O’Toole, family to get tested for COVID-19 after staff member contracts virus

Federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and his family will be tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday after a member of his staff tested positive for the virus.

A statement from the party said the staff member was travelling with O’Toole.

It also said that while O’Toole has not shown symptoms, he and his family are being tested “out of an abundance of caution.”

“My family and I are feeling well, but we take COVID-19 very seriously. Today was going to be Jack’s first day back at school, but instead we will be getting tested and self-isolating per public health guidelines. The health and safety of my family and all Canadians is my top priority,” O’Toole said in a statement.

Other staff who were travelling with him are also being tested and self-isolating.

O’Toole’s office is also contacting everyone with whom he has recently met.

The Conservative leader was to appear at a party event in Alberta Wednesday evening, part of a mini-tour of the Conservative heartland in the West.

And he was just in Quebec, where he met Premier Francois Legault on Monday.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is also in self-isolation, awaiting the results of his own COVID-19 test after both his spouse and an aide tested positive for the illness.

Blanchet’s aide’s positive test, a few days after the Bloc caucus met in person in St-Hyacinthe, Que., prompted dozens of MPs and party workers to isolate themselves.