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Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney visits Grande Prairie while standing on 100th Street on Saturday, Nov.7, 2020.
Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney says the new 15-person limit on social gatherings is necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
On Friday, the province expanded this restriction to include not just Calgary and Edmonton, but any jurisdiction under surveillance status, including the city and county of Grande Prairie.
“Our goal has always been to protect both lives and livelihoods,” Kenney said in an interview with the Daily Herald-Tribune.
“We have never taken the approach of some places in the world of shutting everything down to try to reduce the virus to zero. We do not think it is realistic and the cost to the livelihood of people for the overall health of our society would be unacceptable. “
However, the prime minister stressed the need to protect the healthcare system, noting a recent spike in cases over the past month with a record 919 reported on Saturday. About 40 percent of cases are due to private or home social activities.
Kenney described the current meeting restrictions as “specific and quite modest” and strongly discourages Albertans in the two main cities from hosting meetings.
“Right now, we have to go back and cancel the surgeries again, we have to get people out of intensive care beds to make room for what we know is coming to us with more COVID patients,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we simply have to take advantage of interruptions in social contact to reduce transmission. If we don’t and we continue to see the current trend, then that will come to a point, probably around Christmas, of overwhelming the health care system. “
Strike a balance
The prime minister visited Grande Prairie on Saturday to consult with local leaders and stakeholders, as well as to attend the Professional Bull Riders Canada Finals, which moved from Saskatoon due to COVID-19 restrictions in Saskatchewan.
“It underscores how we have been much more open as a province during COVID-19 in a responsible way,” Kenney said.
“It shows how we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can maintain community life and important events by doing it safely. “
As the holiday season approaches, Kenney noted that current gathering restrictions would allow Albertans to celebrate the holidays as normally as possible.
“We want to save Christmas and that is why we are taking action right now,” he said.
“If we don’t act now, the numbers could be overwhelming by Christmas, and then we would have to take much stricter action.”
Mask mandate not on the table: Kenney
Masks are now mandatory in Grande Prairie for indoor public spaces until there is a consolidated active case count below 100 between the city and the county for 14 consecutive days.
While municipalities like Grande Prairie can implement their own mask statutes, Kenney said the Alberta government does not intend to issue its own mask mandate.
“Albertans believe in freedom and not government micromanagement,” the prime minister added.
“There are many measures that are more important (and) sometimes people have a false sense of security when wearing a mask. I see people all the time taking photos of each other just stuck and wearing a mask because they seem to think that the transmission is suddenly stopped. That is not right “.
Other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 include physical distancing, hand hygiene, and staying home when sick. The province still warns that masks can be useful for indoor spaces where physical distancing is not possible.
Health expenditure
Health workers participated in a wildcat strike across the province two weeks ago to protest against the elimination of 11,000 government jobs from the UCP, including laundry services and laboratory work, mainly through outsourcing to companies. from third parties. The Alberta Labor Relations Board has ruled that this strike is illegal.
Kenney claimed that Alberta was spending more on health care than ever. Health spending is expected to be $ 20.9 billion this year, which does not include $ 769 million earmarked specifically for COVID-19.
While most food and laundry services are already outsourced to the private sector, Kenney estimated that 30 percent are still performed in government hospitals.
“We don’t think the government should be in the laundry business, and if we don’t outsource it, taxpayers will be in a hurry to buy $ 200 million worth of new washers to modernize our systems.” he said.
“Why should taxpayers be in the laundry business? Has no sense.”
The goal is to find $ 600 million in savings within the $ 20.9 billion budget and reinvest that money in first-line clinical services, particularly to reduce surgical wait times.
“The unions don’t like it because they are concerned that they won’t get the union dues if they go to local businesses instead of government hospitals,” Kenney said.
“We fulfill this commitment. We are going to keep the commitment ”.
