It's Not Over Until It's Over
Exactly one year ago today, this happened:
Since then, a lot has changed, but not enough.
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For most of the people in the photo, things are going pretty good:
Jason Kenney himself, of course, will be resigning at some point in the future, but technically still remains Premier as of now.
Kenney's Chief of Staff recently parachuted into a role as the CEO of a non-profit.
Tyler Shandro, who at the time was Minister of Health, had to give up that role, but stayed in Cabinet as Minister of Labour and then later as Minister of Justice.
Travis Toews just stepped down as Minister of Finance to run to replace Kenney as Premier.
Jason Nixon, meanwhile, just replaced Travis Toews as Minister of Finance, while keeping his existing role as Minister of Environment as well.
Cheers!
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For Albertans though, while many restrictions have been removed, a surprising number still remain.
Let's not forget the ongoing impacts of the last two years, either.
Alberta entered Step 1 on February 9 - not to be confused with Stage 1, Phase 1, Chapter 1, or any of the other phrases used in the Province's previously announced and then abandoned plans to re-open.
Alberta entered Step 2 on March 1 and - despite what many might think, that is where we remain.
Alberta is still in Step 2 and never made the move to Step 3, meaning there are still provincial restrictions in place, like continuing care measures, and mandatory isolation rules.
Then, of course, there are the remaining federal restrictions that cover a number of aspects of daily life - travel in particular.
This is all despite many if not most countries around the world moving on from COVID, and dropping literally all restrictions.
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Enough really is enough now.
There is no excuse or justification for these restrictions to remain any longer.
It's time to get back to normal.
And to be clear, when we say normal, we mean proper normal, not the "new normal" the collectivists and elitists tried pushing on us for the last two years.
All COVID restrictions must be removed, and they must be removed NOW, not at some arbitrary future date.
If you agree, please sign the petition and then spread the word to your friends, family, co-workers.
Alberta Update - Not Good Enough
Premier Kenney just announced that while some COVID restrictions will be removed soon, ALL restrictions won't be removed until a "date to be determined".
Not Good Enough.
In short, here's what's happening...
Stage 1 means that the government's Restriction Exemption Program is ending tonight at midnight, although entertainment venues will still face restrictions around closing hours, movement, masking, etc.
Stage 2 might start next Monday, and would mean mask requirements for children end both in schools and in public.
Then the government plans to "pause" for three weeks and wait to see what happens.
If things go "well", we would move on to Stage 3.
Stage 3 means that other restrictions like capacity limits, gathering restrictions, indoor masking, and remaining limits on entertainment venues would be removed.
Finally, at a "date to be determined", remaining restrictions like at continuing care venues and isolation requirements would be removed.
Unfortunately, we've seen all this before.
We've been promised re-opening plans with stages, steps, phases, chapters, and such before, and none of them have actually been followed.
Premier Kenney has delayed, cancelled, or reneged on re-opening plans so many times we've lost count.
This time, he's not even denying it.
He explicitly said that the government might have to pause some of these changes, which makes all the dates announced today meaningless.
Once again, the government will make decisions over people's lives in an arbitrary manner, based on the pressure they come under from the media and unions, not based on what's right to protect Albertan's rights.
We need to send a loud and clear message to the Premier RIGHT NOW that this isn't good enough.
All COVID restrictions must be removed NOW, not at some arbitrary future date.
If you agree, please sign the petition and then spread the word to your friends, family, co-workers.
Saskatchewan Update
Earlier today, Premier Moe announced that Saskatchewan's COVID restrictions are ending... kind of.
The government's vaccine passport will apparently be ended on Monday the 14th, while other restrictions like masking and more, will stay in place "until the end of the month".
While, obviously, it is pleasing that the government is FINALLY listening, the problem is that we've seen these promises before.
Both in Saskatchewan and in other provinces across Canada, politicians have made promises to remove restrictions only to delay, cancel, or renege on those promises as the dates got closer.
All COVID restrictions must be removed NOW, not at some future date.
End All Restrictions Now
Premier Kenney announced yesterday that his cabinet will be meeting in the coming days to decide when COVID restrictions will be removed.
But, unfortunately, he tried to make it sound like restrictions would be removed in the next few days.
In reality, he only plans to announce a "plan to remove restrictions" in the next few days.
Yep, no actual removal of restrictions, just a *PLAN* to remove restrictions sometime in the future.
Who knows when restrictions would actually be removed under that plan?
We need to send a loud and clear message to the Premier RIGHT NOW that this isn't good enough.
All COVID restrictions must be removed NOW, not at some arbitrary future date.
If you agree, please sign the petition and then spread the word to your friends, family, co-workers.
