“So, no, I don’t apologize for the decision to relax public health restrictions in the summer.” – Jason Kenney
Let’s recap what’s happened since July 1 when Kenney waxed eloquent about a new day dawning and the future looking brighter because we’d “crushed” covid and were officially open for summer. On that day Alberta had 67 new cases and the 7-day average was 59.
Not bad, but by late July/early August Dr Hinshaw realized Alberta was in trouble. Our data did not track the UK data and the expected “decoupling” of covid cases from hospitalizations failed to materialize.
So what did Kenney do? He took a 2-week vacation. On Aug 9, the day he disappeared, new cases had risen to 244 and the 7-day average was 302.
Kenney returned on Sept 1 (his 2-week vacation morphed to 23 days). By then cases had spiked to 1315 and the 7-day average was 1082.
Kenney recognized the danger and acted decisively (sorry, that was sarcasm).
Kenney (reluctantly) reacts
On Sept 3 Kenney introduced the $100 gift card incentive to boost vax rates (it didn’t) and implemented mandatory masking for indoor public spaces and no booze after 10PM to reduce rising case numbers (they didn’t).
On Sept 9 Health Minister Shandro tried a different tack. He unveiled a policy to create more ICU beds by shuffling up to 400 long term care patients to God knows where. Apparently, the thinking was if you can’t increase the vaccination rate, put more people into ICU.
Then finally on Sept 15 Kenney got serious. He announced more restrictions and his own version of a vaccine passport. Vaccine bookings tripled the very next day. Surprise!
But on that day we also learned all non-urgent surgeries would be cancelled to increase ICU capacity, the healthcare system was in danger of collapse and healthcare professionals were being trained to implement the Critical Care Triage Protocol.
Kenney went from 67 new cases on July 1 to 2020 new cases on Sept 17, 215 of which were in ICU. He had succeeded in pushing our hospitals to the brink and then some.
So much for a new day dawning and the future looking bright.
Our new reality: critical care triage protocol
So here’s the thing about the triage protocol. According to Dr James Talbot, Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, it’s not just another medical protocol, it’s a “signal you’re no longer in crisis, you’re in meltdown.”
What does meltdown look like?
The protocol applies province-wide to all critically ill adult and pediatric patients (no other Canadian jurisdiction has a protocol for kids, so this is a first for Alberta).
It allocates critical resources on the “capacity to benefit” principle (the likelihood of survival) in an effort to save the greatest number of lives possible.
It’s supplemented by the “formal equality” principle that “All individuals have equal moral worth.” This means if there’s no distinction between two patients’ capacity to benefit, they’ll be accepted into ICU on a first come, first served basis and if two patients arrive at the same time one will be randomly selected over the other.
Once in ICU, patients are reassessed daily and those who fail to remain eligible for critical care are transitioned out of ICU. Patients and/or their families do not have a choice or the right to consent to such a decision.
There’s a certain irony here. Those that argue vaccines and vaccine passports violate their individual rights and freedoms will, if they end up in ICU, have no say in whether they live or die; the protocol makes that decision. It seeks an outcome that provides the greatest good for the greatest number, individual rights and freedoms be damned.
Going into the fall
Kenney’s plan to push the healthcare system to its very limits failed when he overshot the mark. With the triage protocol looming on the horizon, he was forced to reverse his opposition to a vaccine passport system.
He said he had no choice. “The government’s first obligation must be to avoid large numbers of preventable deaths…Morally, ethically and legally, the protection of life must be our paramount concern.”
It’s strange that these moral, ethical and legal considerations were not of paramount concern on July 1, Aug 9, Sept 1, Sept 3, and Sept 9. Morality, ethics and law are not mutable, are they?
The bigger question is what can we expect from Kenney going into the fall?
Kenney is under tremendous pressure to appease his base. His caucus is divided. At least one UCP constituency association has formally demanded an early leadership review. Will he lift the restrictions prematurely to prevent a caucus revolt and cause yet another spike in cases and deaths when the covid virus refuses to play politics?
If Kenney can avoid a caucus revolt, will he be able to focus on the business of governing knowing the sharks are circling?
Alberta is in crisis, it cries out for calm steady leadership, instead we’re being whipsawed by an incompetent premier and his power-hungry party.
No one knows how this will play out, but one thing is certain, Jason Kenney’s fall (in every sense of the word) is going to be brutal.
Susan on the Soapbox 
Thank you Susan for keeping up the fight.
Legal question: Are Hinshaw, Shandro and Kenney committing criminal negligence?
This going to be a serious problem for Jason Kenney !
The obvious issue was & is whether he delayed, withheld or suppressed critical Healthcare information from reaching the citizenry. It’s public knowledge how secretive & manipulative he is, not to mention a truly anal micromanager. Thus he’s going have a hard time claiming he was unaware
A secondary issue is whether he colluded with the CPC and Erin O’Toole’s Campaign
The third issue will be potential class action lawsuits whereby he & associates are compelled by court order to preserve all related communications. That could drag in the CPC as well. There will be FOI’s as well and always potential for leaks or whistleblowers
He’s currently in dire straits internally with a comprehensive mutiny underway, polling internally at 9% – I see on Twitter some pretty detailed threads & descriptions of what the specific issues are that his own Party is outraged by
All bets may be off if Liberals gain a majority, perhaps even if Erin O’Toole loses seats to Liberal or NDP or Green or the People’s Party
Diamondwalker: these are excellent points. With respect to the third point, I just read an article saying it’s hard to sue a government for a negligent policy decision but easier to sue them for the negligent operationalization of that policy decision. This makes me wonder whether a lawsuit naming AHS (the operational arm of the Dept of Health) would be the way to go.
At the Sept 15 press conference the reporters tried to pin down when Kenney was briefed on the situation that resulted in him reinstating the restrictions. Kenney said he was briefed on Monday Sept 13, met with caucus and cabinet on Tues and Wed (Sept 14 and 15), then made the announcement later on Wed. A reporter asked Dr HInshaw the same question and Kenney practically jumped in front of her microphone to answer on her behalf. He said he makes the policy decisions. But the question wasn’t concerned about policy, it was asking when Hinshaw briefed Kenney.
My feeling is even if a plaintiff can’t sue the government directly, suing AHS would give the plaintiff access to all sorts of pertinent information that might show what Kenney knew and when he knew it.
PS When Hinshaw finally responded to the question she said two things (1) it was her practice to continually brief the government and (2) what she said in those briefings is protected by Cabinet confidentiality. So now we’re if she “continually” briefed Kenney when did he really know the hospitals, especially ICUs were dangerously overcapacity.
Public Servant: that is a very good question. I don’t know the answer but I certainly hope someone is exploring both criminal charges as well as civil liability. I will say one thing though. The fact Kenney referenced moral, ethical and LEGAL considerations when he said the government was obligated to avoid large numbers of preventable deaths leads me to believe he’s received legal advice on this topic. The reason this is important is I believe the obligation to avoid “preventable” deaths is real and it would have arisen on day one of the pandemic. It didn’t suddenly pop up out of the blue on Sept 15th.
Either way, they all have blood on their hands.
Yes, public policy has gotten real as real as it can be. This is no longer barroom banter, this is as serious as serious gets.
Comment and Mike: I couldn’t agree with you more. Very difficult times in Alberta right now.
“Not bad, but by late July/early August Dr Hinshaw realized Alberta was in trouble.” Isn’t this when Dr Hinshaw announced that covid 19 was endemic and that there was no further need for testing, contact tracing or isolation, or provincial masking orders?
Good point Ellen. You’re right. On July 28 Dr HInshaw announced the province was ending widespread testing, contact tracing and mandatory isolation because it was going to treat covid as an endemic, similar to the flu. On that day we had 194 new cases. This was more than twice as many as we had on July 1 when Kenney triumphantly declared Alberta was open for summer. You’ve got to wonder: what were they thinking?
It’s always politics with Kenney; it’s never about leadership and governing.
Sent from my iPhone
John, I agree, which is why listening to Shandro say “others” have politicized the government’s handling of covid is so ridiculous. The phrase “pot calling the kettle black” comes to mind.
So does the phrase, “Look in the mirror.”
Your last two small paragraphs sum it all up.Our incompetent Premier and equally incompetent Cabinet are definitely heading for a big fall.The big problem is they are taking the Province down with them. COVID will touch all of us in some way when this is over and so much could of been avoided with a little common sense instead of idiotic bravado. 2023 can’t come quick enough for most of us who don’t support the United Clown Party.
Paul I had this exact conversation with someone earlier today. Kenney was tearing our healthcare system apart even before covid hit. Then along came covid. He confused the public with misinformation (it’s a flu) and planted the seed that the imposition of restrictions was a violation of their Charter rights. When he finally imposed restrictions, he lifted them prematurely and now we find ourselves here, begging the feds to send us ventilators, the army and the Red Cross. This is insane in the richest province in Canada. Utterly insane.
When the NDP are re-elected in 2023 I hope they conduct a public inquiry into the Kenney government’s response to covid so jurisdictions the world over can learn what NOT to do the next time this happens.
“individual rights and freedoms be damned.” Definitely. What a mess. Actually we have been hearing about this in BC. He certainly screwed this up, didn’t he. Take care of yourselves everyone!
Linda, people have been hearing about Kenney’s mismanagement of covid all over the globe! What’s worrisome is there’s a small minority of Albertans who think Kenney went too far each and every time he imposed even the tiniest restrictions when any sane person can see he didn’t go far enough, fast enough. His ineptitude will cost us dearly in all areas, health, education, and the economy. We’re going to be paying the price for a very long time.
“Morally, ethically and legally, the protection of life must be our paramount concern.”
Life is not simply some abstract philosophical or theoretical notion, life is each and every individual human being. This quote might be the statement of principle emblazoned on our wall of names of people who lost and who sacrificed their lives to COVID-19.
Mike, the fact these words fell from Kenney’s lips astounded me. This man insisted for 19 months that the government’s job was to balance lives and livelihoods. As if he could put a price on a human life on one side of the scale and balance it with the economic impact of restrictions on the other. It was inhumane.
It’s pretty awful when party ideology replaces common sense. The whole united clown party and the the Chief Medical Officer of Health are complicit. The pretend premier continues to call this a healthcare crisis. It is indeed, but he is responsible for that. Hopefully they all get what they deserve.
Sharon you make a very interesting point. When Kenney calls it a “healthcare crisis” he downplays his role in causing the crisis. It’s something that’s happening over there, like a flood or a hurricane, not something he and his ideologue exacerbated time and again. I really hope the NDP call a public inquiry into this when they are elected in 2023. Kenney, Shandro, Hinshaw, and Kenney’s entire cabinet must be held to account.
The holding to account must obviously be carried out, whether it’s through the courts, the legislature in its committees, a special commission. I like the court process because that will rely on expert witnesses and actual scientific, medical, epidemiological evidence without being tainted by political opinion. That might help remove doubt about the facts of the disease and the preventive and mitigation measures required, with the force of law. Some folks will still not be persuaded, I am sure, but I suspect most fence-sitters will come to accept all these items as fact, all of which would, I assert, serve the public good.
Whether those leading these ill-fated decisions are found culpable is really only important to me on that basis, that the facts are established, that serious non-ideological approaches to governing are the only ones that count and that can actually be of proven benefit.
Public inquiry, via court process or otherwise, would help to move this conversation led by our sagacious and erudite leader, out of our echo chamber.
Susan: Thanks for another great blog. We keep continuing to pay for the UCP’s mistakes in so many ways, including with how they are looking after the covid situation in Alberta. It’s terrible how people are having their lives put at risk here. I’ll share something fitting. It is a Jimmy Page composition, Who’s To Blame? This is a live performance of the song at the ARMS concert, at the Royal Albert Hall, on September 20, 1983. The musicians are:
Jimmy Page – guitar.
Andy Fairweather Low – guitar.
Fernando Saunders – bass guitar.
Chris Stainton – keyboards.
Earl Hooker – keyboards.
Simon Phillips – drums.
Ray Cooper – drums.
Steve Winwood – vocals.
Thank you Dwayne, you present such an interesting range of songs. You’re right though, we’ll get out of this with a little help from our friends. Family, friends, community, that’s what really counts at the end of the day.
Susan: I thought I’d share another song. This is Joe Cocker doing a cover of a John Lennon and Paul McCartney composition, With A Little Help From My Friends. It was released in May, 1969. It features Jimmy Page, who was a session guitarist, and also a member of the Yardbirds. Here he returned to the role as a session musician, in 1968, when this was recorded, before forming the supergroup Led Zeppelin that same year. B.J Wilson, from the group, Procol Harum, (famous for the song Conquistador), is on drums. It has a nice, positive message.
Now that’s a very well-written post!
Greetings from a Nova Scotian who has family in Calgary. I cannot imagine how it feels to be 50 times more likely to be exposed to Covid just by grocery shopping than it is here. But it is, based on the numbers. Has been from day one 18 months ago. Even if one is fully vaccinated, that’s bad odds for a breakthrough infection even if they only run a couple of percent of the total. In other words, an unvaccinated person here is as likely to get Delta as a fully vaxxed person in Alberta. That’s dystopic to contemplate. My brother there is so put out by the situation, he won’t discuss it with me, saying he knows all too well the implications, and gets depressed talking about it.
I appreciate the clarifications on triage protocols. What in hell can rationally be done to recover a sane society in Alberta? kenney and co-travellers in right wing ideological BS is one thing, but the large number of people wandering around in a logical daze is quite another, and they seem vociferously irrational at that. I can only think that those people got sucked into a Conservative mindset over the years that praised individualism to the detriment of community spirit and organization. Makes for a compliant workforce not eager to unionize, and perhaps that was the goal. When reality intruded with a nasty virus, denial of its very existence and the need to comport oneself to minimize spread and risks to others took a back seat over the “right” to be stupid and think only of oneself. We have similar goofballs here, but the proportion in society is far less.
It is my theory that a good half of people in Canadian society are not well-informed and also quite incurious about almost everything. Google functional illiteracy in Canada, and prepare to be shocked at the results. Reading comprehension is even worse. Good article from January this year
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/let-s-get-digital-from-bitcoin-to-stocktok-plus-what-low-literacy-means-for-canada-s-economy-1.5873703/nearly-half-of-adult-canadians-struggle-with-literacy-and-that-s-bad-for-the-economy-1.5873757
Hmm.
Bill, you nailed it. The article at the link is particularly appropriate here in Alberta. Kenney’s agenda is focused on undermining education (along with healthcare, social services, etc) from kindergarten all the way up through university. He doesn’t value experts or scholars. He is suspicious of critical thought. His issues managers are all over social media calling people names (and this is supposed to pass for dialogue). He and his followers were outraged when they discovered a school assignment that they said proved the NDP were inflicting their climate change “propaganda” on students. What actually happened was a student brought home an assignment where he was asked to attribute a statement about climate change to an energy worker or an environmentalist. This was an exercise in critical thinking, who would make this statement, not who is right. But good luck trying to explain that to any of them.
This is a horrible place right now. It’s going to get worse as the far right battle the moderate right for control of the UCP. My only hope is they fracture the party and it becomes that much easier to replace them with the NDP in 2023.
PS I’m glad your lives are much more peaceful out east. That’s what comes from having sane people in government.
How long until until Kenney, Hinshaw and smarmy little Tyler Shandrow are forced to resign? Too little, too late – they have destroyed AHC, critically injured Alberta education, and killed their own party, the Fascist-keaning UCP. Today, Albertans will no doubt choose to be governed federally by the corporatist O’toole, despite the Kenney/O’toole bromance. Ugh.
On Sun., Sep. 19, 2021, 7:46 p.m. Susan on the Soapbox, wrote:
> susanonthesoapbox posted: ” “So, no, I don’t apologize for the decision to > relax public health restrictions in the summer.” – Jason Kenney Let’s recap > what’s happened since July 1 when Kenney waxed eloquent about a new day > dawning and the future looking brighter because we’d “cr” >
Rockymountain: I’m convinced Kenney will never resign. They’ll have to drag him out of the premier’s office kicking and screaming, crying and bleating. That’s why the caucus revolt is problematic. Kenney’s sole focus will be on keeping his job, everything else will become secondary. We still have a long way to go before we’re clear of covid, it would be nice if the government actually paid attention before our hospitals and school systems collapsed.
Shandro won’t resign, Kenney will eventually shuffle him off to another cabinet post as a reward for taking the bullets meant for Kenney.
As for Hinshaw, he’ll keep her around until she no longer serves his purpose which is to provide him air cover. He follows the “science”, she’s the “science” provider who apparently tells him exactly what he wants to hear. He’ll fire her later if the hospitals collapse and the army and Red Cross are brought in as a way to deflect blame from himself. Until then we’re stuck with her.
It’s like living in an episode of The Three Stooges but instead of poking each other in the eye, they’re poking and jabbing us.
“If Kenney can avoid a caucus revolt, will he be able to focus on the business of governing knowing the sharks are circling?”
Kenney was never focused on the business of governing. He wanted power, enough Albertans stupidly gave it to him, and that was all he and his cronies were ever interested in. Those of us who feared the outcome of a UCP victory back in 2019 could not foresee how devastatingly bad a UCP win would be for all Albertans.
Maggie, you’re absolutely right. Kenney came to Alberta not for Albertans but for himself. To build his brand as the great Conservative hope who would one day replace Scheer, O’Toole, and O’Toole’s successor as the leader of the CPC and eventually become PM.
But he bungled the job so badly the CPC don’t want him. Heck, he’s driving federal conservatives into the arms of the PPC.
I tell all my non-Alberta friends they owe us big time. We’re taking a bullet for them, saving them from the nightmare of prime minister Kenney.
Well he has made the world take notice of Alberta: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/15/canada-alberta-healthcare-system-covid-cases-rise
I’m so proud!
Joe, thanks for the link. This comment from one of the nurses summarized our situation perfectly: “All these decisions from the government are clearly to satisfy their voter base. But what a lack of insight to see that it’s their base that’s dying and causing us to resort to battlefield medicine.”
And still Kenney’s base doesn’t get it.
Under this government I am embarrased, and dismayed, to be Albertan.
I know what you mean Mike. From now on when we travel we’ll have to explain to people that yes, we’re from Alberta, but no we didn’t vote for Kenney who destroyed our province. I traveled to Europe when Trump was in power. That’s how the American we met would introduce themselves.
But hey, we’re people of destiny, people of the buffalo, or whatever it was that Kenney used to tell us we were. What a nutbar!
“There’s a certain irony here. Those that argue vaccines and vaccine passports violate their individual rights and freedoms will, if they end up in ICU, have no say in whether they live or die; the protocol makes that decision. It seeks an outcome that provides the greatest good for the greatest number, individual rights and freedoms be damned.” Most of us like to think we are quite sensible, but according to your observation and research data, logic often plays a small role in decision-making.
The thing is, those “rights & freedoms” are only constrained temporarily, and those constraints are fairly minimal: wear a mask in public … get the shot or stay home … etc. The effect of not doing so is PEOPLE DYING — and DEATH IS PERMANENT. What about people’s rights to live & breathe?
Which, then, should be the priority?
Jerrymacgp: I agree. I don’t understand why the utilitarian principle doesn’t apply here. Can’t we make public health decisions that result in the greatest good for the greatest number BEFORE our ICUs are overflowing and we have to invoke the Triage Protocol?
David, a psychologist once told me that there is no logic when one becomes emotional so it’s pointless to try to reason with them. Sadly in this case, their lack of reason is harming us all.
‘No one knows how this will play out, but one thing is certain, Jason Kenney’s fall (in every sense of the word) is going to be brutal.’
I have no more words about Jason Kenney. By far the worse political disgrace I have ever seen.
I surely hope that your last sentence comes true. I hope it is worse than brutal because these people deserve to become completely irrelevant for the rest of their lives. The disrespect for Alberta society is abdominal.
Carlos, apparently Kenney faced down his “restive” caucus today, managing to avoid a vote of non-confidence in his leadership. However the UCP’s VP of policy says enough constituency associations have signed on to force a vote on Kenney’s leadership.
I find it hard to believe Kenney is focused on governing when he’s on the brink of losing power.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/canada/jason-kenney-faces-down-divided-ucp-caucus-over-albertas-covid-19-crisis
hi — great blog -thanks for doing this…
You’re very welcome Linda!
Kenny and his compatriots don’t see being in government has providing a public service. They see it as mechanism to serve their corporate sponsors and partners and to make sure that they gain economically. To maintain their power they are willing to do and say anything to please their electoral base even if this base represents a clear danger to most of us. I have lived in BC for most of my life and lived through bad times but I have never seen anything like this – beyond disheartening. On the good side, the quality, dedication and sheer guts of the opposition here is awesome..love the way community based organizations and esp the Save our Province people have taken the narrative right away from AHS after it and Kenney abandoned us. Other groups like Bed Checkers and Save our Schools have been amazing. But the downside is that this is what a good government should be doing but won’t. Thank you Susan for being one of these wise voices and for all the wise voices who write in.
JCurrie: you make an excellent point when you comment on the perseverance and impact of civil society here in Alberta. I was dismayed to learn that doctors advocating for prudent action in the face of covid and the triage protocol have been warned by the police that they are the subject of credible death threats. Since when does individual freedom include the right to murder someone you don’t agree with. It’s mind boggling.
Notley’s opposition is awesome and deserves to win in 2023, particularly as Kenney become more and more focused on saving his political career. Normally having no leadership would be a bad thing, but given what Kenney has inflicted on us thus far, maybe distracting him with internal party politics is a blessing in disguise.
Thank you for being one of the wise voices who share their thoughts on this blog!
Was our so called leadership criminally negligent? I’d say yes, but unfortunately my opinion likely wouldn’t be upheld by a court of law. For one thing, our politicians are adept at quickly passing legislation that absolves them of any repercussions for their less than intelligent decisions. As for Kenney or Shandro taking the fall, the UCP has already set up Dr. Hinshaw to do that. I expect a pious announcement that since the UCP government acted on Dr. Hinshaw’s recommendations – 100% adopted as per the ‘Open for Summer’ announcement – that any ‘punishment’ will be solely Dr. Hinshaw’s.
Sadly the time when those in power made at least a token effort to do what was best for the majority rather than doing what was best for themselves has long since passed. The focus is to get re-elected at any cost, not to actually get on with the job of governing or making those hard, possibly ending any chance of being re-elected decisions that are actually in the best interests of the citizens those politicians are elected & paid handsomely to serve. All I can say is, don’t get seriously sick right now. Your chances of actually receiving the care you need are not good. That isn’t the fault of the health care workers. Kenney & crew are the ones who are to blame.
Linda, to your point about a failure of leadership, yesterday Kenney announced he’d accepted Shandro’s resignation, and yet Shandro’s resignation did not result in him being booted out of Cabinet. Nope, he just switched jobs with Copping and is now out of the line of fire for screwing up. Perhaps this is because Shandro was never in charge of the covid file, Kenney was and, let’s face it Kenney won’t fire Kenney.
It’s hard not to become cynical in the face of this kind of behavior but we have to hang on until 2023 when we can show them the door.
In the meantime, as you suggest, we have to do everything we can not to become ill or we might not make it to 2023. AHS just issued an “altered care schedule” for reduced patient care. For example, standard care used to require suction tube changes every 24 hours, under altered care this goes to every 72 hours. IV lines used to be changed every 72 hours, under altered care it’s every 96 hours. Clearly the nurses are run off their feet. AHS is scrambling to keep up and now a new guy (Copping) is in the driver’s seat.
God what a mess.
Super blog….. fingers crossed for today!
Hope you are well.
Cheryl
Check out my website http://www.good2gophotography.com
Hi Cheryl. We made it through the federal election and thankfully do not have a Conservative prime minister. I’m okay with the outcome. I think the Liberals now understand we just want them to get the job done. They worked well with the NDP to help the country cope with covid, they’ll have to do the same to get us to the other side of covid and restart the economy and push ahead on climate change. They’re both smart progressive parties, they can do this.
An earlier conversation came to mind, “On Friday Shandro tried to make the argument that Delta is different and the goal posts moved, but this is something the experts everywhere recognized a while ago. The goal posts didn’t move, the government wore blinders.” What are the goal posts Shandro is talking about? Was his wording such as to have us believe the measures of effectiveness his department and AHS have set for themselves have been challenged and proven inadequate so they had to be reset to make for more effective government? Perhaps the actual goal posts were the sudden new awareness of possible legal threats to the Government, the Cabinet, the AHS, the decision-makers as individuals? No one person in their “base” is facing such peril, but perhaps these “leaders” are? Rock, meet Hard Place.
Mike, Shandro’s claim that the “goal posts moved” goes hand in hand with Kenney’s assertion that “covid is unpredictable”. I agree with you that both are a smoke screen to protect themselves and their entire caucus from accountability for the mess we find ourselves.
I read somewhere that Shandro and Schweitzer (both lawyers) pressured Kenney to accept vaxx passports and I wonder if that’s where Kenney’s newfound concern for doing what’s right morally, ethically, and legally comes from. In any event this government will stagger through the next year while the rest of us struggle to survive. It’s unbelievable that the richest province in the country bungled the pandemic so badly, but when ideology trumps reason there’s no where to go but down.
.. A couple of points here..
A- I was not talking lawsuit, I was talking charges of Criminal Negligence, when RCMP in this case are obliged to examine & lay charges, there the Attorney General takes charge. Thus we are talking Federal involvement, not necessarily Provincial
B – Dr Henshaw can claim Cabinet Confidence (Secrecy) and Kenney can work his specialties of Obstruction, Delays & Denial. A lawyer could define the scope of Cabinet Confidence in this case.. like all things, it’s has ‘boundaries’.. it’s not omnipotent..it’s entrenched in Law. Dr Hinshaw however is at extreme risk, career and reputation in tatters. Is she part of the Kenney Cabinet or simply a Public Servant ?
C – The Court of Public Opinion (Media) would come to bear
and that is a real ‘bear’ excuse the wordplay.. and many people truly relish a dumpster fire scandal, where crooked and corrupt political animals get torched. This is a classic example
D – As well as AHS, and going after all communications, there is likely another avenue for The Law
That would be The War Room. I scarcely believe it can shelter under Cabinet Confidence as it was intentionally set up to be outside the law with freedom from FOI’s. It’s a truly unusual Corporate creation, chock full of opaque secrecy. I could see all the principles being subpoenaed, even if there are elements they can shelter. And just look at who the 4 ‘Officers’ of the Corporate entity are !!. Nobody can tell me there is not extreme crossover and/or conflict of interest in play. Those Officers are also Senior in Cabinet. Haha.. Matt Wolf.. is he in Cabinet ? How about Benjamin Harper ?
Diamondwalker, all of these are excellent points and I certainly hope the families of those who’ve lost their lives or are victims of long covid will pursue these avenues.
One of the most powerful avenues we have is the Court of Public Opinion. I truly believe that people like Dr Vipond and Dr Markland and many other healthcare professionals were instrumental in helping us pivot from anguish and helplessness to a sense of purpose. Eventually Kenney realized that the majority was not with him on the “no restrictions” argument and he made the decision to implement the Sept 15 restrictions. Once again it was too little, too late, but it’s something and I believe all Albertans are beholden to those who advocate on our behalf.
I know it was a rhetorical question, but
“Morality, ethics and law are not mutable, are they? ”
No, but it appears that for the UCP they are completely saleable.
Thank you for another excellent article Susan. Lots of perceptive comments too, including those from the usual suspects. 🙂
I realize Kenney does not do contrition well at all, but this “I apologize … I don’t apologize …” apology is bad, even by his standards.
I expect we will continue to see defiance and various attempts to blame someone or something else. However, this time I don’t think it will work for Kenney.
I believe even diehard UCP supporters now realize Kenney has caused a great deal of damage. At this point they know the only hope they have of staying in power is to quickly find a more competent leader.
Finding a more competent leader in the UCP is not going to be an easy task.
Some of the current cabinet ministers are the same or worse than Jason Kenney. People like Shandro, Savage, LaGrange, Madu, Nixon…..who have proven to be as dangerous and as idiotic.
I for one am not really sorry for them. I hope they simple implode and disappear as a party, they are not worth anything of value for the citizens of this province.
On the other hand, after this federal election where the PPC rec’d over 7 times the votes of the Green party, Albertans must be very wary of those that will be put forward to replace them.
On a brighter note: The NDP’s Heather McPherson retained her federal seat in a resounding fashion, and added a colleague from Griesbach to join her.
That’s not to mention two Liberal (!?) seats were won, which is just plain old astounding. I didn’t even realize someone from that party had leased a truck with a lift kit and Holley Carbs to yeehaw around with during the campaign!
Furthermore to what GoinFawr has stated I want to let you know that a book came out from Athabasca University Press titled ‘Regime Obstruction’ .
For those of you who like to read, like I do, I think this book is important. It demonstrates that the dangers to our already weak democracy are real not just from parties like the PPC but also from the major corporations that operate in Alberta
The book is edited by William K. Carroll and there is a review on it by Kevin Taft on the latest edition of the ‘AlbertaViews’, again the best Canadian Magazine I know of.
Thank you Carlos.
Always Welcome – Fall is here and a good book makes a great companion especially now that we have to wait until the Spring to see whether or not we get rid of the UCP misery.
70% of Albertans want him gone but the bully will prevail just like his antivaxxers supporters.
Something is very wrong with leaders in this province.
Let me try to understand this one – Deena Hinshaw one of the people fully responsible for the 4th wave with her strategy of opening for Summer and for Good with no contact tracing, no testing and no physical distancing is now calling, a group of morons that want to organize a party to get Covid-19 so that they can get immunity, irresponsible !
Do these people have any sense of shame or responsibility? She is on the radio calling them irresponsible. WOW this is just beyond my capacity to understand sick people.
Grow up Deena and resign – you are done
Thank You Deena Hinshaw and Jason Kenney for the greatest Summer ever – the consequences are now yours to take as well – what a circus
https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2021/09/24/cp-newsalert-emergency-doctor-says-key-parts-of-health-triage-have-begun-in-alberta-2/#.YU4qmLhKiUl
Mr. Braid: https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/braid-tears-grief-and-anger-over-the-ucps-epic-covid-19-collapse?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Calgary%20Covid%2019%20Newsletter%202021-09-24&utm_term=CALGARY_COVID_NEWSLETTER. Please read his column. Hiding under cover of statistics is to hide under bodies of our dead neighbours and family.