OPINION | COVID-19 acted as distraction as Kenney pushed major legislative changes
Kenney's one victory during pandemic has nothing to do with the pandemic
This column is an opinion from Graham Thomson, an award-winning journalist who has covered Alberta politics for more than 30 years.
This was not supposed to be yet another column about COVID-19. This was supposed to be a review of the fall sitting of the Alberta legislature and all the things that happened while we were distracted by the pandemic.
But the coronavirus is like sand at a beach picnic — it gets into everything.
This week, Premier Jason Kenney eked out some reluctant praise from the NDP Opposition over his government's outreach campaign sending COVID-19 teams into the 11 hardest-hit neighbourhoods in Edmonton and Calgary to offer hand sanitizer, masks and information.
"Albertans in these particular communities are at high risk of COVID-19 due to absolutely no fault of the residents there," said Kenney, managing to sound less judgmental than his "wake-up call" to these particular communities three weeks ago.
"The largest spread in the province is in northeast Calgary and we see a very high level of spread of COVID-19 in the South Asian community. I don't say that to blame or target anyone," declared Kenney on Nov. 25.
But Kenney seems to be learning from his mistakes. Last week, he introduced sweeping restrictions, including a province-wide mask mandate, and this week expanded rapid testing for COVID outbreaks in long-term care facilities, homeless shelters and remote rural communities.
On Thursday, NDP MLA Lori Sigurdson praised Kenney's recent actions as "good news" but, as is de rigueur for the opposition, pointed out he should have taken this action weeks ago.
"I'm pleased to see the government has taken our advice," she added by way of needling Kenney.
Political response
The premier has found himself in that unenviable position for a political leader where he's being clobbered no matter what he does. This is the result of two factors: the uncommon nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the common nature of Kenney's politics.
COVID-19 has been a challenge for every politician in every jurisdiction in the world. Everyone is feeling their way through this deadly minefield, some managing to do it better than others. Prime Minister Trudeau, for example, admitted this week that he placed orders for excess numbers of doses of COVID vaccines because he didn't want to repeat his mistake earlier this year when Canada had difficulty getting enough personal protective equipment (PPE).
Kenney, on the other hand, made sure Alberta was first out the gate obtaining so much PPE that he donated some to other provinces. However, Kenney became overconfident and put politics back in the driver's seat during the summer. Through a combination of his own libertarian values, a fear of alienating his conservative base, and a political pride that ridiculed warnings from physicians and the NDP, he refused to take more action as the number of COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths escalated wildly.
When Kenney finally introduced new tougher measures, he was criticized by rural conservatives who thought he was going too far, attacked by others who thought he wasn't going far enough, and lambasted by the opposition for taking too long.
Kenney shouldn't be surprised by his rough handling.
He has helped make politics a blood sport. While promising to bring civility back to politics, Kenney has routinely attacked his opponents personally. Among other things, he has said Trudeau has the "political depth of a finger bowl," suggested the governor of Michigan is "brain dead," and just last week testily accused anyone of questioning his response to the COVID as engaging in "Alberta bashing."
Kenney's COVID record is spotty, to say the least. It started out strong and ambitious in April but devolved into conceit and complacency over the summer that led to the thin-skinned and reactive response of December.
But there is one area where Kenney can claim undisputed victory: his legislative agenda. Not just in the fall sitting but for the whole year.
Full steam ahead
While other provinces put their legislative sessions into neutral because of the pandemic, Kenney hit full steam ahead. His government used its majority to pass legislation that included cutting more red tape, opening the way for referendums, and helping victims of crime.
But the 50 bills passed by the government this year also include other much more controversial issues such as: allowing tolls on highways and bridges; undermining labour unions; reducing protection for workers; allowing dark money in municipal elections; changing the way health information is shared; allowing a resurgence of coal mining. The list goes on. Kenney has happily boasted that Albertans have had a hard time keeping up with the changes.
During 2020, we have seen Kenney defend the constitutional rights of anti-maskers to protest during a pandemic while his government passed a law restricting the ability of anti-pipeline protestors to hold a rally.
In any other year, those bills would have made front page news for days, if not weeks. But COVID-19 is a prima donna that doesn't like to share the limelight.
And COVID is not going anywhere soon, despite the arrival of vaccines. It will be with us well into 2021, stealing the headlines and distracting our attention, as the Kenney government continues with its agenda to pass massive amounts of far-reaching legislation.