OTTAWA — Conservative leader Andrew Scheer fended off criticism on Tuesday after his family of seven flew to Ottawa on a small government jet , saying the decision was not at odds with the advice of public health officials.
Speaking to reporters, Scheer said passengers aboard the nine-seat Challenger jet, which was taking Scheer and two other MPs back to Ottawa for the spring Parliamentary session, took every precaution to limit the potential spread of the COVID-19 virus, including avoiding “speaking moistly on each other.” The Conservative leader pushed back against criticism that he and his family put the small jet at full capacity, making social distancing impossible for other passengers.
“The idea that we were packed one on top of each other is just ridiculous,” Scheer said. “We kept our distance, we kept to ourselves.”
Scheer took his wife, Jill, and his five children aboard the plane. It first picked up Green Party MP Elizabeth May and Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough in British Columbia, before collecting Scheer in Regina along with his wife and children, which brought the plane to full capacity. The story was first reported by the CBC.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also faced criticism for traveling to Harrington Lake, the official residence of the prime minister, over the weekend to spend time with his family.
The residence is about 25 kilometres from Rideau Cottage where Trudeau has been staying, but public health officials have asked people to avoid all non-essential travel.
In Quebec specifically, police have been diverting people travelling to certain areas, including the Outaouais region where the cottage is located inside Gatineau Park.
Trudeau said he is following the advice of health officials.
“After three weeks of my family living up at Harrington and me living here, I went to join them for Easter. We continue to follow all the instructions from public health authorities.”
Public health officials across Canada have encouraged everyone to stay home due to the crisis and to avoid all non-essential travel and keep a two-metre distance from others.
Scheer said he boarded the government jet because it was travelling from Vancouver to Ottawa anyway, and saved his family the need to travel through several commercial airports, and assume “all the risks associated with that.” He did not clarify why it was necessary for his family to fly with him to Ottawa.
“We decided to take a flight with just two other people,” he said. “We took great steps to make sure that we minimized interactions with each other, my wife brought [disinfectant] wipes along with her, we made sure that we were not speaking moistly on each other.”
Parliamentarians are preparing to potentially return to Ottawa for the spring session, currently scheduled to begin April 20. However, parties are now discussing the terms of the next sitting, including the potential for virtual proceedings in the House of Commons, or sitting with a reduced number of MPs to avoid potential spread.
In an interview with the National Post on Tuesday, May confirmed every seat on the Challenger plane was full once Scheer’s family boarded, but she said everyone did their best to limit potential spread.
“I wore my mask. I kept the best distance I could keep under the circumstances,” she said.
May said she was extraordinarily grateful to be offered a seat on the flight, because otherwise, even after driving to Vancouver, she would have had to board multiple commercial flights.
“It was still going to be three airports going through Vancouver, going through Toronto to get to Ottawa.“
She said she was offered the flight by the government and initially told it would be her, Qualtrough and Scheer on board. May said afterwards she was given the chance to object when Scheer asked to bring his family, but she understood where they were coming from.
With files from Ryan Tumilty
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
