When to review Alberta's COVID-19 response? Opposition and government differ on timeline
The government and opposition exchanged opinions on when a review into the pandemic response should take place during the first day of the Alberta legislature’s fall sitting.
The NDP wanted to create a non-partisan committee on Monday with representation from all caucuses to publically hold hearings to gather evidence, ensure public servants and public staff testified, and receive input from public health experts and workers.
Christina Gray, opposition house leader, introduced the request and said a committee would allow for a full inquiry into the pandemic and government responses.
“(This) would provide answers and lessons learned across the province, to bring justice and transparency for all Albertans,” Gray said.
In the Official Opposition’s view, hosting a special COVID-19 debate or giving time during question period to address concerns with the pandemic’s handling is not enough. For Gray, they only allow the government to present “canned rhetoric” and “not real answers.”
“Debate in this house, should not, and does not, and cannot be a replacement for the accountability and transparency a committee review process would be able to provide,” Gray said.
The request, requiring unanimous consent, failed.
Jason Nixon, government house leader, said the legislature needs to have a conversation about COVID-19, but called the committee a “blind partisan” maneuver.
“What they are asking for is extremely unreasonable in the middle of the fourth wave,” Nixon said.
In his view, the focus at this time should remain on dealing with the pandemic and a committee would take health care professionals' time and effort away from helping Albertans.
Nixon reassured the opposition that the premier and health minister have “committed” to a “significant review” of the entire pandemic, with details to be released at a later time.
“There will be a full review,” the government house leader said. “Albertans deserve that, members on my side of the aisle want to see that happen, and we will ensure that that happens.
“But not in an NDP partisan way,” he added, “that will take resources away from people right now that need it inside hospitals.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.