Alta. UCP MLA drives dump truck in mandate protest, NDP calls on Kenney to kick him out of caucus
An Alberta MLA, who has openly criticized his own government's vaccine rules, is under fire after he spent Saturday "jammin' gears" in a gravel truck as traffic jammed in downtown Edmonton.
The UCP's Shane Getson, who represents Lac St. Anne-Parkland, west of the city, posted several videos of himself driving in a truck convoy to the Alberta Legislature.
"(Traffic is) backed up all behind us. There is nothing but convoy in downtown Edmonton right now. This is pretty awesome," Getson said in a Facebook video.
Police issued traffic warnings Saturday as hundreds of vehicles drove by the legislature. Approximately 2,000 people lined the streets to greet the convoys.
"It’s a simple ask really. End the vaccine mandates. Let people choose freely. Drop the mandate, and let folks get back to work, back to enjoying life rather than just surviving it," he wrote in a Monday post that addressed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
On Monday, the Alberta NDP demanded that Premier Jason Kenney remove Getson, and MLA Grant Hunter for attending a truckers protest at the Alberta-Montana crossing at Coutts, from the UCP caucus.
"Getson has repeatedly chosen to spread misinformation about public health and COVID-19," MLA David Shepherd tweeted.
"This is utterly irresponsible and frankly dangerous rhetoric from an elected official and one has to question why the Premier would choose to let it stand from a member of the UCP Caucus," Shepherd continued, including a post where Getson suggested the air force may need to fly supplies due to a "fragile" supply chain.
Getson has said that he refuses to show his Alberta proof of vaccination when he goes out.
"Out of pure principle, I do not personally have a QR code. I get my third-party test when I need to attend events for work," he wrote as part of a Jan. 16 post on his website.
In his convoy videos, Getson mostly criticized the federal government for its vaccine rules, but he also said he was working to change provincial restrictions.
"A lot of folks don't understand that a ton of us MLAs are working really hard within the party trying to bring reason for a lot of these items," he said.
CTV News Edmonton reached out to the offices of Getson and Kenney for responses to this story.
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