Face of Nation International : Parliamentarians packed onto a small nine-seat government jet last week — ignoring pandemic health guidelines to maintain a distance of two metres from others — in their haste to reach Ottawa for a vote on federal emergency economic legislation that passed on Saturday. Outgoing Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who lives in B.C., boarded the Challenger jet along with Liberal B.C. cabinet minister Carla Qualtrough, Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer, his wife and their five children last Friday — filling all seats on the aircraft.
Health guidelines urge individuals to maintain a two-metre distance from others to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. But on the Challenger flight last week, passengers sat beside each other with just a few inches separating them, according to one of the passengers on board. “I have to say, I had misgivings,” May told CBC News.
Typically, the House of Commons pays for MPs to fly commercially to Ottawa. In this instance, the federal government sent an aircraft to pick up May, Qualtrough and then Scheer to attend a rare Saturday sitting of Parliament for a vote on extended emergency benefits for Canadians who have been affected by the pandemic. Initially, the flight was only going to carry the three MPs, but later Scheer’s wife and kids were added to the plan. (Source: CBC News- Canada)
