Anthony Furey, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador/Facebook)

By Canadian Press

Newfoundland sending small team of health-care workers to help Alberta battle COVID-19

Oct 1, 2021 | 10:06 AM

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Premier Andrew Furey says he’s happy Newfoundland and Labrador will be sending a team of five or six health-care workers to Alberta, a province closely linked with his own.

Furey tweeted his thanks today to the health-care workers in Newfoundland and Labrador who have volunteered to head out to the northern Alberta town of Fort McMurray to help the western province tackle the fourth wave of COVID-19.

A spokesperson for Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the Newfoundland and Labrador premier first offered help in early September.

Furey told reporters Tuesday that offer had been declined and Kenney had told him to “stand down,” but Furey’s spokesperson said the Alberta premier reached out that afternoon to say the help was needed after all.

Many people in Newfoundland and Labrador fly to Alberta for work in the oilsands near Fort McMurray, and Kenney repeated a joke Tuesday that the town is the eastern province’s second-biggest city.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

The Canadian Press