Recently I attended, with many hundreds of individuals and families, the Freedom Rally supporting our truckers. Gasoline Alley outside Red Deer along the QE2 highway was packed. It was not an angry gathering. It was a positive atmosphere where friends and neighbours gathered to cheer and support convoy participants standing up to federal mandates for truckers, worsening supply chain shortages, and inflation for Albertans. .I am grateful for servant leaders like MLA Todd Loewen who drove from Alberta to Ottawa to support this convoy. He is one of the most principled conservatives in the Alberta legislature and should have never been removed from the UCP caucus..I am disappointed in our prime minister who was indifferent to the sacrifices of the convoy participants, and who is blind to the profound damage his government is inflicting on Canadian families. Instead of listening to those he has the stewardship to serve, he reverted to dividing, labeling convoy members as being from a fringe minority as well as being racists, and misogynists. He continues to seek, along with his media allies such as the CBC, opportunities to construct a political narrative to condemn and cancel the Truckers for Freedom convoy and its supporters. That is not leadership..Alberta’s government needs to clean up its own act if it wants the moral authority to hold Ottawa to account for vaccination mandates impacting truckers. Alberta has its own vaccine mandates and passports which are discriminative and coercive..I’m disappointed to see government leaders and public health officials assume it is acceptable government policy to bribe, discriminate, coerce, or punish Albertans who — rightly or wrongly — do not want to take a vaccine for themselves or their families. It’s disappointing to see public school boards, municipalities, and post-secondary institutions add onto already onerous public restrictions and increase harm, including to the mental and emotional health of children. And it’s disappointing to see the Alberta government do nothing to stop them..There has been too little discussion about how the poor performance of AHS has impacted the duration and severity of harmful restrictions on Albertans..Alberta is budgeted to spend $23 billion on health, among the highest per capita in Canada, and more than 40% of the province’s operating budget. Why, with this massive amount of money, has AHS produced such a small number of new ICU beds? Alberta has half the number of ICU beds per capita than the worst of any state south of the border..Why is our health system, in a fragile, perpetual state of being overwhelmed, allowing public officials to seek ongoing harmful restrictions imposed on Albertans, their businesses, and families?.During this perpetual state of vulnerability, why did AHS seek to fire unvaccinated health care professionals without providing rapid test or antibody test options? Who is accountable for this decision that AHS has been forced to reverse?.When I attended law school, I learned when the government seeks to limit Charter freedoms, the onus is on the government to demonstrate the limit is reasonable, that it’s “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society,” and any such limits respect judicially developed Charter principles of “minimal impairment.” “rational connection,” and “proportionality.”.At no time have I seen any analysis from the government demonstrating vaccine mandates and passports are justifiable under the Charter in the manner in which they were imposed..This is a serious matter, especially for health measures that are discriminative and coercive..Without imposing Charter principles of “minimal impairment,” “rational connection,” and “proportionality” on public health measures, government leaders and public health officials have used the justification of protecting a poorly managed government health system overrides at the end of the day, every other consideration..History will show the cure was worse than the disease. Charter principles are supposed to protect against this..We are happier and healthier when we are free. Governments need to provide complete and unbiased information and then trust adults to use this information to govern themselves and their families in respectful ways. This will produce more hope and societal peace..Guest columnist Jason Stephan is the UCP MLA for Red Deer-South
Recently I attended, with many hundreds of individuals and families, the Freedom Rally supporting our truckers. Gasoline Alley outside Red Deer along the QE2 highway was packed. It was not an angry gathering. It was a positive atmosphere where friends and neighbours gathered to cheer and support convoy participants standing up to federal mandates for truckers, worsening supply chain shortages, and inflation for Albertans. .I am grateful for servant leaders like MLA Todd Loewen who drove from Alberta to Ottawa to support this convoy. He is one of the most principled conservatives in the Alberta legislature and should have never been removed from the UCP caucus..I am disappointed in our prime minister who was indifferent to the sacrifices of the convoy participants, and who is blind to the profound damage his government is inflicting on Canadian families. Instead of listening to those he has the stewardship to serve, he reverted to dividing, labeling convoy members as being from a fringe minority as well as being racists, and misogynists. He continues to seek, along with his media allies such as the CBC, opportunities to construct a political narrative to condemn and cancel the Truckers for Freedom convoy and its supporters. That is not leadership..Alberta’s government needs to clean up its own act if it wants the moral authority to hold Ottawa to account for vaccination mandates impacting truckers. Alberta has its own vaccine mandates and passports which are discriminative and coercive..I’m disappointed to see government leaders and public health officials assume it is acceptable government policy to bribe, discriminate, coerce, or punish Albertans who — rightly or wrongly — do not want to take a vaccine for themselves or their families. It’s disappointing to see public school boards, municipalities, and post-secondary institutions add onto already onerous public restrictions and increase harm, including to the mental and emotional health of children. And it’s disappointing to see the Alberta government do nothing to stop them..There has been too little discussion about how the poor performance of AHS has impacted the duration and severity of harmful restrictions on Albertans..Alberta is budgeted to spend $23 billion on health, among the highest per capita in Canada, and more than 40% of the province’s operating budget. Why, with this massive amount of money, has AHS produced such a small number of new ICU beds? Alberta has half the number of ICU beds per capita than the worst of any state south of the border..Why is our health system, in a fragile, perpetual state of being overwhelmed, allowing public officials to seek ongoing harmful restrictions imposed on Albertans, their businesses, and families?.During this perpetual state of vulnerability, why did AHS seek to fire unvaccinated health care professionals without providing rapid test or antibody test options? Who is accountable for this decision that AHS has been forced to reverse?.When I attended law school, I learned when the government seeks to limit Charter freedoms, the onus is on the government to demonstrate the limit is reasonable, that it’s “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society,” and any such limits respect judicially developed Charter principles of “minimal impairment.” “rational connection,” and “proportionality.”.At no time have I seen any analysis from the government demonstrating vaccine mandates and passports are justifiable under the Charter in the manner in which they were imposed..This is a serious matter, especially for health measures that are discriminative and coercive..Without imposing Charter principles of “minimal impairment,” “rational connection,” and “proportionality” on public health measures, government leaders and public health officials have used the justification of protecting a poorly managed government health system overrides at the end of the day, every other consideration..History will show the cure was worse than the disease. Charter principles are supposed to protect against this..We are happier and healthier when we are free. Governments need to provide complete and unbiased information and then trust adults to use this information to govern themselves and their families in respectful ways. This will produce more hope and societal peace..Guest columnist Jason Stephan is the UCP MLA for Red Deer-South
