On the same day COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton was in a meeting that ultimately resulted in travel restrictions for parliamentarians.
Stanton was co-chairing a joint parliamentary committee meeting March 13. The main item was to discuss overseas travel among parliamentarians.
“Our committee was the first group to say, ‘We’ve got to shut down',” Stanton recalled.
The eventual severity and longevity of the pandemic were still unknown.
“At that time, the case numbers were still quite low in Canada,” Stanton said. “No one would have imagined at that time that our country would be facing 15,000 who have died now.”
Stanton was asked what stood out as some of the lows of 2020, and COVID-19 was an easy target for a number of reasons — the increasing number of cases being at the top.
“People have had to endure some terrible family tragedies,” he said. “The consequences in terms of their quality of life and the anguish they’ve experienced. … Because of them, we need to do everything we can.”
Some people have been fortunate to not know the feeling of losing a loved one or even someone they knew to the coronavirus. That’s not the case for many, including Stanton. Jack Charlebois, a former Midland councillor and police officer, died Dec. 27 after contracting COVID-19. Charlebois had worked on campaigns for Stanton.
The pandemic has created some “learning moments” for governments, Stanton added.
“We clearly have some big steps to make for people in long-term care. It has laid bare our weaknesses there,” he said, noting the majority of deaths have been linked to long-term care. “That’s going to require a big rethink.”
This year also highlighted the need for reliable internet access, as people were urged to connect, work and shop online.
“It showed how important access to broadband and internet services are,” Stanton said, adding strides have been made to bring reliable service to rural areas, but more needs to be done.
He has been impressed with how Simcoe North residents and businesses have adapted. They've found creative ways to offer their goods and services, embraced curbside pick-up and online shopping, and some people even started new businesses.
“You’ve got to hand it to people. The ingenuity and the passion they bring to their work showed up in big numbers,” he said. “That showed we’re a community that really rose to the occasion in a positive way.”
A rare show of unity across party lines is also something of which Stanton is proud, even though it seemed like common sense given the circumstances.
“All MPs had to set their partisanship aside,” he said, to make sure Canadians had access to such programs as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA). “The government called this right. It was an understanding across all parties.”
What also needs to be understood, he added, is what that emergency spending will eventually mean for the country’s coffers. Canada’s deficit is nearing $400 billion.
“There will be an economic consequence to that. We’ll have to deal with it in a responsible way in the years ahead,” he said. “It’s hard to get your head around what that will look like. In the next decade or so, as a country, we’ll have to come to terms with dealing with that pandemic spending.”
Despite that daunting challenge, Stanton is “optimistic” it can be done in a House of Commons that is made up of a more diverse group of MPs than he’s seen in his 15 years on Parliament Hill.
“I think that the lawmakers of the future will be buoyed by the energy and encouragement (of that diverse group),” he said. “I still have faith in how the democratic system works, how our Parliament works.”
Stanton announced in the summer he would not be seeking re-election. The Simcoe North Conservatives are searching for a new candidate.
“It’s also been affected by the pandemic,” Stanton said of the process. “It’s tough for them to be able to campaign in the usual way.”
The party still needs to vet potential candidates before the local riding association is given the OK to put them on a ballot at a nomination meeting. Stanton expects that process will be completed early in the new year and he hopes to see a candidate chosen by the summer.
While the pandemic was the main issue in the spotlight this year, the government couldn’t escape controversy. The WE Charity situation is one example.
“It got to the whole aspect of governments being open and accountable about their decision-making process. A pandemic doesn’t give you licence to not make sure proper diligence is taken,” Stanton said. “It was a weak point in the decision making of the government.”
The Liberals could continue to govern in a minority Parliament until October 2023, but Stanton is “highly doubtful” that will happen. He believes Canadians will head to polls before then.
“I think the sitting government will always be looking at the tea leaves,” he said. “It would be reasonable for them to make a case that they would want to have a mandate to manage the post-pandemic period.”
Minority Parliaments in Canada last an average of 18 months, he noted.
Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority rule, his party is in a favourable position, Stanton said, noting the Liberals only need the support of one of three parties — the Conservatives, the NDP or the Bloc Québécois — and they’ve been pulling from the NDP policy playbook in a seeming attempt to curry favour with that party.
“I have no doubt of their ability to stay in government — that is, to win a confidence vote,” Stanton said. “It’ll be an interesting 2021 in politics, for sure.”
Politics won’t be the only interesting part of next year. With the COVID-19 vaccine rolling out, there’s a sense of optimism that life will at least begin to get back to normal.
Stanton’s hope for Simcoe North residents in 2021 is that “people are able to get access to the vaccine as soon as possible and that, by the time we hit the summer, the businesses that were particularly hit hard” will have recovered.
There will be scars — mentally, physically, economically — but Stanton is confident the community will rally and heal together, like it did earlier in the year.
“I have a great deal of pride with how the people of this riding have stepped up,” he said. “They’re taking a difficult and unplanned situation and making the best of it. That shows resilience.”
