Tories should have backed hybrid Parliament

Why do Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives keep stumbling so badly over anything to do with COVID-19 precautions? Like anglers who get snagged by their own hooks, the Tories are consistently being embarrassed by their baffling response to pandemic safety measures.

When it came to requiring mandatory vaccinations for MPs who wanted to enter the House of Commons, they were opposed. Even though this was an essential measure to ensure the well-being of the people entrusted with running Canada. Ditto when it came to insisting that MPs show proof of their vaccinations before walking into Parliament.

Finally, to make it a trifecta of Conservative COVID-19 crankiness, the party came together last Thursday to vote against returning to the hybrid format in the House of Commons, which has allowed MPs to participate virtually in proceedings during the pandemic. It’s one of the few things this divided party has been able to agree upon in recent months.

But it makes no sense, particularly given that if any unvaccinated MPs will be unable to enter the House and would benefit from the option of working remotely, it would likely be Conservative ones. The governing Liberal party says all of its MPs are fully vaccinated except for one with a medical exemption. The NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green Party have confirmed all of their MPs are fully vaccinated.

But the situation is far less clear with the Conservatives. Leader O’Toole says all 119 Tory MPs are either fully vaccinated or have a medical exemption. However, a count by The Canadian Press found that 83 of them have publicly said they have both shots while two said they need the exemption. That leaves nearly three dozen Conservative MPs who have not verified their vaccination status.

All of the Conservatives, by the way, were in the House of Commons last week with the exception of Richard Lehoux, who contracted COVID-19 two days after an all-party in-person retreat. It was pointed out in last week’s debate that a hybrid House would allow Lehoux to participate even while self-isolating. So, too, could any other MP who in the weeks ahead catches COVID. That’s a compelling reason to go with the hybrid model. It protects the democratic process.

The Conservatives remained unswayed by such common sense. They argued, for instance, that if Liberal and NDP MPs willingly attended large public gatherings in the recent federal election campaign, they should be just as ready to attend live, in-person sessions in the House. But the one doesn’t logically follow from the other. A person is far less likely to be infected by the coronavirus in a large, outdoor setting than in the more confined quarters of the House of Commons.

That’s why work patterns have changed so much in the era of COVID-19. Ever since the pandemic was declared more than 20 months ago, millions of Canadians in both the public and private sectors have successfully worked from home. Jobs have gotten done. The economy has kept on going. People have stayed healthy. And even now, as the country tries to emerge from the pandemic and many people are returning to the office, the option of hybrid workplaces remains common. If it can work in so many other situations, it can work in the House of Commons.

For that reason, Canadians can celebrate that by a vote of 180 to 140, their MPs chose to allow the hybrid model to begin last Friday and continue at least until the end of June. Only the Bloc and Conservatives voted nay. The Bloc response might be written off as part of their consistent contrariness. As for the Conservatives, the best explanation we can suggest is that their opposition reflects an ongoing internal schism over mandatory vaccinations rather than any reasoned objection to a hybrid Parliament. They still have their own civil liberties “mini-caucus” focused on vaccine issues to contend with. And so they can’t help getting caught on their own hooks.