Politics Insider for September 16, 2021: A Vaccine Passport for Alberta; Liberal dreams of a majority; and Chrétien returns
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Jason kenney declared a public health emergency Wednesday night, CTV reports, and said his province would introduce a vaccine passport, which he had previously opposed.
Kenney, who has repeatedly insisted on keeping the province open in the face of warnings from healthcare workers and experts, said the province had to act now.
“Unless we reduce transmission, particularly among unvaccinated Albertans, we simply will not be able to provide adequate care for the sick based on current trends,” he said. Of the number of patients in Alberta’s intensive care units, Kenney said 90 percent are not vaccinated. “I’m not saying this to stigmatize people, but we must all understand that the decision not to get vaccinated is not just a personal choice, it has real consequences for our entire society and for the ability of our hospitals to cope.”
How we got here: On Maclean’s, Jason markusoff has the definitive account of Alberta’s path to a devastating fourth wave, and reminds us that Kenney ignored health warnings and promised “the best summer ever.”
Worse than sounding empty to a network of provincial hospitals reeling in the on the brink of disasterKenney’s slogans will endure as reminders of his insanity and astonishingly arrogant miscalculation. It’s like the former president of the United States, George W. Bush, posing in 2003 on that carrier with a “Mission Accomplished” banner behind it, three weeks after troops took Baghdad from Saddam Hussein. The number of American casualties in the Iraq war multiplied by more than 40 after that flourish of bravado.
We can hope that this pandemic does not get any worse. that scale, but Alberta hospitals have nearly eight times more intensive care patients with COVID than a couple of months ago, more than 10 times the number of hospitalized and more than 32 times the number of active COVID cases. At least in Bush’s case, the decision to stand before a “Mission Accomplished” banner was not a factor that directly contributed to the human suffering that followed.
Relative disorientation: On Maclean’s, Emilie Nicolas, a columnist with the Duty and the Montreal Gazette, has a thoughtful essay on the difficult history of Québec’s struggle for secularism, opining that potential allies from outside the province don’t always help when they get into the affairs of the province, showing “relative disorientation” which seems to be what happened during the debate in English.
During last week’s English debate, the moderator could have asked: “Mr. Blanchet, what do you say to the Superior Court of Quebec, Marc-André Blanchard, who has described Bill 21 as discriminatory? And if you think it is not discriminatory, why do you support the preventive use of the clause nonetheless? “If the question had been asked as such, the English Debating Commission would not have become the main story of the Quebec campaign, overshadowing the actual candidates.
Apology Wanted: Speaking of the debate, the three main leaders of the party are asking for an apology from the consortium of broadcasters involved in the debate, the Globe reports.
The majority? Dominic LeBlanc saying the Star On Wednesday the Liberals hope to get a majority next week. “I am very confident in our ability to form a majority government.”
LeBlanc made arguments that Trudeau hasn’t made, saying a liberal majority would be a better outcome, because “Canadians will be well served by a rigorous focus on the things that matter to them: fighting climate change, affordability issues. I hear in my constituency all the time about the affordability challenges related to child care, and what’s interesting is that grandparents tell me about the challenge for their sons or their daughters and grandchildren in terms of affordable and accessible child care. “
Not what the polls show: Also in the Star, Chantal hebert watch that most don’t seem to be on the cards.
In the absence of an unforeseen development, it’s hard to see how Erin O’Toole or Trudeau could generate enough momentum in the final days of the season to decisively break the tie. The outcome could depend on which party performs best to get your vote.
A conservative carbon tax? Erin O’Toole keeps the door open to the possibility of provinces and territories maintaining the liberal carbon tax, Global reports. O’Toole said Wednesday that he will work with the provinces on “their approaches.” On an interview with the Star, O’Toole said the conservative carbon pricing scheme would be an “alternative” to the current carbon price.
What objective of Paris? CBC’s Emily Chung has a helpful explainer looking at O’Toole’s claim that it will meet Canada’s emissions targets under the Paris Agreement, as it relates to the targets set by the Harper government, and the possible ramifications of rolling back the more ambitious targets set by the Trudeau government.
Defend the rally: Trudeau said Wednesday that an indoor rally in Brampton, Ontario on Tuesday followed public health guidelines, CTV reports. Hundreds of people took the stage of the event, which featured Jean christian and 100 years Hazel McCallion. Critics say the event was not safe for COVID, but Trudeau played down the criticism: “First of all, nobody tells Hazel McCallion or Jean Chrétien what to do or what not to do. I was very happy that they chose to join us at that event, which followed all public health guidelines. “
Muldoon redux: One day after Jean Chrétien came out to give Trudeau a shove, Brian mulroney showed up in the eastern townships for a rally for O’Toole, La Presse reports (translation).
After Jean Chrétien, it was Brian Mulroney’s turn to make his first appearance this season on Wednesday. Faced with conservative activists, he said he was sure that the next government will be formed by Erin O’Toole. If elected, the latter has also agreed to send the employer Vincent Duhamel, candidate in Brome-Missisquoi, “to the decision-making table.”
Duhamel is often touted as a possible conservative finance minister.
– Stephen Maher
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