Thread by @ProgressAlberta

We are going to be on the Hinshaw/Kenney presser in a few minutes but it seems like the vast majority of what's going to happen is in this CBC story cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

For some reason these won't be starting until next Monday but here's what apparently coming:
No in-person service for restaurants, pubs, bars, lounges and cafes. Only takeout, curbside pickup and delivery services will be permitted.

Casinos, bingo halls, gaming entertainment centres, racing entertainment centres, horse tracks, raceways, bowling alleys, pool halls, legions and private clubs will be closed.

Fitness centres, recreation centres, pools, spas, gyms, studios, camps, indoor rinks and arenas will be closed.
Also libraries, science centres, interpretive centres, museums, galleries, amusement parks and water parks.

Businesses offering personal and wellness services such as hair salons, nail salons, tattoo parlours and massage businesses will also be closed.

However retail businesses and places of worship will remain open but must reduce capacity to 15 per cent of the occupancy allowed under the fire code.

Thanks Kenney.

The only things that look like they will remain open are K-6 schools and shops and places of worship at 15% capacity.

No rush though or anything.

It's unclear if Santa will still be in the malls but we're guessing no. That's the metric for deciding if you're cancelling Christmas right?

Jason Kenney is on and taking time to remind us of the great job he's done so far.

Who can forgot how we paid the NHL $4 million to come to Edmonton.

640 Albertans have died from COVID-19.

Thousands of surgeries and other medical procedures have had to be cancelled because of how poorly the government has handled the COVID-19 response.

Jason Kenney talking about the hard reality of exponential viral growth. Almost like we should have done this weeks ago.

Jason Kenney talking about the insufficient measures that were brought in two weeks ago. Now talking about how as a government official he has a secure paycheque. You're the premier, you can pay people to stay home.

First mention of constitutional freedoms.

Jason Kenney has made no secret about the fact that's been unwilling to do anything that would be effective in stopping the spread of COVID.

"The good news is that the rate of transmission and the positivity rate has largely appeared to have stabilized," Kenney.

All outdoor social gatherings are banned.
Province wide mask mandate, exception for farmers.

Kenney is going over the restrictions that were largely covered higher up in the thread.

These restrictions start on Sunday. And will be in place for 4 weeks. Will be province wide.

"The bottom line is we must have a coordinated, province wide approach," Kenney.

Kenney talking about Christmas. At home gatherings are the single highest source of viral transmission. Limit Xmas gatherings to your household. Christmas is cancelled folks.

Nothing in this address so far for income supports for people put out of work or making far less money because of these restrictions.

Kenney is increasing supports for The Businesses. Nothing about supports for workers.

Case count data for the past 24 hours:
*1727 new COVID-19 cases
*Positivity rate of 9%
*9 new deaths brings, bringing the total to 640
*654 people in hospital
*112 people in ICU
*20,388 total active cases
New records for hospitalizations, ICU and active cases. #ableg

Kenney talking about the positivity rate stabilizing is very strange. 9% is incredibly high. Higher than 5% and you're seeing large-scale, uncounted community spread.

Shandro still just repeating stuff we already know and that's already been said.

Schweitzer on to talk about how much money The Businesses will be getting. Doesn't look like workers get anything.

Hinshaw up to talk. Edmonton health zone has been hit hard by COVID. The highest number of COVID hospitalizations and people in ICU in the province. Royal Alex is on watch for the whole facility.

Hinshaw rattling off super depressing statistics about how bad COVID-19 is right now in the province. It's not good folks.

Onto questions. We are in the queue. David Staples get first crack. Whee.

Will the restrictions work when all of your other restrictions haven't asks Staples. Actual decent question from ol' David. The COVID-zero part of the question is bad of course. But you take what you can get.

R value of 1.2 and positivity rate between 8 to 9 is incredibly, incredibly bad. Not good news. Please stop talking Jason Kenney.

Jason Kenney continues to reassure us, "that we're not chasing zero." Heaven forfend.

Question: Why didn't you do this two weeks ago and will these restrictions work? Kenney: Word salad.

"We sought to limit damage to broader society," Kenney responding to a question about why he didn't bring in stronger restrictions earlier. Well you did a piss poor job. Turns out that when your healthcare system fails it damages society.

Jason Kenney is very sorry to the small businesses he hurt by bringing in restrictions in the spring.

"We decided not to make that mistake a second time," Jason Kenney on the restrictions he brought forward in the spring that actually stopped the spread of the virus.

Good question from @JWongGlobalNews on why cabinet is deciding what information gets released to the public, specifically the R value. A lot of hype a few weeks about regularly releasing R value data but then it died.

Former UCP member and Calgary Herald columnist Licia Corbella gets through with a question about air travel. Here are the details on how she was an active UCP member who wrote several columns about Kenney that were quietly deleted by the Herald. pressprogress.ca/calgary-herald…

@Jantafrench: Do you think how badly you messed up your COVID response means that economic recovery will be even more difficult (paraphrase). Kenney: Ontario and Quebec have lockdowns and look how bad they're doing. Also Peru and Italy and Spain. Look over there!

It's cold here in Alberta so that's why COVID-19 has been worse here says Kenney. (paraphrase)

Apparently only Postmedia exists as another Postmedia columnist gets through with a question. Don "The Scab" Braid with questions about outdoor gatherings and cohorts.

Another question from Postmedia.

Jason Kenney rejects the premise of an actual real solid question from @SammyHudes and compares it to an NDP speech. The question: Does Jason Kenney feel bad about how badly he's screwed up the COVID-19 response? Kenney: Nah, we're doing great. #ableg

Apparently @SammyHudes is doing drive-by smears on the great people of Alberta.

Our question, if we had gotten to ask one, would have followed up on @SammyHudes. Alberta has the 5th highest rate of infection on the planet. Do you think you're doing a good job?

The stop being cowards and let me ask a question challenge.