Alberta Minute: Border Blockade, Environmental Lawsuit, and Restrictions Ending Soon

Alberta Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Alberta politics.

This Week In Alberta:

• The Legislature will be quiet this week. It’s adjourned until February 22nd. No committee business is scheduled for this week either.
  
  
• The Government of Alberta will apparently announce a plan to begin lifting COVID-19 restrictions, perhaps starting with the vaccine passport. Some people have been interpreting this as “The vaccine passport will end next week.” But the government has not explicitly said this. They have only promised to lay out a phased plan. Whether they actually follow the plan or not is anyone’s guess.
  
  
• The saga of the Allan Inquiry into foreign-funding of environmental groups continues, as a lawsuit against Kenney and the Provincial Government has been filed by five environmental groups. The groups are accusing Kenney and the Provincial Government of defamation related to the findings of the inquiry. The government has hired lawyers to defend itself.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Coutts border blockade continued to escalate with vehicle traffic being impeded both northbound and southbound. One lane in each direction was opened last Wednesday to allow for some traffic, but the other lanes remain blocked. Meanwhile, a second blockade was set up at Highway 4 and Highway 501 near Milk River. The blockades are protesting COVID-19 restrictions and vaccination mandates.
  
  
• In a suddenly announced policy move, anyone serving jury duty at the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench must be vaccinated. The notice came as a surprise to lawyers attending jury selection last week. One lawyer sought a mistrial saying a jury made up of fully vaccinated people was not a true jury of peers. The judge in the case said that since the majority of people are vaccinated, it is in fact a jury of peers and constitutes sufficiently broad representation.

• A protest against masks apparently ended up with 12 to 14 children at the Bowden Grandview School locked in the school bootroom. School administrators claim this was not the case. The school reverted to online learning for Friday and Monday so a plan could be put in place should students protest mask mandates again.

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