Can't sleep so here is a 🧵on the UCP and covid. It is clear over the last three weeks that the UCP has become the party explicitly opposed to covid restrictions. That was the thrust of Smith's winning campaign.
The architects of the covid restrictions are gone or on their way out. Kenney is out, Hinshaw is being replaced, Smith has promised to replace the AHS Board and fire many senior managers. How many more people at Alberta Health including CMOH staff will be removed?
At the AGM, Smith publicly apologized for covid restrictions and has pledged to try and provide amnesty for those who deliberately violated public health measures. She has also pledged to make covid vaccine status a protected class under Alberta Human Rights Act.
Take Back Alberta, formed in large measure to opposition to covid restrictions, elected a slate on UCP Board. So, combined with Smith, anti-covid restrictions activists now control over 1/2 of the UCP Board.
These are people who believe that individual freedom trumps public health measures during a global pandemic. That going to movies, hockey games, restaurants, church services, in-person classes, not requiring masks is MORE important than saving thousands of lives.
That we should have ignored the advice of 99% of health experts in favour of contrary advice from rogue doctors. That hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin were better covid treatments than vaccines.
Some cabinet ministers have either repudiated their past statements (such as Madu who as Justice Minister was in charge of enforcing restrictions) or said that they privately pushed back against restrictions (Toews). Most have gone silent.
Copping was Health Minister starting in Sept 21. A period that saw covid restrictions maintained, and sometimes increased, until they started to fall in Feb 22. Did he see the value to protecting human life and the health care system in covid restrictions?
To Copping's credit, he has said that restrictions could come back if covid comes back in force. But he was contradicted by Smith who has promised no more lockdowns (or course we were never locked down).
And what does Tyler Shandro think? He was Health Minister during the worst of covid. He brought in most of the covid restrictions. He is still in cabinet. How, unlike Kenney, Hinshaw, Yiu, and others, has he survived?
Does Shandro still believe that covid restrictions were justified? Does he believe that he should also publicly apologize for his actions during the pandemic?
As Justice Minister, what legal advice will he provide Smith about issuing pardons and amnesty to those fined/jailed for violating covid restrictions?
If the UCP wants to relitigate covid, then lets do it. Smith has apologized for covid restrictions and vaccine mandates. She has claimed that the unvaccinated were highly discriminated against. That is where her sympathies lie.
But, where is the sympathy for the almost 5, 000 Albertans who have died of covid? Each of them had friends and family who still mourn them. Where is the sympathy of those who had surgeries and other medical procedures delayed?
What is the impact of long covid? What is the impact of the psychological strain on frontline doctors, nurses, and EMS personnel?
This is not UCP vs NDP. This is not conservative vs progressive. This is not right vs left.
This is those that believe covid restrictions and vaccines were necessary in combating a pandemic vs those that believe individual rights matter more than public health, covid was a hoax, vaccines are deadly. What side are you on?
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