NDP Multiculturalism Critic Jasvir Deol as well as MLAs Thomas Dang, Irfan Sabir and Janis Irwin issued the following statement in regards to the Premier’s failing to condemn a racist remark at his Friday press conference:

“Today, Jason Kenney took a question from a reporter in which a racist term for COVID-19 was used. The Premier acted as if the question was normal and proceeded to answer.

“The Premier has a duty to be anti-racist and to condemn racist remarks, especially when they’re used in a question during a Government of Alberta news conference.

“After seeing a number of hate inspired attacks on Albertans in recent days, it is shameful to see the Premier not take a stand against racism.

“After being rightly corrected for his false and offensive claim that the South Asian community was driving the spread of COVID-19, we hope that the Premier would agree that these communities deserve support and any and all racism smears against them should be swiftly denounced.

“Racist statements like this need to be condemned by our elected leaders or we risk it becoming normalized. It is not enough to not be racist, we must be anti-racist.

“We call on Jason Kenney to condemn this type of bigoted language immediately and commit to calling it out in the future.”