'It didn't have to be this way:' N.L. COVID cluster reignites election timing debate

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- An untraceable cluster of COVID-19 cases in Newfoundland and Labrador has the Progressive Conservative party shaking its finger once again at the timing of the provincial election.

Tory Leader Ches Crosbie said Thursday in a statement Liberal Leader and incumbent Premier Andrew Furey must explain again why he chose a Feb. 13 election day, sending voters to the polls in the middle of winter and during a global pandemic.

Crosbie said he was prompted to pen the release after chief medical officer of health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said officials were unable to identify the source of a COVID-19 infection that had bloomed into a cluster of four cases.

Fitzgerald said any case whose source can't be linked to travel or to previously known infections is deeply concerning because it could be evidence of community transmission.

Crosbie said the COVID-19 cluster highlights the risks of a winter pandemic election and said Furey should have waited until the summer or until the province was vaccinated to call a vote.

Furey was required by law to call an election by Aug. 19, 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2021.