Attribution to Manning Centre c/o: Jake Wright

People, in Alberta, are starting to wonder whether our new Premier, Danielle Smith, is deliberately trying to lose the next election. She has already said that the unvaccinated are the most discriminated group she has ever seen. Also, where one quarter of all Ukrainian Canadians live in Alberta, she had to back track on saying Ukraine needed to be neutral, while Russia was invading it.

Well, Danielle has done it again. Back in January of this year, then Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health, recommended that students, in all grade, where masks. In February, then Premier Kenney, trying to a dance between common sense health and his more extreme right base, had an order issued, making masking for children, no longer necessary. A legal challenge was filed in March, based on the concern that parents of school children faced a greater risk of the severe outcomes of COVID. A ruling was issued this week with the judge stating that the order was not legal, because the decision made to launch the order was a decision of cabinet and not by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, which violated the Public Health Act.

Smith, issued a statement, following the ruling that her government will look into an appeal as to whether the ruling was appropriate. Smith stated that her government,

“…will not permit any further masking mandates of children”

Smith also added,

“The detrimental effects of masking on the mental health, development and education of children in classrooms is well understood and we must turn the page on what has been an extremely difficult time for children, along with their parents and teachers,” 

Now, winter is coming. COVID is still out there. New variants keep presenting themselves. The hope is that COVID won’t be that bad this winter. But it could be. Some new harsher variant may present itself. Smith is basically saying that science is not believable.

To best sum up the sense of Smith’s statements, Gosia Gasperowicz, a researcher at the University of Calgary and co-founder of Zero Covid Canada, gave the following opinion.

“It’s reckless and it’s extremely irresponsible and it’s a dangerous and harmful statement,”

I could not have said it any better.