By Steve Scherer

MONTREAL (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, seeking to carve out a lead ahead of Monday’s election, on Thursday said his main rival had adopted a lax approach to fighting COVID-19 and shown weak leadership.

Opinion polls indicate that Trudeau’s Liberals have tied with Erin O’Toole’s right-of-center Conservatives. They are likely to lose their bid for a majority in the parliamentary elections.

Trudeau (49) noted that O’Toole had earlier than the year praised Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s move to remove public health restrictions from his west province.

The number of COVID-19-related cases rose, which threatened the health system. Kenney, who apologized Wednesday for his mishandling of the pandemic and promised to introduce vaccine passports.

Trudeau said to reporters that the choices leaders make during a crisis are important… Trudeau stated that just days ago, Mr. O’Toole still praised Mr. Kenney’s management of pandemic.

Trudeau added, “That’s certainly not the leadership that Ottawa needs to end this pandemic.” Trudeau is a supporter of mandatory vaccine mandates. Although the Liberal leader is in power since 2015, he only holds a small number of seats in Parliament.

Trudeau claimed that Ottawa would send ventilators from Canada to Alberta. This was after the Liberals lost their 2019 election. Liberal campaign planners claim the party could win three out of 34 of the provincial’s 34 seats. They cite Kenney’s unhappiness.

O’Toole faces a difficult political task in addressing COVID-19. O’Toole supports inoculations, but he says that he would prefer rapid testing to mandated vaccinations.

They could see their support flowing to the Right-Wing People’s Party of Canada, which feeds into public anger about vaccinations and lockdowns.

Maxime Bernier, leader of the PPC, attacked Kenney in a Twitter attack over Kenney’s announcement about a vaccine passport. Bernier declared that he would travel to Alberta in order “to help them fight this despot.”

CTV’s rolling Nanos Research telephone poll of 1,200 Canadians revealed that 31.9% supported the Liberals while 30.3% supported the Conservatives. CTV also viewed the support for New Democrats, who were at 22.4%.

This result can lead to deadlock, in which neither party is capable of forming even a stable minority government. Trudeau, who was trying to take advantage of the pandemic’s handling, triggered the election in 2002. However, the Liberals were unable to overcome voter fatigue.