Anti-vaccination protests and all other demonstrations outside hospitals will be banned in a move to make Alberta health-care facilities safer for staff, patients and families, Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday.
But no new restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were announced, despite recent calls from medical professionals to enact “fire-breaker” measures to protect the struggling health-care system.
Kenney told a news conference the province is still monitoring the impact of public health measures that went into effect on Sept. 20. He said unvaccinated Albertans who are currently filling up hospitals beds would be unlikely to comply with any new measures.
“It is a paradox and there’s no easy solution to it,” he said.
Instead, the regulations of the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act have been amended to ensure that health-care facilities are subject to the same legal protection as railways, highways and pipelines, carrying punishments for trespassing, interfering with operations and construction or causing damage.
WATCH | Kenney says unvaccinated unlikely to comply with new measures:
Kenney says unvaccinated unlikely to comply with widespread restrictions
6 hours ago
Asked whether Alberta would introduce stricter COVID-19 rules, Premier Jason Kenney says now is not the time. 1:37
The measure is in response to protests two weeks ago across the country by anti-vaccination groups, Kenney said.
“Recently, Albertans watched anti-vaccine protesters stand in front of our hospitals, hurling mistruths and misinformation about our health-care system, our doctors and our nurses,” he said.
“People were rightly shocked to see this totally inappropriate behaviour from a vocal minority.”
Kenney and Justice Minister Kaycee Madu reiterated that the intention was not to interfere with any individual’s constitutional right to lawful protest.
“Albertans must have the ability to access health care when they need it and health-care professionals must have the ability to do their work free from interference,” Madu said.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said 1,246 new cases of COVID-19 were identified among 11,100 tests conducted in the previous 24 hours. The positivity rate was 11.5 per cent.
As of Tuesday, there are 1,100 patients in hospital, including 263 in intensive care.
(CBC News)
Another 18 deaths were reported, bringing the total in the province to 2,663 since the start of the pandemic.
Hinshaw noted that over the past 120 days, people who aren’t fully vaccinated represented 80 per cent of people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 91 per cent of those in the ICU.
“These numbers speak for themselves: vaccines are critically important,” she said.
ICU strain
The health-care system is at a breaking point as Alberta Health Services scrambles to create more intensive care capacity in hospitals across the province.
Kenney said there are 370 ICU beds across the province, currently at 86 per cent capacity. He noted that if not for surge beds, the province would be at 184 per cent capacity.
“The only reason that we have any beds available is because AHS has added 197 surge spaces — more than double the number that we maintain as normal baseline of ICU beds in Alberta outside of this COVID time,” he said.
The province is set to launch a new advertising campaign aimed at providing education about COVID-19 vaccines and debunking common myths, Kenney said.
That will include a direct informational pamphlet as well as radio, digital and billboard advertisements, he said.
Specific advertising is being aimed at demographics with a slower uptake, including rural regions and Albertans in their 20s and 30s.
Kenney said pharmacies and AHS will reach out to Albertans who have received a first dose but have not yet received a second.
Newfoundland and Labrador may help
Kenney told reporters he has been talking to Andrew Furey, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, about getting assistance from the province but indicated last week that Alberta had not reached the upper limit for its health-care system.
The offer from Newfoundland and Labrador is not off the table, Kenney said.
“We’ve gone back and forth and those discussions are carrying on today,” he said.
“If Newfoundland feels that they can free up some medical personnel to supplement our own front-line workers, we would be delighted to receive that support.”
He said Furey is interested in sending health-care workers to Fort McMurray, Alta., known colloquially as the Atlantic province’s second-largest city.
“There may be news on that in the days to come,” Kenney said.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
