It’s Up for Debate | Your Campaign Spotlight from Summa Strategies

Dates to Watch

• September 8^th | 8PM EST: French-Language Leaders Debate.
• September 9^th | 9PM EST: English-Language Leaders Debate.
• September 10-13^th: Advanced Polling Days.
• September 14^th | 6PM EST: Deadline to request a mail-in ballot. 
• September 20^th: Election Day! 

Leader’s Tour

Trudeau

• The Trudeau campaign spent Tuesday in Montreal, and held a virtual town hall for volunteers in Ottawa. 
• Trudeau spent Labour Day in Welland, Ontario, with Deputy Prime Minister Freeland. 
• Sunday’s appearance was at a hospital in University一Rosedale, again with the riding’s Liberal candidate, Chrystia Freeland. The stop was intended to honour and thank the efforts of health-care workers during the pandemic. 
• On Friday, Trudeau spoke to the press at an aircraft hanger in the Toronto Pearson Airport, to call attention to his plan requiring mandatory vaccination for travellers on planes, trains, and cruise ships. 
• Trudeau did not have any campaign stops on Thursday. He spent the day in Montreal, preparing for the first French-language debate.

O’Toole 

• O’Toole spent Tuesday holding a media availability and a virtual Ontario town hall, as the campaign preps for this week’s debates. 
• Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s Labour Day was spent again with a media appearance at the Westin in Ottawa, which has become O’Toole’s de facto campaign headquarters and broadcasting homebase. 
• Sunday was spent in Vancouver, speaking about the Conservatives’ plan to support  federal policing, address gang violence and community safety in the GTA and the lower mainland of B.C.
• O’Toole’s campaign remained in Coquitlam, B.C. on Saturday to highlight his plan to combat the fourth wave of COVID-19, and prevent a resurgence of the pandemic.
• Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole unveiled his plan to combat gang violence in Montreal on Friday, September 3rd. He also attended an event with supporters in North Vancouver.
• O’Toole did not have any campaign stops on Thursday. He spent the day preparing for the Face-à Face French debate, on TVA.

Singh

• Singh spent Tuesday in Toronto’s Spadina—Fort York riding, where he discussed the NDP’s plan to take climate action. 
• On Monday, the NDP leader events were held in Hamilton一Centre, which has been an NDP stronghold since its inception in 2004. 
• On Sunday, Singh addressed the party’s federal COVID-19 vaccination programs in Ottawa, Ontario, with Ottawa Centre candidate Angella MacEwen. 
• In St-John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, on Saturday, September 4th, Singh outlined the NDP’s federal plan to offer universal dental care to all those earning less than $90,000 and who are uninsured. 
• Following the French Face-à-Face debate Thursday night, Singh unveiled his platform for Quebec, in Quebec City on Friday.  
• Singh spent Thursday touring Montreal ahead of the first French debate. He held a media event in the morning, and served poutine from a personalized campaign truck at Préfontaine Park.

Blanchet

• Yves-François Blanchet held a press conference in Longueuil, Que., Friday, after meeting with the Union of Agricultural Producers. They discussed challenges facing the Quebec agricultural industry. 
• Blanchet spent Thursday in Montreal, preparing for the debate and did not attend any campaign events.

Paul

• Paul spent the week campaigning in her own Toronto-area riding. 

Platforms and Policy

• On Saturday, Singh pledged to universalize access to dental care for Canadians who lack insurance. Singh was in Newfoundland and Labrador, in the St. John’s South-Mount Pearl riding. The plan would fully subsidize those who earn less than $60,000/year, and partially subsidize those who earn more than $90,000 per annum. The plan is predicted to save the average Canadian family $1,200/year. A 2020 report from the PBO predicted the government would face a one-time cost of $3 billion dollars, followed by $1.5 billion over the next five years.  
• Trudeau announced that until a federal vaccine passport is created and instituted, Canadians looking to travel internationally would be able to use federally-certified provincial vaccine passports as a stop-gap measure.
• On Friday, September 3rd, O’Toole announced the Conservative party’s plan to combat gun violence, which included a plan to toughen criminal sanctions on cross-border arms smuggling, and on gang members that are caught wielding guns. On Saturday, O’Toole reversed course on his previous pledge to repealing the ban on “assault-style” firearms: the AR-15 and the Ruger Mini-14 rifle. In his press conference, O’Toole announced that he would maintain the ban on assault weapons and 2020 restrictions on guns, while a “public review of the firearm classification system is conducted.”
• O’Toole detailed his plan to combat the fourth wave of COVID-19 Friday, including a commitment to reach 90 per cent vaccination among eligible Canadians within two months if he’s given a mandate to govern, a booster shot strategy, and an expedited process to extend vaccines access to children under 12. 

ICYMI

• The Star released an analysis of the yet-uncosted Conservative platform Monday, claiming it would total $103.6 billion in new spending over the next decade with the lions share going to increased health transfers, innovation, and climate change spending. The party said it would release official platform costing from the PBO once it’s entirely complete. 
• People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier was hit with an egg on the back of his head, while taking a selfie at a campaign event on Thursday. 
• A Green Party candidate in Quebec, Dalila Elhak, called Green Party Leader Annamie Paul “a disgrace” in a Facebook post, following a Thursday speech incident in which Annamie Paul “misspoke” and appeared to endorse the Liberals’ climate change plan. The candidate claimed they would be seeking a leadership review to oust Paul.  
• The 3,700 persons who were successfully evacuated from Afghanistan began arriving in Canada on Friday, September 3rd. The government has not released any updates on the 1,200 people with Canadian ties who were urged to hide from the Taliban, until diplomats had completed successful negotiations regarding their evacuation. 
• The Ontario Minister of Health Christine Elliott announced that beginning on September 22nd, individuals will be required to show their vaccine receipts to gain entrance into certain businesses and public settings. She elaborated that on October 22nd, the province will launch an enhanced vaccine certificate with a unique QR code, and an analogous QR scanner app for businesses. 
• Justin Trudeau is being reminded that campaigning isn’t always fun and games. This past weekend, several of the Liberal Leader’s events were interrupted by anti-vax demonstrators, leading to the cancellation of one rally in Bolton, Ontario. Both O’Toole and Singh condemned the protests, and one Conservative candidate went as far as expelling volunteers of his who took part. 
• On Wednesday, September 1st, news broke that Liberal candidate Kevin Vuong, running to represent a downtown Toronto riding, is facing a $1.5-million dollar lawsuit from a former business partner. Vuong was allegedly nominated despite vetting from the party’s green-light committee, which had uncovered the litigation prior to the nomination decision, a move that contradicts the party’s national rules. 
• During a press conference in Mississauga on September 3rd, Trudeau was questioned about the Vancouver Granville riding’s Liberal candidate, Taleeb Noormohamed. Noormohamed has a history of property flipping, and his actions have been deemed contradictory to the party’s platform on affordable housing. Trudeau responded by highlighting the Liberal party’s 2017 National Housing Strategy and the party’s plans to move forward with measures to ensure more affordable housing, such as a Homeowner’s Bill of Rights.

Provincial Updates

#ONPoli

• In Ontario, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives prorogued the return of the legislature until after the election, on October 4. On Wednesday, September 1, Ford announced a provincial vaccine certificate system.

#QCPoli

• During a press conference in Montreal on Tuesday, September 7th, the mayors of Quebec’s five largest cities – Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, Gatineau, and Longueuil – came together and called on federal party leaders to establish a “clear and firm” commitment to fighting gun trafficking. Demands included a country-wide ban on the private possession of handguns and assault weapons.

#ABPoli

• On Friday, the Alberta government announced new COVID-19 restrictions, including gathering limits for unvaccinated Albertans, a provincial mask mandate, and a 10 p.m. curfew for establishments licensed to serve alcohol. Several businesses have shared their dismay at the curfew, and their frustrations at the exemptions that have been provided to rodeos.
• The Alberta government’s previously announced plans to end COVID-19 restrictions, such as removing the mandatory quarantine mandate for those who test positive for COVID-19 and limiting eligibility for COVID-19 tests, have been cancelled indefinitely. The decision follows a previous six-week extension of public health measures. The original plan to cancel those measures was announced in late July and received strong criticism from the health community and the public. 

#BCPoli

• The Northern Health region in British Columbia will see the re-imposition of restrictions on personal gatherings, on Tuesday, September 7th. The limits will see indoor personal settings restricted to no more than 5 visitors from a single household, while outdoor gathering will be restricted to 50 people or fewer. The restrictions are on private gatherings only, and do not apply to indoor settings for business establishments. 

#NSPoliA federal-provincial agreement on affordable childcare may be in jeopardy depending on the results of the federal election. Despite Trudeau’s assurances that this funding is not contingent on the Liberal party’s re-election, experts have stated that if a new government is elected, it is not legally obliged to follow through on the commitment. Current Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston stated that his government will push Ottawa to uphold the childcare agreement.