Alberta premier backs off on promise to seek pardons for COVID-19 health violators
EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who promised less than three months ago to seek pardons for COVID-19 health violators, now says she will let justice take its course.
Smith says she is urging Crown prosecutors to consider the public interest and the likelihood of conviction in these cases but says in the end it is their call.
She stressed the system is founded on an independent justice department and independent Crown prosecutors.
Smith became premier in October after winning the leadership of the United Conservative Party on promises to redress perceived abuses of individual rights and freedoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.