Albertans are dying, yet the Kenney Government is paralyzed, a deer caught in the headlights. Alberta is in crisis. Hammered by the fourth wave of the pandemic, our health care system appears to be on the verge of collapse. All elective surgeries in Calgary have been cancelled. The province leads
Continue readingTag: Tyler Shandro
Alberta Politics: That Delta variant COVID-19 scenario that Jason Kenney just didn’t see happening? As summer ends, it’s happening
Delta variant or no variant, Alberta would be pulling the plug on almost all COVID-19 restrictions on July 1, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney confirmed on June 18. “On July the first, on Canada Day, Alberta’s public health measures will be lifted and our lives will get back to normal,” he
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No surprise: Alberta health minister takes the bait with belligerent response to federal minister’s rebuke
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro and other United Conservative Party officials reacted with predictable belligerence yesterday to federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu’s letter chiding them for abandoning such public health measures as COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and mandatory isolation. In a nine-part Tweetstorm, Mr. Shandro accused the federal Liberals of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu waves a red flag in front of her irascible Alberta counterpart, Tyler Shandro
Obviously, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu didn’t expect to get a serious answer from Tyler Shandro, her Alberta counterpart, when she wrote the irascible minister to warn him the Kenney Government’s “unnecessary and risky gamble” to drop COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and mandatory isolation will put children at risk. In
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There’s schadenfreude and irony aplenty in UCP outrage at anti-vaxxers’ Canada Day invective in Calgary
Most reasonable people would agree that getting up close and personal while shouting at a politician enjoying the sunshine with their spouse and young children on a national holiday is not an appropriate way to protest a government policy with which you disagree. Admit it, though, there was just a
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Alberta’s Reopening Plan: “The Best Alberta Summer Ever”
“Today we are truly near the end of this thing. We’re finally getting back to normal, and I think it means the best Alberta summer ever.” – Premier Jason Kenney Last week Premier Kenney, Dr Deena Hinshaw, and Health Minister Shandro (collectively KHS) unveiled Open for Summer, Alberta’s reopening
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill to hinder COVID-negligence suits against long-term-care firms will also protect Kenney Government from scrutiny
The Kenney Government would like you to think the bill it introduced yesterday to make it hard to sue long-term-care companies for negligence causing the death from COVID-19 of anyone in their care “strikes a balance between protecting those who have dutifully followed the rules with still permitting civil action
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 72: The COVID 18 and the Curriculum Catastrophe
Alberta politics moves at a mile a minute and there’s no time to waste. On this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, we dive into the United Conservative Caucus rebellion against mild public health restrictions to fight COVID-19 and challenges to Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership, the controversial draft K-6 curriculum, and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Facing stark choice on COVID-19 response, Alberta delays third phase of reopening plan and blames Ottawa for all its troubles
Cornered by an upswing in the rate of COVID-19 cases and a frightening rise in cases of the more infectious B117 variant, Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government was forced yesterday to shelve its plan to move immediately into the third phase of its reopening. Under the circumstances, a return to
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Hey Doc, Ya Wanna Work in Alberta?
“Nice business you got here, be a shame if something happened to it.” – Gangster in a B-grade movie Alberta’s doctors are tired. They’ve been fighting covid for over a year while at the same time fighting with the Health Minister, Mr Shandro, who has filled their lives with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As world marks first anniversary of global pandemic, Alberta Medical Association surrenders to Kenney Government
Throughout the pandemic, Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro’s War on Doctors has been held up as an example of what a government ought not to do in the midst of a pandemic when front-line medical workers of all sorts are risking their lives to keep us safe and well. Yesterday,
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 70: Who was the most unpopular Premier in Alberta history?
We dive into our mailbag and answer some great questions sent in by Daveberta Podcast listeners. From the possibility of a United Conservative Party leadership review to Premier Jason Kenney’s new health care-friendly talking points to the Alberta Party leadership to the unpopularity of premiers Richard Reid and John Brownlee,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: More than 1,000 Albertans have died from COVID-19, half of them in the past month
Albertans learned yesterday the grim toll from COVID-19 in the province has now passed 1,000 deaths. This is a terrible tragedy but it need surprise no one, given humanity’s extensive knowledge of the science of infectious disease and the way the Kenney Government nevertheless dragged its feet each step of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will Jason Kenney risk cracks in his UCP coalition by enforcing new COVID-19 measures?
Better late than never, the Kenney Government sharply changed course yesterday and announced much tougher lockdown measures that have the potential to slow the spread of COVID-19. These will include closing bars, lounges, casinos, hair salons, libraries, and sports studios, restricting restaurants to take-out sales, mandating indoor masking and at-home
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 64: Pandemic, Partisanship, and Post-Secondary Education in Alberta
Melanee Thomas joined Dave Cournoyer for a deep dive into Alberta’s politics during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the relationship between the provincial and federal governments, and how Albertans’ political self-identification could be influencing Premier Jason Kenney’s decision to avoid serious public health measures including a province-wide mandatory mask mandate. Thomas
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Space, the UCP’s final frontier — taking catastrophe where no Alberta government has gone before!
Space, the final frontier … they even think Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party Government are an interstellar disaster at Starfleet Command! Well, in fairness to the Alberta premier and his out-of-its-depth government, William Shatner was never a real Starfleet commander, he just played one on TV. Ontario Health
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With pandemic respiratory disease rampaging virtually unchecked in Alberta, Calgary faces oxygen rationing
In a development that is surely emblematic of the unchecked progress of the novel coronavirus under the United Conservative Party Government of Premier Jason Kenney, Albertans learned yesterday we are now having to ration oxygen in Calgary. Oxygen! No fines were handed out when unmasked anti-maskers packed together defiantly to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP tries to recast story of premier’s meddling in pandemic response as tale of betrayal by unidentified leaker
Turns out the Kenney Government’s pandemic response has been guided more by political pressure and right-wing ideology than science and expert advice. For weeks Premier Jason Kenney and his army of “issues managers” have claimed Alberta’s determined effort to keep its restaurants, bars and casinos open in the face of
Continue readingNorthern Currents – : Public health over profit: Covid-19 is surging under Jason Kenny
Share this article: “The cure cannot be worse than the [virus] itself,” said Trump back in March. It seems that Alberta premier Jason Kenny and Health Minister Tyler Shandro have taken Trump’s words to heart. The dynamic between the two and Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Health Officer, echoes the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Premier is Missing (not a novel) – will he be back today to launch a big COVID-19 lockdown, or is it something else?
Where’s Jason Kenney? Alberta’s in the midst of a pandemic emergency that grows more frightening by the day, but it’s been days since the public’s seen or heard from the premier. Heath Minister Tyler Shandro (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta). There were 1,584 new COVID-19 cases in Alberta announced
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