On the day she was sworn in as Alberta’s new Premier, Danielle Smith said unvaccinated individuals have been the most discriminated against in the country since last year.

“I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a situation in my lifetime where a person was fired from their job, or not allowed to watch their kids play hockey, or not allowed to go visit a loved one in long-term care or a hospital, or not allowed to get on a plane to either go across the country to see family or even travel across the border.” 

“So they have been the most discriminated group I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. That’s a pretty extreme level of discrimination that we have seen….”

Smith added that she isn’t dismissing the seriousness of other forms of historical discrimination. But over the past year, she says not one group experienced it worse than unvaccinated individuals.

“And I find that unacceptable,” she said. 

“We are not going to segregate a society on the basis of a medical choice.” 

Smith also noted that she will fire the province’s health minister, Deena Hinshaw. 

“I appreciate the work that Dr. Deena Hinshaw has done, but I think that we are in a new phase where we are now talking about treating coronavirus as endemic, as we do influenza,” Smith said.

In August, The Counter Signal reported that during the height of lockdowns and mandates, when Albertans were fed daily fear propaganda, CMOH Deena Hinshaw received hundreds of thousands of dollars as a cash bonus.

Smith said she’ll assemble a team of health advisors in Hinshaw’s place. One issue she said will be improved is wait times for people in need of emergency help. Ambulance patient offloading times, and emergency room wait times are far too long, Smith said.