100+ AB doctors raise alarm re: Hinshaw unhiring:
"Dr. Hinshaw has been prevented from working for AHS. This is entirely unfair and unprofessional. Further, it signals to all physicians in this province that their positions are unsafe and could be targeted for political gain."

https://twitter.com/NeejaB/status/1673430793035878400

One name jumps out on that list of concerned doctors:
Rosana Salvaterra, an Alberta deputy medical officer of health alongside Deena Hinshaw. She and the other deputy quit right after Danielle Smith fired Hinshaw; never were replacement deputies, to my knowledge.

There's so much to unpack in our story about the Smith-Pawlowski call.
Among them, the fact it was facilitated by the then-leader of an Alberta pro-separatist movement. cbc.ca/news/canada/ca… Danielle Smith says she came into premier's office assuming (wrongly) she'd have US president-like powers of clemency.
This, despite fact she was Wildrose party opposition leader for 5yrs and journalised about Alberta politics for 2ish decades. cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

It kinda boggles my mind that Craig Chandler could get elected Ward 12 councillor next month. Because... 1/ calgaryherald.com/news/local-new… Because... 2/ cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

Of the 24 rural or small-town UCP backbenchers outside of Calgary and Metro Edmonton, 15 are publicly slamming Kenney's third-wave covid restrictions.
of the remaining nine, three are in Lethbridge and Fort McMurray, which are getting hit pretty hard with cases. And the rural punished-for-Christmassing-abroad caucus is well represented here, with Allard (Hawaii) and Stephan (Arizona)

Variant spread from a BC traveller. Why Kenney had to act.
Also, why everyone was telling Kenney to act weeks ago. Kenney remains ever-apologetic to those who oppose the snapback covid restrictions, and he addresses directly the critics within his own party and caucus, worries about polarization.
Then there’s the matter of people who criticize him from the other side of the action line.

Kenney gov't will spend $10M to hold Senate election and that equalization referendum (plus others?) during Oct. civic votes.
That's decent change to spend on largely symbolic public ballots, from a crew demanding the public sector tighten belts and get paid less. (Warning: corporatespeak alert)
Alberta budget talks of "right-sizing" public sector compensation but doesn't tip Kenney's hand on how big the salary cuts gov't expects in labour bargaining.
BUT... compensation per full-time equivalent across public sector drops ~4% this year.

Alberta Health Services’ buggy vaccine registration launch (hurrah to brothers @korymath & @MathKyle) is a rough and very visible blunder for a provincial agency that’s done a lot of good this pandemic, INCLUDING on the tech front. A wee thread: AHS has a very robust Covid testing signup/results system that throughout last year was handling higher volumes than other provinces, and handily phoning or texting residents promptly. It was quite good! And it’s hard to recall things at the start of the pandemic but...

Computer scientists will save us all! This works, and it fixes the buggy AHS system.

https://twitter.com/korymath/status/1364646687482994690

This is proving the easier code fix for Alberta’s vaccine registration than one I posted earlier. Best wishes, peeps.

https://twitter.com/korymath/status/1364656248067678213

Q for Albertans in vaccine registration limbo: when you get stuck on the “enter your postal code” page, do you eventually get through? My mind goes to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the factory owner who had all his workers opening chocolate bars in search of the golden ticket for his dear Violet Beauregard.

Rachel Notley vows to not raise the current carbon tax three years from now unless Trudeau pushes forward in the next few months to protect the massive investment he just made, which he'll doubtless do. That's all she did today, right? 1/ Notley couldn't have just said she was mad as hell. To channel Alberta anger she had to Do Something. Temporarily suspending plans for a three-years-from-now tax change has the fairly thin veneer of Something.
But... 2/