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The coronavirus forces face-to-face politics online – The Texas Tribune

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The pandemic has made political campaigns a little less visible and a lot less personal.

Political flyers aren’t hanging from our front doorknobs. Town hall meetings are held on computer screens now, cutting down on the cost of cupcakes and on many of the benefits of public discussions in big rooms. Fundraisers that would typically move smoothly from a candidate speech to a check and a handshake are now held online, with links for donors who want to send electronic contributions and add their names to hyperactive email lists.

Most Texas candidates aren’t busy campaigning for votes right now; most have secured their nominations and are preparing for the November general election. But candidates in Democratic and Republican Party runoffs are prepping for a July 14 election preceded by two weeks of early voting starting June 29. There’s also a special state Senate election in Central Texas on the ballot.

Winning voters’ attention for a runoff election, especially in the middle of the summer, is a tough proposition. The pandemic and other national news crowds out state and local political conversations. The runoff electorate is a smaller civic herd to begin with. That makes it easier to contact likely voters, but critical to get them to the polls — and to make sure they know a candidate’s name when they get there.

“Pandemic changed expectations about what a field campaign should be,” says Pritesh Gandhi, who’s in a runoff with Mike Siegel to pick the Democratic challenger to U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Austin. A candidate still has to do all of the normal things — talk to people, win their favor, attract their votes, maybe collect some donations. But everything that used to be done in person now has the word “virtual” in front of it.

Gandhi does what he calls “virtual block walking,” using the phone instead of his feet to go door to door. “Virtual events have been the best-attended events of the campaign,” he says, comparing his runoff campaign with the one that preceded the March primary.

The details of what works and what’s different depend on the race. Statewide candidates don’t campaign door to door in the way that state House, state Senate or congressional candidates do. The state’s too big, and time is too short.

Individual contact with voters is done electronically and by mail and — when it’s time to vote — sometimes by phone. But the town hall meetings around the state that would give voters a chance to see candidates in the flesh aren’t happening, says Chrysta Castañeda, a Democrat running for an open seat on the Texas Railroad Commission. Her opponent in July is former state Rep. Roberto Alonzo of Dallas; the winner will face Republican Jim Wright, who upset Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton in the March primary.

That commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, isn’t well known. Candidates of both political parties struggle to get attention — especially when there’s a flashy presidential race at the top of the ballot to distract voters. Castañeda says the collapse in the price of oil and the state of the economy have turned up the volume, but the July elections still aren’t the subject of everyday conversation in the state.

“It’s surprising how quickly we’re converting to a virtual campaign, and it’s more efficient than what I was doing,” she says. Flying around the state to town hall meetings and fundraisers has been replaced by virtual events that each have attracted 30 to 100 voters.

The delay in the runoff election — originally scheduled for May but pushed to July in the face of the pandemic — hasn’t given any candidates an advantage, in Gandhi’s estimation.

“April was a dead month,” he says. “It was lost for everyone.”

Things have picked up considerably. This is normally the season for Austin fundraising events, where candidates from all over Texas seeking state offices go to the state capital to raise money from lobbyists and special interest groups, often in a kind of serial check-harvesting operation held in adjacent rooms at a historic opera house now known as the Austin Club.

That’s not happening. Zoom is happening. It’s a way to hear from a candidate and to prompt like-minded or self-interested donors to send money. But it doesn’t build relationships the same way. Live fundraisers give donors and candidates a chance to meet in a way that’s not possible when the audience is a grid of faces on a computer screen.

The July runoffs are a trial run for the November general election. Voters will be wearing masks and carrying hand sanitizer, just like the election judges who handle their ballots. The courts are still deciding how many of those voters will be allowed to vote by mail. But the changes are on the other side, too, where candidates are trying to figure out how to connect with people they can’t see face to face, to build communities of people they’ve never actually met.

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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