Shaking hands and kissing babies are no longer options. Neither are traditional rallies or meet-and-greets. For as long as politics has been a thing, campaigning politicians have tried to put themselves over with the public by getting up close and personal on the campaign trail. Now, they can’t get closer than two metres to a voter.
For the politicians and the people working for them, it all takes some getting used to.
Shaking hands and kissing babies are no longer options. Neither are traditional rallies or meet-and-greets. For as long as politics has been a thing, campaigning politicians have tried to put themselves over with the public by getting up close and personal on the campaign trail. Now, they can’t get closer than two metres to a voter.
“This has been a whole new experience for everyone, from party officials to the candidates and those of us who are campaigning on the ground,” James Bezan told CBC News.
Bezan is chair of the Manitoba campaign for Peter MacKay’s Conservative leadership bid. He says the race has gone from meeting and greeting voters face to face, holding rallies and testing policies on the ground to “talking to people through their devices, whether it’s laptops or smartphones or tablets.”
“That is the new normal until we find a cure for COVID,” he added. “It has taken away that personal contact that’s so important for candidates … To get to see Peter up close and experience his charm and intellect and the gravitas that he carries is so important.”
Campaign events for both the Conservative and Green Party leadership races have moved online to platforms like Facebook Live and Zoom. Green Party leadership candidate Glen Murray had to abandon pl