From a refusal to door-knock, to grab-and-go election signs: Campaigning in the COVID-era

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Unlike her last five federal election campaigns, there will be no door-knocking in 2021 for Lorraine Rekmans.

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Instead, the Green party candidate in Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes is trying to kit up her car with speakers and a sound system.

Area voters could receive an invite via social media or vehicle-mounted megaphone to meet Rekmans in the parking lot of their local Tim Hortons. There will be distancing and masks and a choice for voters to attend the outdoor meet-and-greets she’s planning in different parts of the eastern Ontario riding.

“So we’re still visible, but we’re not on your doorstep.”

Like every candidate running in this pandemic-era election, Rekmans has had to make tricky decisions about how to adjust her campaign to account for a public health crisis now in its fourth wave of disease.

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The small-business owner, grandmother and member of the Serpent River First Nation decided to run in 2021 for the same reason she always does: to bring awareness and push for action on climate change. Unless the Green Party is on the hustings, Rekmans said, she fears the issue won’t be discussed seriously.

But she’s also watching the rise of the Delta variant, and, while she’s fully vaccinated, doesn’t want to put other people at risk. Hence the decision not to knock on doors and to skip in-person candidates’ debates, though she would push for the ability to participate virtually.

While her expression of concern for the well-being of others might endear Rekmans to some voters, “It’s not a political game for me,” she said. She’s been hyper-vigilant about COVID-19 since the beginning and this is a natural extension.

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She’s also aware it comes with a political cost. “We’re a small party, and we do need all the exposure we can get,” she acknowledged. But Rekmans said she wouldn’t be campaigning differently even if she thought she would wind up with the most votes on election night.

“I mean, I always think I’m going to win,” she said. “I always think that, you know, people will want to address climate change. I keep thinking every election: Maybe this is the one where they send a Green to Ottawa,” she said with a rueful laugh.

But look, Rekmans pointed out. On Friday, Ontario reported more than 600 new cases of COVID-19 for the first time in more than two months.

“So that’s kind of an indicator to me that we’re really pushing it,” she said. “People are putting things at risk. Really important things like the economy, small businesses … the fact that we’re hoping kids will be back in school in the fall. So there’s a lot at stake. It’s not just an election. It’s lives.”

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In the wake of the prime minister’s election request last Sunday, the leaders of all major parties have hit the campaign trail in-person to broadcast their respective messaging, build momentum through media coverage and lend star-power to candidates in ridings they hope to hold or win over.

The leaders’ tours are COVID-modified, to be sure, with seriously scaled-down offline events and protective measures like masking, but in many ways they also feel like a return to status quo.

On the ground in the Ottawa area, candidates report a similar reality, Rekmans being the notable exception. They’ve layered protective measures into their campaigning, but fundamentally it’s the same game: going to voters and trying to connect with them.

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And candidates do have some direction to go on. In addition to pandemic rules from public health units and the province that apply to everyone, Elections Canada has put out campaign guidance for canvassing during COVID-19, developed with Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada: wear a mask when interacting with the public and other canvassers, they advise; avoid touching doorbells and distributing literature; keep volunteer records that can help with contact tracing; and stay two metres from those around you. It’s all just “strongly encouraged,” though, so don’t be surprised if a leaflet lands in your mailbox.

Candidates also have marching orders from the parties they’re representing. The NDP, for instance, said they have guidance for those running under their banner “which outlines how to safely campaign in a pandemic,” updated to reflect changing COVID-19 regulations at the local level.

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Marie-France Lalonde, the Liberal incumbent in Orléans, said she had yet to encounter a negative reaction to her pandemic-era knock on someone’s door beside the normal differences of political opinion. In fact, she joked, “I probably spend too much time at the door because people are so happy.

“They’re generally very happy to see me, have a conversation, share their experience through COVID.”

And they’re very careful, she said. Masked up, members of Team Lalonde ring doorbells and retreat to speak from a distance. Literature is left in the mailbox.

The campaign looks different in other ways, too. Volunteers, for instance, are being asked to make phone calls from home instead of from the campaign offices, places that would normally be abuzz with activity at this time.

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Speaking to this newspaper earlier in the week, political veteran Pierre Poilievre said he hadn’t been inside his campaign office since the election was called, and few would actually be able to do so. People who do stop by will basically just pick up a sign and go, Poilievre said, because “we just want to minimize risk.”

The Carleton Conservative incumbent said his team’s distanced take on doorstep conversations had proven effective. They take “about 10 giant steps backwards,” and broadcast to the resident from the middle of their yard, where Poilievre feels comfortable going without a mask.

“I’m double-vaccinated, my team is all vaccinated. And most of the people we meet tell us they’re vaccinated as well. So, as long as we keep a nice 10- or 20-foot distance, we feel safe.”

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For any voters wondering whether the candidates who show up on their front steps are fully immunized, there’s no way to know, short of asking.

A Liberal party spokesperson told this newspaper that all candidates “will be fully vaccinated,” while the NDP said all their candidates have been jabbed and those joining the slate will have to be.

The Conservatives say their expectation is that anyone campaigning for their party who isn’t vaccinated will have to pass a daily rapid test, and the Greens say they don’t require candidates to disclose vaccination details, but are strongly urging that they be fully vaccinated before they start campaigning.