EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition leader says Premier Danielle Smith consulting a medical adviser of former U.S. president Donald Trump on COVID-19 who calls vaccines “bioweapons” exacerbates worries she runs a government not guided by science.
“(Dr. Paul Alexander) is a conspiracy theorist whose ideas have been discredited by all reasonable folks in the scientific and medical community,” NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Wednesday after delivering a speech to the Rural Municipalities of Alberta convention.
“The very act of suggesting that she will be consulting with him is going to destabilize our health-care system.
“It’s going to make folks on the front line worry even more that they cannot count on this government to make the kinds of science-based decisions that we need to start restoring health-care services to so many Alberta families.”
Notley’s NDP is calling for Smith to revoke the invitation to Alexander and reveal the names of the medical people Smith says are now advising her on public health policy.
Smith’s office has declined for five days to explain why and what advice she is seeking to learn from Alexander or who is on her health advisory team.
Smith did not make herself available to reporters Tuesday night after winning a seat in the legislature in a byelection in Brooks-Medicine Hat. She also declined to speak to reporters after a speech in Medicine Hat on Wednesday morning.
Her office did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.
The Alexander issue made headlines after Smith announced it during a discussion about COVID-19 response in a byelection candidates’ debate last Thursday.
Smith told the audience, “I’ve got a group of doctors advising me and I know that they’ve already reached out to Dr. Paul Alexander, so I’m interested in hearing what he has to say.”
Alexander is a one-time professor at McMaster University and a medical adviser to Trump.
He is an outspoken critic of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and the usefulness of health restrictions while expounding on herd immunity to handle the pandemic. He has also referred to COVID-19 vaccines as bioweapons.
The NDP says the Alexander invitation is part of a concerning pattern of anti-science from Smith that can have profound ramifications on a health system Smith has promised to radically reorganize by mid-January.
Smith has been sharply critical of COVID-19 health restrictions and vaccine mandates, and has promised Alberta will not pursue such measures again. Last year she pushed for ivermectin to be used as a COVID-19 cure, a treatment since debunked.
Last month she reiterated that she is guided on COVID-19 policy by the Great Barrington Declaration and the experiences of Sweden, Florida and South Dakota.
Those sources urged protecting the old and frail but otherwise letting COVID-19 run free in society to develop herd immunity and prevent deleterious consequences of lockdowns that include isolation, joblessness, domestic assault and drug abuse. It came at the expense of comparatively higher COVID case and death rates.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, has called the Barrington Declaration scientifically flawed and logistically unworkable, echoing similar assessments of academics and the World Health Organization.
On her first day as premier on Oct. 11, Smith announced Hinshaw would be removed from her post and replaced by a team of advisers reporting to Smith.
Smith has also promised to reorganize the governance structure of Alberta Health Services by mid-January, blaming it for forcing its workers to get COVID-19 vaccines and for failing Albertans when the health system came close to collapse during multiple waves of the pandemic.
Both Notley and Smith are pitching reforms to the health system ahead of the provincial election in May.
Smith, in her byelection victory speech Tuesday, promised to add more staff to the front lines and reduce management bureaucracy to fix a system floundering with a shortage of family doctors, ambulance bottlenecks and emergency wait times in the hourly double-digits.
Notley, in her speech to the Rural Municipalities Association, said her party would start a massive recruitment strategy for health professionals, with details released in the coming weeks.
Paul McLauchlin, president of the association, said the suffering in emergency wards needs to be addressed first.
“I’ve had folks show up at the hospital in Red Deer (and sitting) for 17 hours. Can you imagine sitting for 17 hours?” McLauchlin said.
“I’ve heard of people sitting for six hours with acute appendicitis. I’ve known people that had ruptured gallbladders in a waiting room in hospital.
“That front end — we need to be better.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2022.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
