Tuesday, May 04, 2021

Kenney's Hell

Andrew Nikiforuk writes that Jason Kenney is in a hell of his own making:

Alberta has now recorded more daily confirmed COVID-19 cases on a per capita basis than any other Canadian province or U.S. state.

That’s more than 2,400 cases a day in a province of four million people. Nearly 30 per cent of the infected are children

With a rising infection rate of 12 per cent, one in eight Albertans test positive for the virus, likely in the form of its many variants, breaking all previous provincial records.*

Put simply, Kenney disregards what the scientists tell him:

These numbers reflect, first and foremost, Premier Jason Kenney’s callous and persistent disregard for scientific findings and mathematical reality. He apparently does not understand or deliberately ignores the inconvenient truth that the virus spreads exponentially and therefore, left to its own devices, explosively. And that the faster and wider it spreads, the more it strengthens through mutation.

Now the ugliness Kenney has sown is blooming:

As a consequence, Alberta now has 508.2 cases per 100,000 citizens. That’s double the rate in hard-hit Ontario and more than triple the rate in British Columbia.

As Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman lamented to the CBC last weekend: “We have done the least of the provinces. We’ve tolerated protests against masks and at the hospital and rapid vaccination clinic.”

Once you let the devil in the door, he often runs the house. Kenney again has waved him right in.

Kenney believed he was the smartest guy in the room --  a notion that was always pitifully false:

A man with high opinions of himself, Kenney thought he could outrun the variants with vaccines. He lost that gamble totally, and now young citizens are struggling for air in hospitals with tubes in their tracheas. One 17-year-old woman in McGrath tragically died within five days of exposure. When governments give a dangerous virus free rein, bad things happen.

What explains Kenny’s dithering and wholesale aversion to leading in the public’s interest? The brash libertarian, probably the most unpopular premier in Alberta’s history, set the tone in his politicking by signalling he really doesn’t believe the government should restrict anything — including the movement of viruses.

Then when Kenney began to fiddle with closing, opening and closing again in response to lurching COVID-19 rates, 17 members of his own caucus flung his own don’t-tread-on-me notions back in his face, protesting such measures. Last month they openly chastised their premier and called for a regional approach that would allow areas with low infection rates to avoid restrictions.

In a province where the premier doesn’t apparently give a damn, the enforcement of COVID-19 rules has become a joke throughout the province.

This willful dereliction of duty in the face of a public emergency prompted this sharp tweet from Shannon Phillips, NDP MLA for Lethbridge West:

“Conservatives used to be a party where self-discipline, rule of law, and understanding rights come w/ responsibilities was the narrative. Now it’s do what you want, disregard others, break the law, reject responsibility, just yell, blame, lie with no intellectual anchor.”

Alberta is awash in the virus. And no one is paying attention to Kenney. He and his fellow Albertans are in hell.

Image: The National Observer


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was always going to be that way because big business demands it. There's no way the oil companies are going to pay to protect workers in the camps, just as there's no way the meat packers will pay to protect their workers. Kenney's libertarian shuck and jive is just a way to give big business what it wants.

Cap

Anonymous said...

Alberta holds the dubious distinction of rejecting a competent, compassionate and highly capable leader in Rachel Notley to a failed political gaslighter like Kenney, now they reap the rewards of not recognizing great leadership when its staring them in the face. Kenney, a man of zero conscience, a perpetual bachelor (read loathing closeted gay man) who has spent his life making life miserable for others, must resign immediately. BC Waterboy

Owen Gray said...

It's been the same story in Ontario, Cap. Business trumps public health.

Owen Gray said...

It's going to be hard to keep his coalition together, waterboy. The question is which will come first: Will Kenney leave before or after it all falls apart?

Anonymous said...

This is an extremely accurate assessment of J. Kennedy. Then there is Drew Barnes who is just as potent as Kennedy located in The most southerly point of Alberta and just as much as a disaster. What Dundee heads. Anyong

Owen Gray said...

You folks in Alberta are having a horrific time, Anyong.

Lorne said...

When all is said and done, Owen, it is monstrously clear that Kenney has put politics ahead of people's lives. And that should be his epitaph, in my view.

Owen Gray said...

And, to make matters worse, Lorne, he's shameless.

The Disaffected Lib said...

The virus seems to have run rampant through jurisdictions with rightwing governments. Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, Duda, Duterte, Red State America, Ford, Kenney, Orban.

Hungary has had the worst death rate in the EU yet last Friday Orban lifted the lockdown.

Now, as we're watching India in meltdown, we see that nations truly can hit rock bottom and no one is sure how far that will set India back.

Owen Gray said...

The through-line with all these governments is that they ignore facts, Mound. Even that famous right-winger Ronald Reagan declared that facts were stubborn things.

zoombats said...

It is extremely interesting to see the parallels between Alberta,Ontario/Kenney and Ford and as mentioned just about everywhere we have a Conservative dictatorial leadership. Most if not all the leaders, including Trump all see themselves as the smartest guy in the room. From my little corner I see nothing more than a high level of incompetence equaled only by their insufferable egos.

Owen Gray said...

The bottom line, zoombats, is that the marriage of incompetence and ego costs lives.

Trailblazer said...

I believe that Kenny is a proclaimed Christian.
Just how can he justify his actions with a straight face?
Kenny and Ford have blood on their hands but profit in the boardroom!

Justifying their actions must be difficult to do from their supporters!
Actions to the positive reveals much about our values?

TB

the salamander said...

.. As I've probably mentioned before.. I pay close attention to Dr. Michael Warner - ICU Chief at Michael Garron Hospital.. just minutes away.. Plus having shot in all the major teaching hospitals and produced the resulting CME accredited videos for years, I 'get' how accomplished such Chiefs & Specialists and their teams are

In short 'They know their stuff' and they update 'best practices' constantly.. much like Educators do. It appears to me, that Kenney and Ford and their 'teams' don't care for the reality of who is getting infected or hospitalized or ending up in the ICU. Instead they are formulating decision making and 'action'based on Mainstream Media and Political Polls. ie what will appear to be 'the science' ..

Can you imagine if Healthcare & Education had been based on such foolish premise ?

(This may appear as a double post on Politics & It's Discontents - my current hardware seems barely capable of reading Indy blogs or connecting submitted comments via Google sign in. I have a workaround via my cel phone.. and will reappear ideally ! Best regards to all, regardless - keep up the good work ! Yes we have our first AZ shot

Owen Gray said...

We live in an age, TB, where shame among public officials no longer exists.

Owen Gray said...

There is a big difference between the physical and the social sciences, sal. Both have their value. But biology and chemistry are not the same as economics and psychology. Congratulations on receiving the vaccines.