Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced that he is continuing to ease restrictions over the holidays only one day after Trudeau called up the Premiers to pressure them into halting any such plans.
Indeed, many were concerned yesterday when PM Justin Trudeau held an emergency meeting over the spread of the Omicron variant — which the World Health Organization has found is significantly less troubling than all other forms of COVID-19.
Unfortunately for many Canadians, including those in Ontario, Quebec, and PEI, Christmas will be different this year, as several Premiers are capitulating to the will of the Federal government and imposing new restrictions on indoor gatherings.
However, things are different in Alberta.
A source close to Jason Kenney has told me that despite Trudeau begging for a hard lockdown, they currently intend to do the opposite tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it, but if I do I'll be the first to commend the man for finding his spine.
— Keean Bexte (@TheRealKeean) December 15, 2021
Rather than introducing more restrictions, Kenney is altering the current list of restrictions around indoor gatherings to make them more permissible. While indoor gatherings are still limited to 10 people, it doesn’t matter which households those people are from, and those under 18 will not be counted. This means that nearly all families will be able to gather legally for Christmas unimpeded by the Provincial government.
Moreover, this rule does not exclude the unvaccinated; so, divisions within families need not be made.
This was Kenney’s initial plan, and it’s good to see him following through with his promises for once.
Last Friday, Kenney said, “I’ll be gathering with three family members, we’re all fully vaccinated, come from three households, only four people. But we wouldn’t be able to do that based on the current rules.”
“… I don’t want to create a situation where we have millions of Albertans violating the rules when we’re not in a current emergency situation,” he continued, referring to the plummeting rate of ICU admissions in Alberta.
Kenney added that the last thing he wants is to see Alberta become a totalitarian state, much as Australia has become.
“We’re not a police state. Unlike Australia and other places, we are not going to put a cop on every corner to check people’s papers,” he said.
