Thread by @Mitchell_AB

FB live: Kenney defends “consolidating the administration of the investment of” teacher’s pensions. “The taxpayer is on the hook” if ATRF mismanages funds, he says. Correct me if I’m wrong, but ATRF didn’t lose billions over the last year. #ableg

Says teachers should be grateful they have the security of defined pensions. Suggests it’ll save $20 million by consolidating administration and ATRF still gets to direct AIMCO.

Lots of questions about contact tracing. As noted in Dr. Hinshaw’s update today, contract tracers are catching up - now only 47% of infections from unknown sources, down from 80% in November.

Movement to shut down the conservative voice? Kenney says freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democratic society. Says if diversity is meaningful, it must include diversity of thought.

If you’ve ever expressed an opinion that is now politically incorrect you’re subject to attacks, he says. Also re Danielle Smith saying he doesn’t know why she couldn’t talk about certain subjects on her show. I recommend her response - she explicitly said it wasn’t her employer

But if public complaints had anything to do with Smith keeping her uneducated opinions out of the public sphere, I will gladly take a bow. politicalrnd.ca/2020/07/31/ana…

Why can 30 kids get together but not us adults? Kenney says it’s a structured environment with multiple layers of protection and there’s a chain of command; no socializing, symptom screens, action plans etc. Talks about the friend of a friend plying poker who took Covid to work.

Says Mr. Covid ads are aimed at the living room spread (paraphrased - health professionals have called it that). In classroom instruction is critically important for social and mental health.
Except for home schoolers of course - I said that, he didn’t.

If Trudeau calls an election how will that affect oil and gas? Kenney stutters and stumbles. Says the Libs are supported by the NDP and it’s a stable govt. Says he sees no reason for the PM to dissolve govt and last time PM campaigned against oil and gas

Oil well reclamation. Says thousands of jobs have been created and hundreds of wells have been created. Ooooh open pit coal mines. Kenney says they’ve been operating for 140 years all through the mountains. No biggie (my interpretation)

Says mines won’t be approved if not environmentally sound. Says we desperately need jobs. Says “there’s city folks” who “want to shut down oil and gas and all of it”. Dude has not read the rural room advocating for protection of environment.

Says Piikani First Nation is trying to get one approved and we should not stand in their way. Says maybe the person asking has been receiving emails from orgs asking for money like the Defend our Parks people. Yeesh

Metaphorically speaking, unless you’re living in a mud hut, you rely on metallurgical steel, he says. Do people still have to quarantine after a negative tests before they crossed the border? Yes. Once you’re here you’re under the 14 day requirement or the intl entry pilot

Prediction for the economy? Kenney says he’s an optimist. 2020 set a record for venture capital, we’re seeing record production in oil sands. As we come out of pandemic “there’s a lot of pent up cash out there” he says.

Says AB increased funding for ASIRT and ALERT (might have screwed that last acronym - sorry).
Freedom has always been the guiding value of Canada and Kenney says he has not enjoyed restricting freedoms under Covid - was a last resort only.

People asking why the govt added restrictions in Nov and Dec. Kenney says here’s some charts - look at the increase in infections and hospitalizations. Doesn’t mention it could have been avoided had he acted earlier but says we’re not out of the woods yet.

And that’s it - says he hopes to do one a week, schedule permitting.

And the benefit of not scheduling these in advance is that no one knows it was supposed to begin a half hour earlier.