To get a better idea why Premier Jason Kenney is so keen to embrace a post-COVID-19 world you need only look at the numbers.
Not the pandemic numbers, the political numbers.
Kenney’s United Conservative Party continues to trail the opposition NDP in popular support and fundraising.
It’s a trend that began earlier this year and shows no sign of reversing.
According to a Leger poll conducted July 22-26 for Postmedia, 39 per cent of Albertans would vote for the NDP if an election were held today versus 29 percent for the UCP.
Perhaps more troubling for Kenney is the money, or lack of it.
In the first six months of this year, the NDP raised about $2.7 million from donors while the UCP collected less than half that: $1.3 million.
This is a remarkable development. Governing parties usually have little problem raising money while opposition parties struggle.
But Kenney is the one struggling these days.
He’s trying to reconnect with voters, particularly with Conservatives in rural areas who were instrumental in his 2019 electoral victory but who have soured on him during the pandemic because they felt he did too much to restrict their freedoms.
Now he’s restoring those “freedoms” as quickly as possible.
That’s why he made sure Alberta was the first jurisdiction in Canada to drop almost all pandemic restrictions on July 1. And why Alberta will be the first to stop routine testing and tracing while also allowing those infected with COVID-19 to mingle freely in public without any need to isolate starting Aug. 16.
Alberta’s rush to be first has drawn criticism from medical professionals and the federal government worried the province is opening too quickly in the face of COVID variants emerging across the world, most notoriously the Delta variant which seems to be as infectious as chicken pox.
The number of Albertans getting vaccinated has stalled. Even though overall COVID case numbers are low, the virus is now spreading faster in the province than during its third wave.
In a letter to physicians, Alberta Medical Association president Paul Boucher, said “the pace at which public health measures are ending is troubling.”
In an exclusive story, the Globe and Mail reported this week that federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu wrote a letter to Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro urging the province not to declare victory over COVID so quickly.
“I echo the Canadian Paediatric Society, who has called on you to recognize that this ‘unnecessary and risky gamble’ could worsen the spread of the virus,” said Hajdu.
The Alberta government’s response is to point the finger at the province’s chief medical officer, Deena Hinshaw, saying it’s all her idea.
Indeed, Hinshaw is defending her advice to the government to lift restrictions and allow the infected out in public, saying, “we need to learn how to live with (COVID).”
She did offer an apology if her advice created “confusion, fear or anger” among Albertans but she appears happy to be seen as the trailblazer into a whole new COVID unknown.
This has raised a whole new controversy having nothing to do with public health.
Hinshaw and Kenney have torn down a wall that protects civil servants.
Under our system of government, members of the civil service, including Hinshaw, are under a duty to provide “fearless advice” to politicians but to do so confidentially.
It is the government that makes the final decision on policy and thus takes the final responsibility.
That is in fact how Hinshaw and the Alberta government conducted themselves during the pandemic with both refusing to say what specific advice she had offered.
Until now.
Hinshaw has put her head on the chopping block should Alberta’s rush to reopen the economy spark a disastrous fourth wave. Not only that, Hinshaw has set a terrible precedent for civil servants who might be less likely to offer fearless advice if they think they’ll be made the scapegoat should things go wrong.
Of course, if heads were to roll, Kenney would no doubt prefer it be Hinshaw’s than his.
But Kenney’s noggin is on the block, too.
He can point to Hinshaw’s advice but he’s the one who has been loudly pushing for a return to normal for months.
In the past year he has likened COVID to the flu, downplayed its lethality, defended the rights of anti-maskers to hold rallies and was slow to punish members of his caucus who travelled to vacation hotspots over the Christmas holidays.
More recently, he has declared Alberta is in a post-pandemic world and has attacked as fearmongers those who point out the pandemic is still with us.
Kenney is desperate to press Alberta into a post-COVID world because, among other things, he performed so badly during the pandemic that according to public opinion polls his popularity dropped from 60 per cent to 30 per cent.
For Kenney, opening up Alberta is all about the numbers.
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Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
