Documents show politics drove Alberta's decision to lift COVID restrictions, critics argue
CBC
Two key documents — shielded from the public until now — are providing some insight into how the Alberta government came to ease COVID-19 public health measures earlier this year.
A Court of Queen's Bench justice in Edmonton recently rejected the government's cabinet confidentiality claim and ordered a PowerPoint presentation and cabinet committee minutes be disclosed. It stemmed from a case challenging the decision to remove the province's school mask mandate and block school boards from bringing in their own.
Lawyers for the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) and the parents of five immunocompromised children argue Albertans have the right to know what led up to the decision to lift the mandate.
The first of the highly anticipated documents is a Feb. 8 PowerPoint presentation prepared by Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, which was presented by Health Minister Jason Copping, according to the province.
It offers three possible options for lifting restrictions, seemingly crafted within the parameters of earlier guidance from the Priorities Implementation Cabinet Committee (PICC).
"Per previous PICC direction, three-step approaches to easing are proposed, with a focus on removing the restrictions exemption program and easing youth masking requirements," the PowerPoint presentation said.
The first option proposed significant easing in Step 1, including eliminating school masking right away.
The second option suggested more moderate easing initially with school masking lifted in Step 2.
The third option left the approach open to the cabinet committee.
"The options presented to cabinet very much skewed in favour of lifting restrictions," said Lorian Hardcastle, who teaches health law and policy at the University of Calgary.
"Interestingly, embedded in what I would expect to be a scientific discussion were considerations around political concerns and economic concerns. And very notably to me is that one of the "pros" listed in this presentation was to have Alberta be a leader in reopening, and that has nothing to do with science. That's politics."
In its discussion about timing, the document noted certain unspecified metrics would need to be achieved before moving to next steps and that "Alberta will be a leader in entering the endemic space, balancing the risks and benefits to easing before other Canadian jurisdictions."
The provincial government was also ordered to hand over cabinet committee meeting minutes from Feb. 8, the day it announced its plans to lift public health measures.
The minutes — which include the decision reached but no documentation of any discussion — show the second, more moderate option was chosen.
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