UCP MLA SAYS COVID HEROES ARE ‘NOT FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE WORKERS’

CALGARY - A member of Jason Kenney’s Caucus has been caught on video angrily insisting that the 11,000 hospital workers being fired by the UCP Government “are not frontline healthcare workers.”

In the video, captured during a roundtable with media outlets, Calgary-Falconridge MLA Devinder Toor insisted that hospital staff who are tasked with caring for patients, cleaning laundry and disinfecting rooms where COVID-19 is present are not “frontline.”

“Devinder Toor’s remarks are despicable,” said David Shepherd, Opposition Critic for Health. “The brave Albertans who clean hospital rooms during a pandemic, who launder soiled bedding and prepare food for our loved ones are heroes. Toor should work a cleaning shift at Foothills Medical Centre and understand just how frontline that work is.”

The NDP Official Opposition has repeatedly called on Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro to acknowledge that the 11,000 jobs they are eliminating during an economic crisis and a pandemic are frontline healthcare positions. Kenney and Shandro describe them as “bureaucrats.” The NDP has also demanded every day this week that the government reverse its plan to fire these workers.

“These Albertans are predominantly women, and predominantly people of colour,” Shepherd said. “They do difficult and dangerous work in hospital rooms, at the bedside, for modest pay. 

“Around the world, people are cheering and thanking healthcare heroes. Jason Kenney and Devinder Toor are insulting them and pushing them into unemployment. MLA Toor and the Premier must immediately apologize for the disgraceful comments made and the constant attack on these brave, hardworking Albertans.”