Hundreds of thousands of Albertans have lost their jobs.
Businesses have had to close their doors — many forever. #canlab
Even before the pandemic, Jason Kenney’s plan to hand over $4.7 Billion to profitable corporations failed. Investment fell, the economy stalled, and 50,000 jobs were lost.
The UCP are creating chaos in the health care by firing 11,000 frontline workers, driving doctors out of the province, and are failing to address the crisis in long-term care.
Albertans waited 12 days.
In that time, 94 Albertans died.
And more than 13,000 Albertans got sick with COVID-19. 1/17 #ableg#abhealth
Albertans waited 12 whole days expecting to see strong action, but once again, this Premier let them down.
Today’s announcement is simply not enough.
We don’t know what Dr. Hinshaw recommended to the Cabinet but I don’t for one second think it was this. 2/17 #ableg#abhealth
I suspect today’s decisions by this Premier were NOT governed by the advice of the public health officials, but by his own ideology combined with the internal political motivations of the UCP Caucus. 3/17 #ableg#abhealth
Yet, the only supports for small businesses are inadequate programs that generate automatic rejection letters.
"Due to technical limitations, businesses that meet new eligibility requirements and submit an application may initially receive a rejection notification as the system is updated."
Alberta’s NDP will be seeking an emergency debate on Monday afternoon on the record case counts of COVID-19 seen over the weekend, the lack of information being provided to the public and the lack of action from Premier Jason Kenney. #ableg#abhealth 1/7 #ableg#abhealth
This is the greatest public health threat we have faced in our lives. Albertans are always willing to roll up their sleeves and work together, but to do so they leadership and a roadmap. So far, the Premier has provided neither. 2/7 #ableg#abhealth
We have seen Premiers across the country address the public in recent days and provide modelling and other information that makes it clear just how big of a threat COVID-19 is. In Alberta, we’ve seen nothing of the sort. 3/7 #ableg#abhealth
Canada’s Chief Medical Officer of Health released national-level COVID-19 modelling to Canadians today, while Premier Jason Kenney continues to withhold his government’s own analysis from Albertans.
The data released by Dr Tam includes a single graph of Alberta modelling, which suggests a steep rise in daily new cases through to at least the end of 2020.
Both @DShepYEG and I have repeatedly pressured Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro to release updated modelling. They have denied it exists, and the Alberta government website reports “no updated models are being planned at this time.”
I am calling on Jason Kenney and the UCP government to implement a mandatory mask policy for all public indoor spaces in all regions on the enhanced list. #ableg#abhealth#covid19 1/8
The No.1 way we can protect the most vulnerable is to control community spread. Rural areas and smaller communities are at higher risk of their hospitals and continuing care centres overwhelmed and their economies hurt if we don’t get COVID-19 cases under control. #ableg 2/8
Currently 91 of Alberta’s 142 regions are on the enhanced list, and many do not have mask policies in place including, but not limited to, the City of Medicine Hat, the City of Brooks, the Town of Drumheller, and the City of Cold Lake. #ableg#abhealth#covid19 3/8
After learning that some health care workers who are sick or must isolate are being forced to take leave without pay, we are calling for Premier Jason Kenney to follow through on his commitment and introduce sustained sick pay.
The new federal sick pay program, formally called the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, does provide eligible recipients with $450 per week after taxes, but it only can only to cover two weeks of leave from work. #canlab
We can’t ask people to choose between paying their bills and obeying public health orders. The federal paid sick leave only lasts for 10 days and it does not apply to people working in hospitals who come into close contact with a patient positive for COVID-19.