A meeting scheduled Friday between the prime minister and Opposition leader has now taken place according to statements from both offices, though an issue that was highlighted in a previous read-out that was erroneously sent out by the prime minister’s office has since been omitted from the conversation.
New read-outs from both Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s offices highlighted the discussion of several issues such as coronavirus vaccine distribution, economy, energy, national security and support for detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. The statements came shortly after the release of an earlier read-out by the PMO before the meeting even took place.
In that older read-out, which was confirmed by the PMO to have been a placeholder and was sent in error, Trudeau’s discussion with O’Toole contained not only the issues highlighted above but also on the prime minister voicing concern over the spread of misinformation by Conservative MPs — specifically pointing to an MP that downplayed the deaths of Albertans due to COVID-19 and another that compared the virus to the seasonal flu.
Lethbridge MP Rachael Harder suggested that coronavirus deaths of those with underlying conditions should not be reflected in Alberta’s current death toll during a Nov. 20 Facebook post, pointing to a figure of 10 as “the number of otherwise healthy people who have died from COVID-19 in Alberta” since the start of the pandemic.
On Nov. 17, Niagara-West MP Dean Allison compared the virus to the seasonal spread of influenza during a live conversation on Newstalk 610 CKTB.
Both instances sparked a significant backlash against the MPs, with many criticizing their comments as irresponsible and harmful in the midst of a pandemic.
O’Toole has not yet responded to the read-out being sent out prematurely, and made no mention in his read-out over Trudeau’s concern over Tory MPs spreading false or misleading information.
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