By Chris Brown

Statement signed by 15 UCP MLAs

Barnes, Glasgo say new restrictions ‘the wrong decision,’ move province backwards

Apr 7, 2021 | 2:20 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat’s MLAs are two of the UCP 15 who have signed a statement calling the government’s decision on Tuesday to tighten public health restrictions is a move backwards.

The statement says the move announced by Premier Jason Kenney yesterday is “effectively abandoning the plan the Albertans had worked diligently over the past months to follow, is the wrong decision.”

Speaking to CHAT News after the statement was posted, Cypress-Medicine Hat’s Drew Barnes said he wants “see us move right into step 3” of the government’s Path Forward plan that was announced in January.

“I’d like to see us have more things on a regional basis. We’re in the 14th month of this. Lockdowns and restrictions weren’t meant for 14 months,” he said. “So many Medicine Hatters and Cypress-Medicine Hatters, so many private enterprise people have lost so much. They’ve had to take on tons of debt or they’ve you know lost their jobs or they’ve lost their businesses and we need some opportunity to return to some normal life.”

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He says a healthy majority of people who contact him believe it’s time for restrictions to be loosened.

“Eighty to 90 per cent that contact me believe that we need to pivot, still continue to protect the vulnerable but do more to restore our civil liberties and open up our freedoms and our economy.”

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Step 3 called for a gradual lifting of restrictions on things like indoor gatherings and adult team sports.

That was to happen if hospitalizations were below 300 and declining. There were 328 Albertans in hospital on Wednesday morning, up from 290 on March 24.

Barnes says that at this point there’s no reason Alberta Health Services can’t be prepared with surge capacity and personnel ready to assist with emergency and non-essential surgeries.

“After 14 months, there’s been a lot of other crises from mental health to physical health to spiritual health to the economic health and we have to address them all,” he said.

Barnes has pushed for a regionalized approach to loosening restrictions for months.

He says many of his colleagues want the same regional approach.

“There’s a lot of us that believe that because Alberta’s bigger than most European countries that a regional approach makes sense. I hope in the future that’s where my colleagues will put their words.”

Barnes says at this point he’ll continue to do that from the inside the government, with no plans to leave the UCP.

The NDP says Kenney should discipline the 15 signatories, saying that by not doing so he is condoning people who are rejecting public health advice.