#Anleg News 🧵
This was BY FAR the WORST Bad News Week for the @UCPCaucus EVER!
🤷🏻♂️ The UCP can’t account for $657,000,000 (Story #1-2)
🤦🏻♂️ The Sovereignty Act Makes International News (#19)
😬 Two (Bad) Polls on Smith! (#23-24)
Here’s 27 (TWENTY SEVEN) bad news UCP stories!
#Ableg News 🧵
1. 😬 Alberta’s Auditor General is asking the UCP to account for over $657,000,000 in Covid funding!
The UCP’s “Small & Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant program ONLY put 1,055 of 101,762 (1%)
approved applicants through a post-payment verification process!
#Ableg News 🧵
2. The Auditor General ALSO checked 1,052 of 101,762 approved business applicants.
They found OVER half of those audited (52%) were NOT eligible!
UCP MLA Brian Jean said his team was on it, but admitted they ONLY recovered $500,000 of $5,000,000,000.
#Ableg News 🧵
3. 😞. 46 Albertans died of Covid-19 last week, with 1,042 Albertans in hospital and 38 in ICU
By comparison, on Dec. 5, 2021, there were only 383 Albertans hospitalized with COVID-19
Hospitalizations have remained above 1,000 since Sept. 25.
#Ableg News 🧵
4. 😔. A #YYC hospice that providing palliative care for kids with life-limiting illnesses was suspended as staff were diverted to Alberta’s Children’s Hospital
Health Minister Copping’s spokesperson blamed “an early flu season” but offered no solutions.
#Ableg News 🧵
5. Approximately 2 surgeries per day are being postponed at Alberta Children’s Hospital as due to high patient volumes.
20 kids had surgery delays so far.
A heated trailer was recently placed outside the hospital’s emergency room to serve as overflow space
#Ableg News 🧵
6. Doctors across Alberta are calling on the UCP to take URGENT action to address the crisis facing pediatric hospitals.
Both Children’s Hospitals in #YEG and #YYC are overwhelmed by an unprecedented surge of respiratory illnesses inc, C-19, influenza and RSV
#Anleg News 🧵
7. In ANOTHER call for help, the Alberta Medical Association’s paediatric section is begging the CMOH to take action by increasing vaccines access, and HEPA filters + masks in schools
Alberta’s new CMOH has appeared in public since smith banned masks last month
#Anleg News 🧵
8. Nurses have come to call it "Black Sunday." last Sunday when the Alberta Children's Hospital was so overwhelmed, staff worried a child could die in the waiting room.
One nurse said a mask mandates in all schools with a 10 % absenteeism was critical
#Anleg News 🧵
9. A 5-yr old experiencing a serious medical situation was brought to hospital via a fire truck because an ambulance wasn’t available i Red Deer.
It was also noted that In #YYC, patients have recently been transported in both fire trucks and police cars
#Ableg News 🧵
10. The ICU at Chinook Regional Hospital was over 100% capacity this past week, with ONLY 3 ICU beds open today.
Local UCP MLA Neudorf had no solutions for the ongoing crisis, but did say he’d “continue to advocate for Lethbridge” by talking to Cooping 🤷🏻♂️
#Ableg News 🧵
11. Despite Smith claiming she could secure 5M bottles of kids meds ASAP, Health Canada said it still needed to endure the meds are manufactured to Canadian standards and meet Canada's quality, safety and efficacy requirements
This process could take months!
#Ableg News 🧵
12. Alberta’s 2 deputy CMOH suddenly resigned this week.
It’s the latest news of turnovers in Alberta’s health system since Smith took over, coming less than a month after Hinshaw was fired
It’s unclear when the 2 deputies will leave or who will replace them.
#Ableg News 🧵
13. A solicitor for #YYC suggested Smith’s sovereignty act could create huge “problems for the municipality, including forcing council to defy some laws against its will”.
The “best case scenario” for #YYC was said to be if the UCP didn’t use the act at all.
#Ableg News 🧵
14. Former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge attempted to convince Smith her flagship bill will chase away investment.
Dodge echoed numerous business advocacy groups, First Nation chiefs, and legal scholars who expressed concern about the bill.
#Ableg News 🧵
15. Smith refused to admit she made a mistake when she snuck a provision that gave her cabinet sweeping power to rewrite laws outside the legislature process.
Smith backtracked after first rejecting accusations her bill gave her those powers, but reversed course
#Anleg News 🧵
16. After Notley called Smtih’s Act “groundwork for eventual separation” Smith rejected accusations the bill is a separatist Trojan Horse, saying its intent is in the title. “The name of the bill is Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act”
But wait…
#Ableg
17. Barry Cooper. Danielle Smith’s chief architect for her Sovereignty Act said “Canada's Constitution is not a legitimate document”, and “has not safeguarded Alberta's interests within federation”
“I want the Constitution to be changed, or we'll have another referendum”
#Ableg News 🧵
18. #YYC Mayor Gondek said she is frustrated with the Sovereignty Act, saying it will strip autonomy from the municipal government, even AFTER a call with UCP MLA Rebecca Shultz.
Gondek said she is willing to work with the federal government to find solutions
#Ableg News 🧵
19. Alberta makes INTERNATIONAL news again!!!
“The Guardian” discussed how Smith’s sovereignty act allows Alberta to ignore federal laws, how Smith faced criticism from within her own party, and conservatives worry will scare off investors and businesses!
#Ableg News 🧵
20. The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations called for Smith’s Sovereignty Act to be withdrawn
Chiefs connected with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Treaty 6 & 7 say the act “infringes on treaty rights” & “amendments aren’t enough”
#Ableg News 🧵
21. Women's shelters turned away 11,546 women & seniors and 6,241 children, because they were full.
After Shelters asked for 20% more funds to build spaces; UCP MLA Nixon said he’d instead look at a small salary increase for staff. The UCP froze salaries in 2019
#Anleg News 🧵
22. According to a new report, Smiths re-indexing benefits and a small 6% increase to social assistance DOES NOT cover the 3-years the UCP went without indexation
A single parent with 1 child has 25% less purchasing power after paying for rent and food since 2020
#Ableg News 🧵
23. Smith no-showed for the unveiling of Notley’s official portrait for her time as premier
Premiers ALWAYS pay respect to past premiers. Notley did it 3x as premier, unveiling portraits of former PC premiers Redford, Hancock & Prentice
Smith said she had plans
#Ableg News 🧵
24. Alberta School staff are working triple duty AFTER the UCP created a new regulation forcing school boards to ensure all students have access to in-person learning, no matter how high absences get!
LaGrange claimed her decision was based on parental feedback.
#Ableg News 🧵
25. Alberta teachers are seeing an increase in class sizes with greater levels of complexity and diversity of student needs, according to a new survey.
64% of teachers saw an increase in classroom size, while 36% have 30 to 40 students, or more, in their classes
🚨 NEW Poll 🚨
26. Smith’s 1st “popularity” poll as Premier is a total flop
53% of Albertans DO NOT approve of Smith as the majority of Albertans are opposed to her Act
Smith said she hopes “to never use it” but feels it’s an important message to send to Ottawa 🚨 NEW Poll 🚨
#Ableg News 🧵
27. The NDP and UCP are polling at equal strength. The neck-and-neck results follow similar data from a Leger poll last week, which showed 47 per cent voter intention for the NDP compared to 44 per cent for the UCP.
#Anleg News 🧵
@AB_AgainstUCP and I wanted to give MANY thanks: @YYCCowboy @DevinShat @Mitchell_AB @KikkiPlanet @MichelletypoQ @TheBlueGem3 @SeanDunn10 @JasonPYYC @ChadOhman @kim_siever @AlbertastanLive @scottdellinger @scottheidi576 and YOU for reading!!
Oh and @TheBreakdownAB! Thank you and your team
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