Alberta Minute: Dang Resigns, Legislature Break, and COVID Restrictions Return

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

This Week In Alberta:

• We are at the end of 2021. We’d like to thank you for reading this year and would be remiss if we didn’t recount at least some of the things you, our dear readers, helped us accomplish. Whether it was forcing the government to backtrack on drone spying, or petitioning against the ever-increasing restrictions on freedom, we’ve accomplished a lot, and it’s all thanks to readers like yourself.
  
  
• The Legislature is on break, likely until February. Committees are also on break until January 11th when the Standing Committee on Legislative Offices will meet. No agenda for the meeting has yet been posted.
  
  
• Rural Alberta post offices continue to experience operational problems as the Canada Post vaccine mandate has limited the availability of staff. The mandate came into effect for postal workers on November 26th and required all employees to be at least partially vaccinated. Approximately 340 workers were put on leave without pay throughout Alberta at the end of November.

Last Week In Alberta:

• Thomas Dang, MLA for Edmonton South announced a sudden resignation from the NDP caucus following the RCMP executing a search warrant on his home. According to Dang, this is likely related to vulnerabilities in the AHS vaccine portal website. No charges have been laid. The RCMP indicated it may be a while before charges are brought forth, citing the "very complex" nature of the case.
  
  
• After the Alberta Government announced relaxed COVID-19 restrictions the week before last (see our email last week for details) they almost immediately flip-flopped and announced new, heightened, restrictions. Businesses that serve alcohol must now do last call at 11:00 pm (because COVID-19 only comes out at night apparently!) and close by 12:30 am. In addition, there can be no more than 10 people per table at a restaurant, and all bar games such as darts and billiards are suspended. Events with more than 1,000 people will also have their capacity cut in half.

• In an effort to mitigate further COVID-19 spread, the Government of Alberta opened booster shots to all adults aged 18 and above, provided their second dose was received at least 5 months ago. There's still no word from the government on whether a proven recovery from a positive test will be counted in the Province's vaccination system.

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