The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - The Top Stories in Alberta of 2022

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00:00:13.920 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup.

00:00:29.840 I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.

00:00:31.680 Thank you for joining me for so many episodes this year.

00:00:34.800 For our final episode of the year, we're going to hold true to our name

00:00:38.080 and do a roundup of the best political stories in Alberta of 2022.

00:00:42.720 Starting at the bottom with number 10, Alberta is back in the black.

00:00:46.560 You all right, remember that the province's mid-year November fiscal update

00:00:50.560 revealed that Alberta is forecasting a $12.3 billion surplus for 2022 to 2023.

00:00:57.120 High oil and gas prices contributed to a total revenue of $76.9 billion.

00:01:01.680 Now, to be fair, the 2021 to 22 fiscal year forecast a surplus of $511 million.

00:01:08.160 And it ended the year with a $3.9 billion surplus.

00:01:11.840 But we didn't know that until February.

00:01:13.840 So it's been a positive year for Alberta's books.

00:01:16.320 Number nine on the list, Alberta ends all remaining COVID-19 restrictions.

00:01:20.720 After over two years of restrictions like lockdowns, quarantines, mask mandates,

00:01:25.040 and vaccine coercion, Dina Hinshaw announced that people who tested positive for COVID-19

00:01:29.760 would not be mandated to quarantine anymore as of August 19.

00:01:33.840 The province also said that Albertans with COVID symptoms will not be asked to get tested,

00:01:37.840 but to stay home until they feel better.

00:01:40.000 At the time, Premier Jason Kenney said it's time to think differently about COVID-19.

00:01:44.400 Quote, we have to get used to the fact that cases no longer equal high levels of hospitalizations

00:01:49.760 or fatalities.

00:01:50.880 Our focus is on vaccines instead of restrictions as the most scientific response.

00:01:55.600 Then again, for those of you who are still keen to remember those COVID Christmases,

00:01:59.200 lots of my followers, I'm sure, you need look no further than our federal government

00:02:03.040 for some COVID paranoia. Number seven on the list. I know you guys want to forget about this story,

00:02:08.080 but I'm not going to let you just yet. In late July, Albertans were shocked to learn that the

00:02:12.480 province's then chief medical health officer, Dr. Dina Hinshaw, received an almost $228,000 COVID bonus.

00:02:20.960 That's in addition to her almost $365,000 salary. That's well over half a million dollars, 0.98

00:02:27.760 marking the largest cash benefit payout of any provincial civil servant. At the time,

00:02:32.240 the story broke, Ministry of Health spokesperson Mark Fettelbush said the bonus is a response to

00:02:37.040 the extraordinary additional work from Hinshot during the pandemic. The bonus covers her overtime

00:02:42.400 hours, though the department did not reveal how much overtime she worked. At the time,

00:02:46.800 then leadership candidate Danielle Smith said Albertans were rightly outraged and stunned

00:02:51.120 by news of the COVID bonus. She said, quote, as premier, not only will we not lock down again

00:02:56.480 or impose vaccine mandates, we will have a full review into the handling of the pandemic,

00:03:01.680 including the role our chief medical officer of health played in it. And as you guys know by now,

00:03:05.920 Smith made good on that promise and Hinshot was fired as Alberta's chief medical health officer in

00:03:10.000 mid-November. Number six on the list, the Alberta Sovereignty Act becomes law. We have talked so much

00:03:15.440 about this piece of legislation this year. Smith's Sovereignty Act legislation or the Alberta Sovereignty

00:03:21.120 Within a United Canada Act passed in mid-December, just 10 days after being tabled. This was a huge deal

00:03:26.880 for the new premier who proclaimed throughout the United Conservative Party leadership race

00:03:31.040 that Sovereignty Act legislation would be her first bill as premier. The government says Bill 1 would

00:03:36.000 allow the province to stand up to federal government overreach and interference in areas of provincial

00:03:40.640 jurisdiction, including private property, natural resources, agriculture, firearms, regulation of the

00:03:47.120 economy, and delivery of health education and other social programs. Number five on the list,

00:03:52.800 I'm just going to say it. This is my favorite news story of the year. In December, the Alberta

00:03:57.200 government recommended prosecutors don't pursue charges against firearms owners whose guns were

00:04:02.160 deemed illegal under the Trudeau government's 2020 order and counsel. A release from the government reads,

00:04:07.760 while respecting operational independence on individual cases, the new protocol issued by the

00:04:12.560 Attorney General provides prosecutors with guidance on how to evaluate the public interest

00:04:17.760 when determining whether or not to pursue charges. Justice Minister Tyler Shandro says Albertans should

00:04:23.360 not automatically be considered criminals because they own a firearm that was legally purchased and

00:04:27.920 possessed. All right, guys, number four on the list. You guys were very eager to hear all the updates on

00:04:32.560 this all year long. Do you remember when a sitting MLA faced criminal charges? Court documents show that

00:04:38.400 Mounties were initially considering criminal charges against an Alberta legislature member who admitted to

00:04:43.600 hacking a government health website. Former NDP MLA Thomas Dang was charged in June under the

00:04:48.320 province's Health Information Act for illegally attempting to access private information contained

00:04:53.280 in the Alberta Health vaccine portal. As I've previously reported, Dang has been sitting as an independent

00:04:58.320 MLA since the RCMP began investigating his activities. And for hacking the province's COVID-19 vaccine records,

00:05:04.960 Dang was ordered to pay a $7,200 fine earlier this month. Dang has said he does not plan to seek

00:05:10.720 re-election in the spring 2023 vote. Okay, guys, number three on the list. The Alberta government

00:05:16.080 ordered the RCMP to ignore federal confiscation orders earlier this year. On September 23, the

00:05:21.600 Alberta government announced it will take action to prevent Ottawa from conscripting Alberta RCMP officers

00:05:27.280 to collect firearms. You guys know the details of this by now. In May 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

00:05:33.680 announced he was banning more than 1500 models of firearms, including AR-15s. Shandro said federal public

00:05:40.160 safety minister Marco Mendicino then asked the provinces to help confiscate 30,000 newly restricted

00:05:46.400 firearms beginning in the fall. But Shandro said those firearms were purchased legally and the province

00:05:52.080 will not aid the federal government in confiscating them. He said, quote, Alberta taxpayers pay over $750

00:05:58.400 million per year for the RCMP, and we will not tolerate taking officers off the streets in order to

00:06:04.320 confiscate the property of law-abiding firearms owners. Okay, guys, number two on the list. This was a shock to

00:06:09.760 me. Jason Kenney announced he was resigning as premier. On May 18, the United Conservative Party

00:06:15.600 had an event in South Calgary to hear the results of Kenney's leadership review. You guys might

00:06:19.760 remember, Kenney did survive that review, but just barely, with 51.4% of the vote. I was there and the

00:06:26.000 crowd erupted with cheers when it was announced that Kenney had passed. But those cheers immediately

00:06:30.960 turned to gasps when Kenney said he would step down once a new leader is chosen. Until that point,

00:06:35.840 Kenney had said he would stay on as leader if he reached over 50% of voter support. But no political

00:06:41.280 leader in Canada has stayed on with so little support from within their own party. In late

00:06:46.240 November, Kenney stepped down as a member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary-Lougheed.

00:06:50.400 He said, quote, thank you to my constituents for the honor of representing them in parliament

00:06:54.800 and the legislature over the past 25 years. Of course, guys, with Kenney resigning,

00:06:59.120 that made room for someone new. Despite the sitting premier's criticism of her during the leadership

00:07:04.000 race, Danielle Smith pulled off a victory and won the leadership contest on the sixth and final ballot 0.98

00:07:09.680 with 53.8% of the vote. Okay, guys, and number one on the list is, of course, the Coutts border blockade.

00:07:16.240 On January 29, the Freedom Convoy rolled into Ottawa and a group of truckers blockaded the Sweetgrass

00:07:22.000 Coutts border crossing. That's one of the busiest ports of entry west of the Great Lakes. The United

00:07:26.800 States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service is located at this crossing,

00:07:31.760 making it a principal point of entry for Alberta's large meat industry. Protesters demanded an end

00:07:36.640 to all COVID-19 restrictions. On February 12, due to ongoing protests, the Canada Border

00:07:42.160 Services Agency suspended all travel at the Coutts border crossing. Just two days later, the RCMP

00:07:47.840 stepped in and arrested 13 people, seizing long guns, handguns, body armor, a large amount of ammunition,

00:07:54.320 and high capacity magazines. Four men were subsequently charged with conspiracy to murder RCMP officers.

00:08:00.800 Fort McLeod town councillor and organizer Marco van Huygenbos later testified at the Emergencies

00:08:06.080 Act inquiry, saying it was time to go because there was nothing left to stay for after those

00:08:10.800 guns were found. He said, quote, to me, it became very clear that every objective we were looking to

00:08:16.400 achieve was no longer possible, and that our message had been lost. The border crossing was

00:08:20.720 reopened on February 15th. Okay, guys, so that's Alberta Politics 2022 wrapped. Thank you so much for

00:08:26.560 supporting me and watching my show and reading our work over at True North. If you'd like to support

00:08:30.640 independent media, you can visit donate.tnc.news. Thank you so much and see you guys next year.

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - December 31, 2022

The Top Stories in Alberta of 2022

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