 14-day stint for her in selfisolation will only expire around April 5.
Getting an early start on running the country in isolation forced Trudeau and his team into an early jump on the self-distanced workplace, which — hard as it is to believe now — was not in widespread practice in this country until very recently. (The Star’s own newsroom became a virtual one around March 16.)
All government meetings involving the prime minister, including cabinet meetings, are now conducted by phone. One of the participants said this week that it’s been a while since he dialed in and heard any others around a conference table.
That practice is likely to continue while Trudeau is still imploring Canadians to work from home and keep “physical distance” — the phrase that seems to have replaced social distance in government communication over the past few days.
While nothing can be called typical during this crisis, the business of the Prime Minister’s Office is now conducted as a marathon series of phone calls and texts, starting around 7 a.m. and lasting well into the night.
Trudeau has fallen into a pattern of doing a news conference around 11:15 a.m. daily, followed by a ministerial news conference over on Parliament Hill, usually chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. These sessions are marathon, too, stretching over an hour or longer.
Some cabinet ministers are on constant rotation through Ottawa — Freeland, Health Minister Patty Hajdu, Finance Minister Bill Morneau — while others are based closer to their own homes while governingby-telephone is the general practice.
No ministers are known to have been hit by the virus — though some, such as Global Affairs Minister FrançoisPhilippe Champagne, have been tested. One Liberal MP from Brampton, Kamal Khera, announced on Wednesday that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
Reports about the health of Sophie Grégoire Trudeau have been sparse since the announcement of her positive test on March 12. She was said to be suffering from some headaches, but she does seem to have escaped some of the more dangerous symptoms of the disease — the kind that have sent so many to hospital, or worse.
“Sophie feels much, much better,” Trudeau said on Wednesday, without elaborating on when she might also be able to make forays out of Rideau Cottage.
She has also been isolated from her parents, who live in Ottawa. The prime minister made specific mention of his father-in-law, Jean Grégoire, at his Monday news conference, noting it was Sophie’s father’s birthday and the family wasn’t able to celebrate it with him.
Two weeks ago, Trudeau probably believed — or at least hoped — that his self-isolation would be a short-term thing. But as the rest of the country is learning, there doesn’t seem to be anything short term about COVID-19 and this far-fromnormal way of running a country is due to continue for some time.