KENNEY HIDES FROM PUBLIC, PRIVATELY SAYS COVID APPROACH IS EFFECTIVE

EDMONTON - While hiding from public scrutiny for nine straight days, Premier Jason Kenney told a private meeting that his COVID-19 response is “effective.”

During a Zoom meeting of the Canada India Foundation on Saturday November 21, which featured Jason Kenney as a keynote speaker, Kenney told the attendees "I guess our point is we are not exclusively focused on COVID-19, we understand that every policy and response to it there are unintended consequences. So we've taken a holistic approach and we believe that that has been effective."

“Nobody in Alberta believes the UCP response to COVID-19 has been effective,” said David Shepherd, NDP Health Critic. “While Jason Kenney is patting himself on the back in private, Alberta is reporting more daily cases than any other province, including ones with more than three times our population.”

“Our caucus has warned this Premier that he is sleepwalking through the second wave and increasing the risk of putting Alberta into a lockdown. And now the Premier’s own words confirm that he either doesn’t understand what is happening in Alberta or he simply doesn’t care about the exponential case growth and the risk it poses to Albertans.”

Jason Kenney last addressed the public on November 12. Since then Alberta has seen almost 10,000 new cases. Today, his office said a committee of cabinet would weigh additional measures this afternoon but wouldn’t make an announcement until Tuesday.

“If Jason Kenney is finally taking action, he should walk straight out of that meeting today and tell Albertans the truth,” Shepherd said. “Families and businesses deserve every hour they can get to prepare. It’s totally unacceptable for Jason Kenney to go home tonight without telling Albertans what his plans are. 

Alberta’s NDP Opposition will call for an emergency debate on COVID response in the legislature today.

“Why did the premier fail to hire enough contact tracers? Why did he fail to prepare seniors facilities? Why is Alberta the only province without any kind of targeted mask policy? And where on earth has he been for the last week and a half? These are questions that Albertans deserve answers to,” Shepherd said.