Ottawa South incumbent back after being sidelined by COVID
Liberal candidate John Fraser recalls looking down at his positive COVID-19 test and thinking, “Why did it have to happen now?”
On May 3, the same day Doug Ford as premier made his formal request for the Ontario election, Fraser, incumbent MPP for Ottawa South, learned he would lose almost a week at least of campaigning time to the virus — a tough blow with only a month to go until the June 2 election.
And the weather was just getting nice too.
“I was very disappointed — and I didn’t feel great either, on top of that,” Fraser said. What followed were days of headaches, cold symptoms and low energy levels.
Fraser is finished isolating, and back out meeting constituents, but he’s still feeling some lingering fatigue.
Unlike the September federal election, when capacity limits, vaccine passports and the mask mandate were still in effect, the provincial election is a return to “normal.” Sort of.
COVID is still circulating in the province. Fraser can attest to that. As a result, some parties have opted to place more stringent safety measures on candidates than what is legally required.
Liberal and NDP candidates must be fully vaccinated and wear masks indoors.
New Democrats are also instructed to mask outdoors if distancing is impossible and while door-knocking. Fraser elected to do this, too. NDP staff also contact trace at larger events, are required to take rapid tests before boarding campaign buses, and are provided with N95 masks and test kits.
COVID “affected our preparation a great deal,” said NDP spokesperson Erin Morrison.
“Tasks that aren’t usually on the to-do list had to be done — from making our spaces safer to stocking up on rapid tests to creating protocols that follow public health guidelines and creating contingency plans in case in-person events had to stop,” she said. “We also opened a couple satellite headquarter offices to make sure some social distancing is possible.”
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario did not return a request for comment on its COVID protocols.
This is Fraser’s fourth election, after winning a byelection following the resignation of Dalton McGuinty in 2013. It’s much harder to get together with the community, to go out and meet voters, this time around, he said. Especially if, at any time, you might be forced to isolate if you fall ill.
This is perhaps less of a worry for established candidates like Fraser than his competitors, but it’s still unfortunate.
“I love knocking on doors. I love talking to people,” Fraser said. “It’s the best part of the job. For a month or so, that’s all you do. You don’t worry about anything else. It was hard to lose out on.”
Curiously, one noticeable difference from previous elections, Fraser found, is that he’s having fewer “negative experiences” knocking on constituents’ doors this time.
“There was more visceral anger,” in elections past, he said. “Not all the time, but every once in a while you’d go to a door and somebody would be quite upset. Now, most people are happy to see you. I think it’s because people really miss being with other people. We’ve all, to different degrees, lost the amount of human contact we’re used to.”