Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 29th, 2020

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

I think I am on quite safe ground to say that I'm sure that most British Columbians are very happy to hear that you'll be with us, hopefully, for a very, very long time. You've done an outstanding job—I'll underscore what my colleague Mr. Doherty has already said—so thank you so much for that.

Dr. Raymond, I'll ask you the same question. When were you first appointed to your position, if you were appointed?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

I'm not sure if I'm appointed or not, but I am an executive with the Public Health Agency of Canada and I've been in a range of positions there since 2009. I joined at the time of the H1N1 pandemic, so it's come full circle.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Thank you very much.

Specifically, Dr. Henry, you talked about the recent campaign in British Columbia and how there is a steering committee that met with all political parties to discuss health protocols for campaigns. Could you tell us whether or not you gave any—and I'm trying to choose my words carefully—absolutes? In other words, was it mainly guidelines that you suggested for campaigns or were there any absolutes, such as that candidates must wear masks when door knocking or candidates must ensure that all election propaganda or pamphlets were duly sanitized before dropping them off at households?

Could you explain a little bit exactly how strict or absolute the instructions and/or guidelines that you gave to campaigns were?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

They were guidelines, but they were aligned with the guidance that we're providing in B.C. There were, for example, public health orders that had to be followed with regard to gatherings. The maximum was 50 if you were in a space that allowed for physical distancing. There were also other measures in place. Those are absolutes and the guidance was around wearing a mask, the number of people together who were going door to door, if they were going to do that, the number of people who could be in a campaign office, the hierarchy of controls, as well as guidance around things like physical distancing, barriers, and the use of PPE.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Did you, during the recent campaign, do any kind of a follow-up to ensure that all candidates and campaigns were following the health protocols that you had established?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

We didn't do a formal inspection, for example, but we were monitoring how campaigns were being run to see if there was anything. As well, we have a complaints-based process, so if the public had concerns about things that were happening, we received emails or phone calls about those, or they went to the local public health agencies. There were very few of those. The campaign was run by all parties in accordance with the guidelines, for the most part.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

So it would be safe to say then—and I don't want to put words in your mouth—that you were satisfied that all candidates ran their campaigns, either individually or collectively, in complete adherence to the health protocols that you had established?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

I cannot say that it was in complete adherence, because I didn't measure completeness, but we did not receive a large number of complaints. We understood that the campaigns were run in accordance with the guidelines, yes.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

My final question is again for Dr. Henry. You had mentioned that the voter turnout in British Columbia—to your knowledge, at least—was the lowest perhaps in history. To me, it speaks to the fact that since the voter turnout for advance polls and mail-in balloting was extraordinarily high, a number of people didn't go out in person to vote, perhaps because of safety concerns.

Do you think it would be worthwhile for your agency, during an election period, to put out public service announcements to ensure that the public is confident in the safety protocols established and confident that voting in person is as safe and secure as possible?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

We are out of time and over time, Mr. Lukiwski.

Next is Mr. Gerretsen, for five minutes, please.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to both of our witnesses for being here.

I will start with Dr. Henry. Thank you for your service. It's worth putting on the record that The New York Times referred to you as one of the most effective public health officials in the world. That is quite an honour to receive from it, I would imagine.

You talked a little bit about mail-in ballots. In response to some of the questions from Mr. Therrien in particular, I understand you don't want to get into the politics of mail-in ballots. I completely respect that, but from a public health perspective, do you consider mail-in ballots, phone-in voting and options like those to be in the interests of public health?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

They were important in the context that we were in, where some people quite rightly had concerns about going out with their past experience of waiting in lines and being in contact with people during an election. Yes, I believe they were important options.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

May I ask, as the public health official for the area, was any information reported back to you that would suggest there were fraudulent activities with either of those two?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

No.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I want to reference a The Globe and Mail story. It said:

Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said Thursday that there have been no COVID-19 cases linked to any campaign-related activities, despite a continuing rise in the daily number of new infections in the province over the month-long campaign.

I know Mr. Alghabra asked you a similar question, but can you confirm once again that the quote from the The Globe and Mail is accurate?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

It is accurate. We follow-up every single case of COVID-19 in the province and our contact tracing, so we have a sense of where people have been exposed. There have been no reports provided to me from anywhere in the province that people have been exposed at election events.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Dr. Raymond, in an iPolitics article on April 23, you said that it could be difficult to conduct a federal election during a pandemic. This is what it says in the article:

I would recommend taking whatever measures we could to avoid creating a condition where we increase the risk of transmission where we create an opportunity for mass gatherings or large gatherings or an obligation for people to gather together where the possibly can’t maintain their distancing.

I realize this was at the beginning of the pandemic, and there was a lot going on. We still hadn't learned a lot, and we've since had elections. Would you like to provide an update to that comment at this time?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

I would not like to see us create circumstances that would facilitate the further transmission of COVID-19, but I don't necessarily believe that an election per se would create those circumstances. We are in a very different place on the road now than we were back then, and we are very much now in the space of living with this, because avoiding it is apparently not an option.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Yes, we certainly have learned a lot since then. I believe the President of the United States said it would be over by Easter, but it wasn't.

Nonetheless, is it safe to say that it is your opinion that an election can be held in a safe manner during a pandemic like this and that it is possible to put the measures in place to make that happen?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

I believe it is possible. I believe we have examples of that happening in several jurisdictions across the country.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Again, thank you to both of you for coming today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you.

Mr. Therrien, you have two and a half minutes.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Has anyone given their speaking time to the Green Party member?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

No, not as of yet.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Then I will. The Green Party member can have my time.