September is no return to normal for Albertans

In all of the challenging times we have endured over the last decade in our province, this past month has undoubtedly been one of the most tragic. With tens of thousands of new COVID-19 cases since I wrote to you last, our hospitals are bursting beyond their capacity, and dozens of Alberta families are mourning the loss of loved ones. This September that we hoped would mark a return to normal has quickly become a tragedy of nearly-unparalleled proportions.

The worst part of all of this: so much of the pain and loss and sickness was preventable. By this point in the pandemic governments of all stripes know (or at least should know) what works to fight COVID, and what doesn’t. Unfortunately for Albertans, Premier Kenney and his UCP government abandoned almost everything we know that works to appease the radical antiscience members of his caucus. In his rush to reopen for summer he removed almost all of the public health measures that had been in place to help us protect one another and watched while the Delta variant of the virus tore through unvaccinated populations. More than this, while it was clear that the virus was sickening and killing those that had not been vaccinated the Premier acquiesced to his hardcore anti-science UCP caucus delaying action that would incentivize vaccinations and leaving Alberta’s businesses and public institutions to do his job for him.

The cost of this goes far beyond the sickness and death that the virus itself is causing. Cancer screenings are being delayed. Thousands of life-saving surgeries have been cancelled. We have heard heartbreaking stories of children who cannot get brain surgery because we do not have enough space in our hospitals. And soon, we will be forced to airlift Albertans fighting COVID to other provinces. It never should have come to this.

As I’ve come to expect, though, our community has met the moment and risen to the occasion to work together to do what Premier Kenney won’t. While the UCP threatens wage cuts and takes a bellicose tone to our essential health staff, our incredible healthcare workers are giving patients the best care possible, even after 18 long months and the burnout that comes with it. Despite the government causing doctors to flee our community, causing clinic closures and chronic primary care shortages, those physicians who remain are scrambling to provide care to as many southern Albertans as possible. And - despite tone deaf direction from the province - instructional and administrative staff at our schools, College, and University continue to do their best to provide students with the tools they’ll need to get ahead in the future.

We shouldn’t have to be so resourceful, and we shouldn’t have to dig so deep, but the fact that we are and we have is a testament to the spirit of this community and the remarkable people who live here. Lethbridge has done our part: we have masked up, spaced out, and gotten our vaccines at a very high rate. Our resilience has served us well, and that same resilience is what will get us across the finish line. We will get through this because so many of us will continue to do what needs to be done and make the necessary sacrifices to arrest the spread of the virus. I know how hard this is and how frustrated we all are, but it is perhaps more important than ever that we do what we can to protect each other, our health system, and the amazing people who work inside it.

There remains much more work to be done on COVID. While Lethbridge has had a lot of success in our vaccination campaign, our neighbouring communities still have a long way to go to protect everyone. The government needs to focus on our region, with some counties registering between just 40 and 55 per cent vaccinated. We need a strategy to get these folks vaccinated or else this fourth wave will just keep crashing into our system.

Beyond doing everything we can to protect our health system and keep our community safe, we need to hear from our public health officials without the filter of Jason Kenney’s political interference. It’s become clear that over the last year the UCP government is only listening to the advice it wants to hear, and that needs to change if we are to make our way out of this pandemic and save lives. That’s why Rachel Notley and the rest of our NDP caucus are calling on the province to establish an independent COVID-19 science table to make clear and public recommendations to the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), and for there to be an Order in Council passed to enable the CMOH to operate without political interference. This way, we can leave Jason Kenney and his caucus to play their petty political games without fear of that internal drama compromising the province’s response and costing us even more lives. We need stable leadership - not high school drama - and we need it now.

Please take care of yourself over the next month. This pandemic has been long, and we aren’t done with it yet. If you require mental health support, please reach out to the Canadian Mental Health Association by calling 1-866-531-2600, or go to Alberta.ca/mentalhealth to find out about other resources that are available to you.

Finally, anything you can do to keep pressure off of our system is more important now than ever: stay safe, and if you haven’t already, please get vaccinated.

As always, if you require the support of my office, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can reach us at 403-329-4644, or by emailing lethbridge.west@assembly.ab.ca.