Fifteen government MLAs speak out against latest Alberta public health restrictions

Fifteen United Conservative Party MLAs are speaking out against their own government’s move to impose more stringent public-health restrictions in the face of spiking COVID-19 cases.

The MLAs, including Speaker Nathan Cooper, former municipal affairs minister Tracy Allard and Airdrie-East MLA Angela Pitt published a letter online Wednesday saying the government’s move to close restaurants to indoor dining, shutter libraries and cancel most gym and fitness activities is the “wrong decision” that takes the province backward.

“We have heard from our constituents and they want us to defend their livelihoods and freedoms as Albertans,” the letter said. “For months, we have raised these concerns at the highest levels of government and unfortunately, the approach of the government has remained the same.”

A spokesperson for the UCP caucus confirmed the letter is authentic.

The MLAs called on government to hear the pleas of their constituents and say they will keep pushing for a transparent way forward that provides Albertans more certainty.

On Tuesday, Premier Jason Kenney said variants of concern of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 were on their way to becoming dominant in Alberta. The variants are more easily spread between people, and early evidence has shown they can make younger people much sicker than the strain responsible for Alberta’s first two waves.

Kenney said projections forecast more than 2,000 new daily COVID-19 cases within weeks, and the province’s hospitals overflowing with patients by the end of May.

The premier said he expected people, including members of his caucus and party, to disagree with his decision to return to tighter public-health measures. He said listening to science and protecting public health had to take precedence.

“I’ve always welcomed a wide-ranging debate on how best to rise to the challenge of this pandemic,” Kenney said Tuesday. “I just ask that the debate be informed by facts.”

At the legislature Wednesday, NDP health critic David Shepherd called for Kenney to expel any MLAs from caucus who seek to undermine public health messages. He said the premier must send a message that casting doubt on medical advice is unacceptable.

“For these MLAs to suggest that this is the time to put their political fortunes ahead of the health and protection of Albertans, I think is an incredibly discouraging thing to see,” Shepherd told reporters. “And that Premier Kenney has chosen to say this is just free speech, this is a matter of opinion — this is not free speech. This is the very lives and livelihoods of hundreds of Albertans.”

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the UCP backbenchers’ messages sow mistrust among mainly rural residents and could potentially lead to the pandemic lasting longer.

“Albertans deserve a government that respects science, that respects the law, that supports public health,” Notley said in the legislature. “Instead, they’ve been fighting amongst themselves and they haven’t been doing the work that Albertans expect.”

Under questioning by the Opposition, Kenney said none of his caucus members are telling the public to violate public health orders or break the law.

“There are members in the government caucus who have different views on the best way to address the pandemic in policy,” Kenney said. “If elected representatives cannot speak their minds in matters of policy, then what are they elected to do?”

The MLAs who signed the letter are: