‘We have to begin to heal’: Alberta, Saskatchewan lead charge to drop COVID restrictions as protests rage on

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This article was published 07/02/2022 (1053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Several provinces are peeling back the vaccine mandates and health restrictions that are at the heart of a polarizing debate across this country over what it will mean to live with COVID-19.

Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec all unveiled plans Tuesday to curb the measures that have become the focal point of an exhausted public after nearly two years of the global health crisis.

In the West, governments are moving quickly. Alberta announced it would lift vaccine passport requirements by the end of Tuesday night, part of a multi-stage approach to eliminating the majority of restrictions in the province. The news came hours after the Saskatchewan government had said it would do away with its vaccine requirement on Feb. 14, with mask mandates to be scrapped two weeks later.

In Quebec, which has seen some of the country’s strictest public health measures, Premier François Legault detailed a plan that would see most restrictions lifted by March 14. Starting Saturday, there will no longer be any legal restrictions on private gatherings.

Some observers charge the accelerated approach in the West, in particular, is being driven by politics as premiers Jason Kenney in Alberta and Scott Moe in Saskatchewan look to placate bases of supporters who have been opposed to public health restrictions from the start and whose patience has worn thin.

The agitation and anger felt nationwide by people opposed to government restrictions have been on full display across the country for the past two weeks. The “Freedom Convoy” that began in British Columbia has now occupied the streets of downtown Ottawa for a week and a half, demanding a host of things, some fantastical, but mostly focused on calls that all COVID mandates and restrictions be dropped. The border crossing at Coutts, Alta., continues to face a trucker blockade cutting it off from Montana. And on Tuesday, protesters calling for an end to restrictions blocked a typically bustling border crossing between Windsor and Detroit to vehicles seeking to enter Canada — disrupting a $400-million lifeline for the North American economy.

Public support does not appear to be in the protesters’ favour. A survey released Tuesday indicated that almost two-thirds of Canadians oppose the Ottawa protest.

However, it is evident that calls for an end to restrictions have resonated. Of the 1,546 Canadians surveyed by Leger, 44 per cent said they sympathized with the frustrations being voiced by the protesters.

Some Conservative politicians have shown support to the demonstrators, including interim Conservative Party of Canada leader Candice Bergen. And, on Tuesday, Liberal MP Joël Lightbound broke ranks with his party, saying the federal government’s policies have caused too much division in the country.

That sentiment was echoed by premiers in the West.

“We also have the opportunity in this province … to really lead this nation and to lead the world in fulsome economic recovery,” Moe told a news conference Tuesday.

Saskatchewan will end proof-of-vaccination or negative-test requirements starting Feb. 14 and will lift indoor mask mandates on Feb. 28.

“The benefits of the proof-of-vaccination policy no longer outweigh the costs. This policy most certainly has run its course. So it’s time for us to take a step back, living with COVID, and to make every effort to get our lives back to normal.”

It’s time to come together and not judge your neighbours on whether they’re vaccinated or choose to wear a mask in the coming weeks, Moe said.

Added Kenney at his own news conference: “We cannot remain at a heightened state of emergency forever. We have to begin to heal.”

Alberta will remove nearly all restrictions for children, including the mask mandate in schools (kindergarten to Grade 12) over the coming weekend. Kids aged 12 and under also won’t have to abide by the general mask mandate in Alberta, though the general mandate will still apply for the rest of the population.

“It is time to let kids be kids,” said Kenney.

Kenney stressed that the province would continue to phase out restrictions only so long as hospitalizations in Alberta continue to decline. There were 1,494 non-ICU patients in the hospital as of Monday, down from a peak during the Omicron wave of 1,568 last week. In the ICU, there are currently 129 patients, a number that’s jumped slightly recently, as last Tuesday had 108 in ICU.

Kenney also said most wastewater analysis across the province showed signs of a decrease in spread of the virus.

In neighbouring British Columbia, NDP Premier John Horgan said Tuesday that health officials in the province want to be cautious when lifting restrictions and won’t be pressured by a small minority of people who are “honking horns.”

“We want to make sure that the sacrifices that businesses and workers and communities have made over the past two years are not just thrown away because of some noise on the legislative lawn or in the capital city of Canada.”

While certain provinces are first out of the gate to move away from restrictions, the conversation has been in the air across the country.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, has said that policies such as vaccine passports will need to be re-examined as jurisdictions search for a “sustainable” approach to dealing with COVID.

Tam tweeted Tuesday that nationally the seven-day average is still above 12,000 new cases daily, but that COVID cases are “decreasing in most jurisdictions.”

“With hospitals heavily strained and daily hospital/ICU counts still high/rising in several jurisdictions, we’re not out of the woods yet,” she added. “(Vaccines) remain the best tools we have for a safer descent.”

In Ontario, Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer, said last week there will be a need to “reassess” vaccine passports and other public health measures in the coming weeks as COVID-19 cases decline and other countries drop most restrictions.

Ontario is in Stage 1 of easing restrictions imposed during the Omicron surge. On Feb. 21, gathering limits will increase to 25 people indoors and 100 outdoors, and capacity limits in venues with proof of vaccination requirements — such as restaurants and bars — will be lifted. As well, sporting and concert venues will increase to 50 per cent capacity. Further restrictions would be eased March 14.

Yet some are worried the western provinces are moving too quickly.

One Saskatchewan epidemiologist said the announcement’s timing “could not have been worse” as the fifth wave continues to take a toll on hospitals in a province that has seen only about 50 per cent of the eligible population receive booster shots. Saskatchewan officials have said hospitalizations in the province — which now only releases COVID-19 data once a week — are currently peaking or will peak soon.

Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, an epidemiologist at the University of Saskatchewan, said the decision reflects how much vaccine mandates have been politicized and he sees Tuesday’s announcement as an implicit message to supporters of the “Freedom Convoy” that enough is enough when it comes to the government telling people how to live their lives.

“Premier Moe was the first of all provincial premiers to endorse and support that,” Muhajarine said. “His sympathies lie there and the actions he announced today speak volumes. The actions speak more than anything he could say about putting any distance between himself and what is happening in Ottawa.”

He also took issue with how Moe spoke about vaccines in his Tuesday news conference, repeatedly encouraging people to get their first or second vaccine or booster shot while also downplaying the effectiveness of vaccines against the Omicron variant, which he sees as part of a political strategy.

He said while it’s true the vaccine is less effective in stopping the transmission of Omicron, he noted it still significantly reduces rates of hospitalization and death, and hence the importance of vaccines and booster shots shouldn’t be downplayed.

Tom McIntosh, a political scientist at the University of Regina who works with Muhajarine as part of the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, said he expects Kenney and Moe will march in lockstep but anticipates a more regional approach in Eastern and Central Canada.

“I don’t know that this strategy will get much pickup outside of the Prairies. For the last two years it’s been mostly Moe follows Kenney or Kenney follows Moe,” McIntosh said. “I seriously doubt the Conservative government of Nova Scotia is going to follow suit. I don’t think that Doug Ford is going to follow suit as quickly.”

Quebec’s premier called on people to use their judgment about what is safe.

“We’ll have to learn how live with the virus,” Legault told a news conference in Quebec City. “What does that mean? It means that each person will have to evaluate their own risks.”

With files from Kieran Leavitt and The Canadian Press

Omar Mosleh is an Edmonton-based reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @OmarMosleh