Thursday, February 12, 2026
ADVT 
National

O'Toole staffer tests positive for COVID-19

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 16 Sep, 2020 05:59 PM
  • O'Toole staffer tests positive for COVID-19

Federal Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says he, his family and some party workers are in self-isolation after an aide tested positive for COVID-19.

A statement from the party says the O'Tooles are getting tested, informing the Opposition leader's recent contacts and keeping his son home.

"My family and I are feeling well, but we take COVID-19 very seriously," O'Toole said in the statement.

"Today was going to be Jack’s first day back at school, but instead we will be getting tested and self-isolating per public health guidelines. The health and safety of my family and all Canadians is my top priority."

O'Toole was to appear at a party event in Alberta Wednesday evening, part of a mini-tour of the Conservative heartland in the West.

And he was just in Quebec, where he met Premier Francois Legault on Monday.

The Conservatives say the staffer who has the respiratory illness was travelling with him.

The federal parties are still sorting out how the House of Commons will function when it resumes next Wednesday. The Liberals favour a hybrid model, with some MPs in the chamber and others participating via videoconference with a mechanism for voting online.

The Conservatives have been arguing for MPs to participate in person only, with limits on the number of members in the chamber at a time and staggered voting when it's needed.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is also in self-isolation, awaiting the results of his own COVID-19 test after both his spouse and an aide tested positive for the illness.

Blanchet's aide's positive test, a few days after the Bloc caucus met in person in St-Hyacinthe, Que., prompted dozens of MPs and party workers to isolate themselves.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic but recovered.

MORE National ARTICLES

Papers show doubt about Alberta park closures

Papers show doubt about Alberta park closures
Top advisers to Alberta's environment minister were cautious about the government's plans to shrink the province's parks system and made recommendations he didn't follow.

Papers show doubt about Alberta park closures

Mass shooting review 'insufficient': families

Mass shooting review 'insufficient': families
Ottawa and Nova Scotia have announced a review of the April mass shooting that left 22 people and the gunman dead, but the process drew criticism from victims' relatives as being too secretive and lacking the necessary legal powers.

Mass shooting review 'insufficient': families

Let our students in, U.S. parents urge Canada

Let our students in, U.S. parents urge Canada
Parents of students in the United States who hoped to begin their university studies in Canada this fall are frantically trying to convince the federal government to relax rules that make it next to impossible for their kids to enter the country.

Let our students in, U.S. parents urge Canada

Health officials sorry over man's drowning death

Health officials sorry over man's drowning death
A young man pleaded for help as he was being led out of a hospital by security before taking his own life in a lake on the Saskatchewan legislature grounds.

Health officials sorry over man's drowning death

Tories, NDP ask for new probe of Morneau, WE

Tories, NDP ask for new probe of Morneau, WE
Opposition parties are asking the federal ethics watchdog to widen his probe of Bill Morneau regarding the WE organization as the finance minister continues to face calls for his resignation.

Tories, NDP ask for new probe of Morneau, WE

Feds, Alberta sign child-care deal

Feds, Alberta sign child-care deal
For Alberta, the one-year deal will mean more than $45 million this fiscal year to create new licensed child-care spaces through capital and program grants and subsidies for more lower-income families.

Feds, Alberta sign child-care deal