Women of ABpoli Hot Flashes: The end (of 2021) is near
This week in AB
Cancel culture takes on Christmas again
After an emergency meeting was called between the Prime Minister and Premiers on December 14, Alberta's Premier relaxed restrictions so more people could gather for Christmas, which, in what ended up being Kenney's consistent leadership failure over the now entirety of 2021, had to be scaled back days before Christmas.
The rules didn't apply immediately, of course - because viral transmission likes to give folks a few days grace to get their pre-Christmas plans out of the way - but photos of Justice Minister Kaycee Madu enjoying a get-together with 199 UCP loyalists just hours after Kenney's announcement prompted the cancellation of the Calgary party that was scheduled for the following evening.
Those darned healthcare workers, still trying desperately to educate people on how personal choices can have fatal outcomes for others when attempting to go head to spike with a teeny-tiny virus, amirite?
But not everyone had to make a tough choice this Christmas
Calgary Flames owners back away from arena deal
On December 21 Calgary's Mayor Jyoti Gondek broke the news on Twitter which led to the time-honoured tradition of bootstrap-wielding Conservatives defending a $300 million-dollar gift (plus a loss of future tax revenue, while assuming all liability for the facility, and maybe, just maybe, managing to break even in 30 years) from Calgarians to private industry.
And when people who cast off millions in reclamation expenses to Albertans (in particular) and Canadians (in general) jump on that bandwagon, it just adds so much clarity.
“The Alberta Advantage was always about corporate welfare. https://t.co/VVJFv7OixB”
"The next bat soup thing out of Wuhan"
Back in April of 2020, on CBC News Network's Power and Politics, Alberta's Premier claimed Dr. Theresa Tam was "repeating talking points out of the [People's Republic of China] about (there being) no evidence of human-to-human transmission". But there was a huge thing about this, including from the World Health Organization, which turned out to be far too conservative (ie; slow).
Still, Kenney made a personal choice to attach the Hong Kong-born Dr. Tam to the PRC rather than - as a physician and public health officer - to the WHO.
Kenney also came under fire from Calgary's South Asian community during the second wave in the province after singling them out over rising infection rates.
“Someone on the ol' Twitter machine called me a “science worshiper” like it’s a bad thing 🤣🤣🤣”
Booster appointments available for everyone 18+, five months out from second vaccination
December 21 was a big news day as boosters were finally made available to those over 18. The complaints must have been coming inside the house because although boosters were available as of September for those 75+, rumour had it that doses were being wasted as the age-based roll-out demand levelled off.
Early data on vaccine effectiveness against Omicron has shown that the new variant is much better than Delta at evading vaccines for infection (as low as 30 per cent according to early data from South Africa) but still provides decent protection against severe illness (about 70 per cent).
However, we still don't have any definitive answers on how this will affect us or our health system.
Optimistically, it appears (early findings disclaimer) that an Omicron infection may produce antibodies against Delta (small study disclaimer), which would be good (preliminary optimism) because it could wipe out that variant (if it doesn't also wipe out those infected).
Happy New Year!
(Disclaimer)
“It's beginning to look a lot like personal responsibility”
Canada
Unvaccinated and Covid positive staff needed to treat Covid patients
Alberta is calling back unvaccinated staff and some provinces are also seeking an exemption for Covid positive employees. Due to an increase in infections among healthcare staff, Quebec announced on December 28 that they will ask certain staff under certain conditions, and with certain restrictions, to return to work.
Both Quebec and Ontario have seen solid increases in hospitalization while ICU admissions are remaining stable so far.
Speaking of unvaccinated and covid positive, there's an internet-based career service available for unvaccinated Canadians who are seeking employment opportunities from people who don't understand what rights and freedoms Canadians actually have. What could possibly go wrong?
CPC reminding Canadians that their tent is still big enough to infect the whole country with stupid
“Tory MP touts false information about COVID-19 vaccines, as she advocates for the unvaccinated.
Lethbridge CPC MP Rachel Thomas (aka Harder) takes on the interesting position of being both pro-life if one chooses to end a pregnancy, and pro-choice if the pregnant person and their family doesn't want to protect the unborn. Thomas did not respond to requests for further comment, leaving us to believe the paint is still wet around that corner she got herself into.
Final thought:
“Words I’ve learned to live my online life by.
cover photo courtesy of @abpressrelease