Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville NDP Constituency Association

Running radio ads won't change Albertan's minds. They know this curriculum is bad for students and bad for Alberta. With this overwhelming of a response, how has Jason Kenney not pulled the #ucp's awful curriculum yet? It's time, Jason. #abed #ableg

KENNEY SHUTTERS LEGISLATURE TO FLEE FROM SCRUTINY, LEAVES CRITICAL PAID SICK LEAVE MEASURE UNDONE Alberta’s NDP adamantly opposes Jason Kenney’s cowardly de...cision to flee the legislature while critical public health measures such as paid sick leave have not been enacted, and the government’s broader response flounders. The first item on the agenda for Monday must be an emergency debate on Jason Kenney’s failing pandemic response. Alberta workers need paid sick leave, families need a Learn From Home Fund to support students online, and our variant testing system needs immediate improvement. All this work is being left undone because Jason Kenney is afraid of public scrutiny. The abrupt decision to close the legislature follows a week of falsehoods, misleading statements and reversals from Kenney. On Wednesday, he claimed there is no relationship between public restrictions and viral spread, only to introduce modest new restrictions the following day. The single most important measure we can take to keep sick people at home is to provide paid sick leave. It’s a gross dereliction of duty for Kenney to run away from the legislature without having provided this. Despite three days of record cases, unprecedented numbers of Albertans in the hospital and the ICU, and the highest rate of infection in Canada and the US, Kenney’s government MLAs continue to vocally undermine public health measures with impunity. A large anti-mask event is underway in Bowden today, without any response from the government. Alberta needs real leadership at this moment of crisis, but instead Jason Kenney is abandoning his post. I can’t help but remember his boastful rhetoric this time last year, invoking the memories of the British parliament remaining in session through the Blitz. There is critical work still to be done. Alberta’s NDP is ready to get the job done. Jason Kenney’s decision is not driven by public health concerns, but by sheer political cowardice.

Alberta is now getting more cases daily than any province in Canada or any state in the US. It didn’t need to be this way. Neither our premier, nor any minister in our provincial government should be patting themselves on the back right now. They should either resign or start showing some leadership.

Jason Kenney needs to stop trying to blame others and start taking responsibility for his own inaction to stop the spread of the variants.