I find myself increasingly concerned for my native Alberta as COVID cases continue to skyrocket, to the point where the province is now recording more cases than Ontario, despite having a third of the population. As this is happening, the premier and health minister have been nowhere to be seen, not showing up at press briefings, and leaving the Chief Medical Officer of Health to deal with this herself – likely as a first step in shifting blame to her once the death rate starts to follow infections. Because nothing is ever Jason Kenney’s fault.
That's 4075 (1155, 1336, and 1584) new cases the last 3 days in Alberta.
That's the equivalent of Ontario announcing 13600 (3860, 4460, and 5300) new cases over three days.
Or Quebec announcing almost 8000 (2250, 2600, 3090) new cases.
Anyone seen the Premier?#ableg #cdnpoli https://t.co/2JcY7fe07r
— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) November 22, 2020
Unless I'm mistaken, our worst WEEK in the spring saw 1688 cases identified over 7 days. We've identified that many in the last 24 hours. #ableg #cdnpoli
— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) November 22, 2020
And the Premier retweets Dr. Hinshaw who is not even expressing her usual concern today. Neither with any message other than keep it up. pic.twitter.com/Ht0hykbW67
— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) November 22, 2020
One of Kenney’s junior Cabinet ministers apparently let slip that they’re waiting for hospitals to reach capacity before they take any additional measures, but he quickly backtracked and said that wasn’t what he meant at all, and so on. But considering the trajectory of things, and the fact that the provincial government refuses to consider an actual lockdown and instead just tut-tuts at people and tells them to knock it off – while simultaneously telling them to go socialize in restaurants and bars because they’re a “structured setting,” is it any wonder that the trajectory hasn’t altered. Albertans like to think that the rules don’t apply to them at the best of times (and yes, once again, I am from there, and this is the mindset that we are taught from childhood), so the fact that the most the government can do is give them vague guidelines and tell them to exercise their “personal responsibility” means that they plan to do as little as possible. And seriously – this is the province that is so into “personal responsibility” that they brought back tertiary syphilis. It’s a dereliction of duty, but I despair that nobody will wind up punishing Kenney and company for it when the next election comes around, because they are all indoctrinated into believing that the province is a one-party state, and that anything less is treasonous.
Don't mind the bus, Dr Hinshaw. If it helps, you're one of many people our government will blame for anything and everything. Personal responsibility only goes so far.
— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) November 22, 2020
Meanwhile, here’s Susan Delacourt on the fact that Justin Trudeau is still trying to keep measures voluntary across the country, and attempting to use the art of persuasion, even though that’s getting increasingly difficult in the current climate.