Patty Hajdu had an idea an election was coming.
In a year end conversation with Acadia News, the Thunder Bay-Superior North Member of Parliament stressed even though a few have intimate knowledge of decisions in the Prime Minister’s office, she was prepared for a trip to the polls in 2021.
“I have always been the kind of person that prepares for the next election the day that the last one is over, especially in a minority government,” explained Hajdu. “We have ongoing donations, which included a fundraiser that we held in early 2020 just before the pandemic hit. We also have a pool of volunteers that we work with on a regular basis.”
Hajdu, who at the time was the Minister of Health, was involved in the discussions of a field hospital idea in Thunder Bay thanks to rising COVID-19 numbers and the possibility of another lockdown looming.
“I was meeting regularly with the health care and political leaders of the region on a regular basis,” recalled Hajdu. “As you know, the isolation centre came into play and that was a federal resource to allow for quick isolation of positive contacts that might not have had suitable isolation resources.”
Hajdu added it was teamwork involving the Thunder Bay District Health Unit that allowed the gradual decrease of cases to a more manageable level.
Following the election, Hajdu was named as the Minister of Indigenous services and Minister responsible for FedNor- her fifth portfolio since being elected in 2015.
