Edmonton eyeing own COVID-19 measures after Alberta ends vaccine passport system

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Edmonton is contemplating its own COVID-19 public health measures – including a vaccine passport – after Premier Jason Kenney abruptly ended his government’s own system, as other provinces like Ontario say they will take a more gradual approach.

In Edmonton, city councillors on Wednesday instructed bureaucrats to explore options for, and implications of, a municipal vaccine pass and local screening program for COVID-19 symptoms at public and private facilities. Calgary’s municipal politicians defeated a mirroring motion, but like those in Edmonton, approved a plan to request Alberta provide the recommendations and data that informed its decision.

Alberta and Saskatchewan on Tuesday unveiled plans to quickly end pandemic restrictions, a policy shift that came under heavy criticism from teachers, big city mayors, Indigenous leaders, health care workers and some businesses. The two western provinces were once again torn between those supporting mandates and growing public impatience with pandemic measures.

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Mr. Kenney in particular is facing accusations he is dropping precautions in order to placate protesters disrupting traffic at the U.S. border crossing near Coutts. Mr. Kenney’s announcement, which included scrapping vaccine passports Tuesday evening, disappointed those protesters; they rebuilt their blockade near the border after his press conference.

Amarjeet Sohi, Edmonton’s mayor, said the province’s COVID-19 measures were effective and blamed the United Conservative Party for putting city council in a position where it is compelled to consider acting on its own.

“We need to do what we can to protect Edmontonians,” he told reporters Wednesday. “We are being forced to look into these measures.”

Edmonton’s masking bylaw, which demands people over two years old cover their mouths and noses in public spaces, remains in place. This policy clashes with Mr. Kenney’s intention to drop Alberta’s mask mandate for children under 12, and all kids while in school, next Monday. Alberta will end masking in indoor spaces for all ages at the end of the month.

About 94 per cent of Alberta’s hospital beds, excluding those in intensive care, are occupied, according to provincial data. Nine patients are being cared for in overflow beds at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic, according to Alberta Health Services spokesman Kerry Williamson. Alberta counted 1,615 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including 135 in ICU, as of Tuesday. The province’s average weekly surgical volume, under pressure as COVID-19 drains hospital resources, is down 9 per cent compared with previous years, AHS spokesman James Wood said.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott, announcing plans to distribute rapid tests more widely on Wednesday, told reporters that while health officials were watching declining hospitalization numbers closely, the province had no plans to speed up its gradual reopening plan.

“We have said from the beginning that we want to ease restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so. But we are doing it in a very cautious and prudent way,” Ms. Elliott said.

She added: “We believe that masking is going to be important for some time to come.”

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Likewise, B.C.’s Public Health Officer, Bonnie Henry, appeared uninterested in following the lead of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Dr. Henry said Wednesday that the province is always re-evaluating its public-health measures and was following the science. She said that included looking at the future of the province’s vaccine passport.

“What I’ve said very clearly from beginning that I was extending it to June 30, and that we would re-evaluate as we go about when it’s most useful and when we can reach that point of balancing the need for it with the amount of transmission and hospitalizations and deaths that we’re seeing,” she said.

In Alberta, Mr. Kenney has previously suggested his government may take steps to ensure municipalities can’t impose their own public-health restrictions. On Tuesday, the province removed the ability of school boards to make their own decisions around policies such as masking.

Edmonton Public School Board chair Trisha Estabrooks on Wednesday said her inbox is filling up with messages from teachers and parents concerned about Alberta’s decision to end masking and other rules.

“This is too much change, too quickly,” she said. The school board said it has shifted 106 classes to online learning since the beginning of January as students, teachers and substitute staff members fall ill.

In Alberta, 46 per cent of children 5 to 11 have received at least one dose of vaccine. Lawyers for the Alberta Teachers’ Association are examining whether instructors will have the ability to file complaints tied to health and safety, according to ATA president Jason Schilling.

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley told reporters Wednesday that Mr. Kenney ignored data and public health advice. “What he came up with instead was a chaotic and dishonest mess.”

The decisions were politically motivated, she said, and made without consulting municipal leaders, school districts, the hospitality sector or the business community.

The UCP “are motivated only by their pandering to the extremists who are engaged in an illegal blockade at Coutts. It’s no surprise that the UCP’s display of weakness has only emboldened those people to go into even more illegal behaviour, more demands and ever-moving goal posts.”

Ms. Notley said Mr. Kenney should remove backbench MLA Grant Hunter from caucus for his continued support for and visits to the protesters in Coutts. “It is shocking to me that he’s not being held to account.”

In Saskatchewan, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, along with other councils in the province, denounced Premier Scott Moe’s hasty plan to end vaccine passports next Monday and lift masking mandates by the end of the month.

“Our First Nations communities and organizations will continue to be diligent and implement our strategies for risk management and mitigation of this virus,” Yorkton Tribal Council Chief Isabel O’Soup said in a statement, adding that the vaccination rate among First Nations people is low compared to the rest of of the province.

With files from Jeff Gray in Toronto and Xiao Xu in Vancouver

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