Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is making direct calls to businesses and organizations that still have vaccine mandates for COVID-19 in place, asking them to reconsider these measures.
Amending the Alberta Human Rights Act was a campaign promise for the premier, but Smith said Monday during a news conference on the re-indexing of the Severely Disabled Insured Income (AISH) it appears to be more complex.
“We realized it needed to be a much broader review of legislation and much broader changes,” she said. “The issues were [that] changing one piece of one act would not solve the problem.”
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Smith’s bill to protect Alberta’s unvaccinated will not be introduced in the legislature
That means no bill will be tabled during the fall session, which began Tuesday.
“It’s a pretty remarkable pivot,” said University of Calgary political science professor Lisa Young. “Now, she’s not shying away from the idea that it’s something that needs to be done — but she’s shying away from the legislation.”
Young said the move speaks to the broader political challenge facing Smith.
“It’s to keep her supporters — who gave her the leadership — pretty satisfied on the one hand, but to pander to the broader Alberta electorate on the other.”
Smith said despite a lack of upcoming legislation, she remains focused on protecting the rights of people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The Arctic Winter Games wanted $1.2 million from us to support their effort and they discriminated against the athletes and told them they had to be vaccinated,” Smith said.
“We asked them if they would reconsider — and they did.”
The Arctic Winter Games International Committee revoked its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Nov. 18, according to a news release.
The premier said she does not want discrimination in Alberta for any reason.
“I am quite prepared to make those calls and my ministers make those calls if there are other examples,” she said.
Smith noted that the majority of Alberta businesses have removed vaccination requirements.
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Young said polls show there isn’t much support among the broader electorate for some of Smith’s more “extreme” views.
“Typically, when a political party gets a new leader, there’s some sort of bounce in support for that party,” Young said.
“Instead, what we’ve seen is that Smith has been a bit of a drag on the party’s support. She began her premiership making some rather controversial statements and other information has come out about things she said on social media.
Earning the trust of Albertans will be a challenge for Smith, Young said, explaining the conservative positions Smith took to be elected leader may not be ones she will maintain going forward as a premier who may a more moderate approach in the months before the May 2023 elections.
“So the question is, if you want a centrist politician, can you trust Danielle Smith to continue down this path? Or will she return to the policy positions she spoke about when she was running for the leadership or in her previous life?”
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The NDP’s justice critic, Irfan Sabir, said the move to make calls reads more like a threat.
“This is a recipe for driving investment and business away from this province,” he said on Monday.
The NDP wants an independent science advisory panel that can analyze data and evidence to recommend future public health measures.
Smith said she believes her supporters will understand why she is moving away from her promise of immediate law change.
She said she is now looking ahead for a way to influence a future pandemic response.
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