The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - May 21, 2024


UCP pressures Smith to change Covid vax policy


Episode Stats

Length

16 minutes

Words per Minute

172.95674

Word Count

2,823

Sentence Count

135

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.980 Rachel Emanuel brings the news each day on Alberta Roundup. She has her say.
00:00:11.020 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:14.760 I am here today doing an extra special episode. I saw something this week that caught my eye and
00:00:20.000 I knew that you guys would all be very curious about it today as well. So I am joined today by
00:00:25.200 UCP Board President Rob Smith. Rob, thanks so much for today. Very happy to be here, Rachel.
00:00:30.680 So Rob, I saw an interesting article this week from CBC News with you in which you were commenting
00:00:35.580 on the COVID-19 vaccines actually saying that you guys, the UCP Board, are urging Alberta Premier
00:00:40.900 Daniel Smith to amend COVID-19 vaccine policy. So just to get started, what specifically are
00:00:46.420 your concerns with the COVID-19 vaccine? Well, Rachel, I just want to say right off the bat that
00:00:52.820 there's a pile of people, members of the United Conservative Party included, that want to put
00:00:59.440 all things COVID behind us. They want to move on. They feel that that's in the past. We recognize
00:01:05.460 there are a lot of Albertans and a lot of our party members that feel that way. However, there are also
00:01:10.640 a significant number of our members and a significant number of Albertans that are still concerned that
00:01:17.120 the vaccine exists and that the vaccine by HS is being promoted for infants as young as six months
00:01:23.780 of age. We as a provincial board, based on the policies approved by our membership, cannot really
00:01:31.920 discuss the efficacy of the vaccines or the makeup of the vaccines. But we do know that there are facts
00:01:40.300 that seem to be alternative to what Alberta Health Services is wanting to implement. And we feel that it is
00:01:46.680 absolutely justified by the party, like the constituency association, Calgary Lougheed, to try to present
00:01:53.920 those facts to Albertans. And what we're urging our premier to do is to the best of her ability with
00:02:00.240 Alberta Health Services, urge them to be as forthright and transparent as they can about all the facts about
00:02:08.320 existing COVID vaccines, including the fact that there are a lot of medical professionals that believe
00:02:14.000 there are serious side effects. So you're saying we want Alberta Health to be more forthcoming about
00:02:20.460 some of the risks of the vaccine. Are you actually hoping to see any change in that policy? As you
00:02:24.800 mentioned, it is being recommended for babies beginning at six months currently. Well, you know, I think it's
00:02:31.420 very fair to say that we have a long history of trust of the medical system in Alberta, in Canada,
00:02:39.100 and that parents have just largely accepted the vaccines as put forth for their children,
00:02:46.220 because they trust in, in this case, Alberta Health Services to be providing the best opportunities for
00:02:52.700 our kids. There are a significant number of UCP members and a significant number of Albertans that
00:02:58.940 think the idea of the COVID vaccine for infants as young as six months of age is off the boil, to be
00:03:06.480 completely frank. And what the members passed as a policy last fall at our AGM, Rachel, is a policy
00:03:13.740 about informed consent, and that there is an ability for Albertans to demand that they have the ability
00:03:22.460 to have all the information presented to them in order to consent to get a vaccine. In the case of the
00:03:29.420 COVID vaccine for infants or for children under the age of consent or the age of legal recognition,
00:03:37.900 parents need the opportunity to be able to know everything. And the challenge is that there are an
00:03:44.900 awful lot of Albertans that are parents that rely on that culture of belief. There are a lot of
00:03:52.980 Albertans who think that that puts a number of children at risk. So AHS needs, particularly with
00:03:59.640 respect to the COVID vaccine, to present all the information that is available. And I mean, we're not
00:04:06.420 talking necessarily radical thinking here, we're talking about vaccines that are being pulled from
00:04:11.960 distribution around the globe. We're talking about leading doctors, we're not talking about quacks here,
00:04:19.060 who have serious concerns about what this means for anyone who's taking it. Premier Smith has been
00:04:25.740 very, very forthright, and we completely support her as a party in providing choice. We don't believe
00:04:33.340 as a party that the COVID vaccine needs to be taken away, but we do believe there needs to be a more
00:04:39.720 proactive approach to ensuring that people have the scientific information available to them so they can
00:04:46.820 make decisions based on informed consent. So I actually had the opportunity to ask Premier Smith
00:04:52.300 about the government's COVID-19 vaccine policy a few weeks ago. Not sure if you had a chance to see
00:04:57.600 this interview yet, but her answer might surprise you. We're just going to play that clip right now
00:05:00.820 for our viewers who might not have had the opportunity to see it yet. Changing directions a
00:05:04.780 little bit, I want to talk about Alberta Health Services. Obviously, your government's doing a lot of
00:05:07.780 work on dismantling that, changing things around. Just the other week, they came out and they
00:05:12.020 announced that they are still recommending the COVID-19 booster every three months, beginning at six
00:05:15.840 months old for babies six months old. A lot of people took issue with that. Is that a policy that
00:05:20.540 you yourself agree with? I think that we're trying to get a correction with the Western Standard
00:05:25.340 because we think that it was mischaracterized. So I'll tell you what I have observed. What I have
00:05:31.460 observed, since it is a choice for people to take the vaccine or not, 16.6% of Albertans have chosen
00:05:38.760 to take the vaccine. So I think people are making their own decision about what is best for them,
00:05:43.840 whether or not they need it, whether or not they're in consultation with their doctors.
00:05:48.540 And we want to preserve that. That being said, I believe it's over the age of 65, 60% are getting
00:05:55.720 that booster. And so we want to make sure that in respecting choice, that we're respecting the
00:06:02.240 choice of everyone. There are some families that have made a decision that they want to have
00:06:07.080 their children vaccinated and many who have chosen not to. And so we're making it available.
00:06:12.160 The recommendation really is, though, for those who are immunocompromised at any age and those over
00:06:16.960 the age of 65, and I think Indigenous communities as well, because there's a comorbidity factor with
00:06:22.780 diabetes in particular and some of the other health risks. But it remains a choice and one that we hope
00:06:29.200 that people make in conjunction with their doctor. So not recommending six-month-old babies get the
00:06:33.560 mRNA-code vaccine? The recommendation was for those who are immunocompromised, those over the age of 65,
00:06:40.240 and I believe First Nations communities. I'm sure a lot of people will be happy to hear that.
00:06:43.740 Right. So, Rob, what is really your understanding of the policy? Because after this interview happened,
00:06:48.300 a lot of people reached out to me and said, the COVID-19 vaccine is still absolutely on the vaccine
00:06:52.940 schedule for babies beginning at six months. And I reached out to Alberta Health and had that fact
00:06:57.260 confirmed. So what do you make of the Premier's answer here?
00:07:00.640 Well, honestly, Rachel, the Premier's answer is exactly what the party supports and believes. And when we
00:07:09.440 first broached this issue with Premier Smith, that was very, very consistent with the response that she
00:07:15.760 gave to us. We understand that, I mean, AHS is not the government, right? But we believe that the
00:07:25.920 ability of the government to try to affect the necessary change with respect to that vaccination
00:07:33.460 policy is something that we want the government to do every single thing they can to try to impart the
00:07:42.180 change that we believe Albertans actually want. Everything that the Premier said there is completely
00:07:48.520 consistent with what she said to us. And I believe it's actually completely consistent with what the
00:07:53.000 party wants. The idea, though, of AHS continuing to indicate in terms of the vaccination schedule
00:08:01.600 that infants six months of age should be getting the COVID vaccine is something we take serious issues
00:08:08.520 with. And I think that it's with respect to that, as well as with respect to even adults like you and I
00:08:15.440 that are not necessarily the immunocompromised or those aged 65 or older or part of Indigenous
00:08:21.720 folks, as the Premier identified, are people that are recommended to have the vaccine.
00:08:28.780 That's what Calgary Law Heave and a number of other CAs are supporting them in putting forth this
00:08:34.160 information so that people can actually learn more about what it actually means, rather than
00:08:38.880 fear-mongering. Because, I mean, maybe for some people they would like to take the vaccine. They think
00:08:43.480 they should have it, but they should be able to access all of the information. And I don't think that
00:08:49.460 the party believes that AHS is providing the opportunity for Albertans, parents included,
00:08:57.300 to truly make informed, consensual decisions when it comes to the COVID vaccine and the current AHS
00:09:04.140 policy. Sure. I guess just back to the Premier's answer, the distinction would perhaps be, you know,
00:09:09.000 she's saying that this vaccine is only being recommended for immunocompromised children beginning
00:09:13.420 at six months old. The Alberta Health has told me that it's being recommended for all babies six
00:09:18.720 months old. So what's your actual understanding of what the policy actually is? Well, our understanding
00:09:24.360 is, I mean, it's AHS's policy. And so what you just said, Rachel, is absolutely correct. And that's
00:09:32.200 what I believe it's fair to say, based on the policies that have been approved by the membership of
00:09:37.820 the United Conservative Party, we have serious issues with that. We believe that the Premier in
00:09:49.960 talking about the choice being offered to Albertans is very, very important. I think we have a Premier
00:09:55.380 and a government that's very, very focused on allowing people to make their own choices.
00:09:59.900 But when you consider the trust in the medical system that we've historically had,
00:10:04.560 we just don't believe as a party that the information is presented as it needs to be
00:10:11.020 presented for people to make informed consent, particularly when it comes to children.
00:10:16.160 So you've mentioned you already raised this with the Premier. Was she sort of receptive to that idea
00:10:19.840 of having Alberta doctors be more informing to parents of the risks of the COVID-19 vaccine?
00:10:25.960 Well, I feel like when we first brought it up to her, I mean, I don't think that we brought up
00:10:32.580 anything to her that she wasn't already aware of and perhaps was already trying to act on when she
00:10:37.780 talked about, with respect to the Western Standard, trying to get some information presented that
00:10:43.500 indicated that AHS was, that there perhaps was some inconsistency in terms of how that information
00:10:52.400 was presented. We've all been hearing, and I'm sure the Premier more than anyone in the province,
00:10:57.140 a serious amount of concern from people about the idea of six-month-old infants getting the COVID
00:11:03.860 vaccine and the degree to which it's supposed to be repeated based on what AHS is saying.
00:11:09.820 I don't believe that's what our government wants. It's certainly not what our party wants.
00:11:14.240 And so that is serious concern. We really, really want AHS to be, we'd love for them to change the
00:11:23.420 policy. But what I can say that the party has absolutely approved based on policy from last
00:11:28.480 fall is at least present the information based on informed consent. I can say that because our
00:11:34.580 UCP membership have actually approved that.
00:11:37.580 Sure. One other thing I wanted to bring while I have you up is there's a big event happening
00:11:41.920 just in Calgary next month. I know that my viewers will be really excited to attend it if they are
00:11:46.160 in Calgary or to hear more about it afterwards. It's an event really looking at vaccine injuries
00:11:50.900 caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. And even in some case deaths, the event is called the Injection of
00:11:55.920 Truth Town Hall. And it also sort of promotes itself as an opportunity for attendees to mingle with
00:12:01.980 researchers. We're going to have some huge researchers of the COVID-19 vaccine and people who have really
00:12:06.980 been speaking out against it. People like Dr. Brian Bridal, who I'm sure my viewers are very
00:12:11.280 familiar with. Some really important researchers there as well as some UCP MLAs. So this event is
00:12:16.580 happening. The Calgary Lougheed Constituency Association is organizing it. You and I spoke
00:12:21.440 on the phone. You explained to me that the party does support this event. Just my viewers, could you
00:12:25.000 explain maybe how do these things come together? Was it, you know, the Constituency Association
00:12:29.520 approached you and said, hey, do we want to do this event? Or because the party has this position of,
00:12:34.200 you know, wanting to amend vaccine policy, have you guys been trying to organize and find
00:12:37.980 constituency associations to hold events like these? Sure. Rachel, the constituency associations
00:12:46.140 are the course in blood of the United Conservative Party. Our constituency associations are our
00:12:55.460 membership, and they are our members' first touchpoint with the party. So when a constituency
00:13:01.420 association comes up with an initiative, be it a fundraiser, be it a friend raiser, or be it something
00:13:06.680 that actually wants to talk about public policy or social issues, unless they're doing something
00:13:12.000 that is in contravention to the member policy declaration or anything that's in our bylaws
00:13:18.580 or governance, we will support them wholeheartedly. So when the Calgary Lougheed Board of Directors
00:13:25.160 of their constituency association decided to come up with this activity, and this has been a CA very active
00:13:30.880 in hosting town halls, and have actually even assisted a number of other constituency associations
00:13:36.040 across Calgary and even into the outlying areas with organizing town halls, gathering in many cases,
00:13:42.920 hundreds of people together to actually talk about conservative issues. So when they decided that
00:13:49.720 they were going to be hosting this event, there was just no question that the party was going to
00:13:56.440 help put the information out to our membership, and certainly support the event. I understand I've had a
00:14:03.720 number of phone calls this week from a lot of people I hugely respect, some of the greatest mentors of my
00:14:08.440 life, that say, please leave this alone, just COVID's in the past, let's put it behind us. And I completely
00:14:16.360 appreciate that attitude. There's a part of me that actually believes that it would be better if we did
00:14:22.360 that. But that's my own opinion. The party believes that our members are always right. And if our members,
00:14:29.480 particularly in the case of a group as large as a constituency association want to put forth an
00:14:34.200 activity, that they already have, like, I think almost a dozen CAs from across the province that
00:14:40.120 have made motions to support this event. And there, I think there's going to be viewing parties held
00:14:44.680 across the province, or viewing events, I don't think parties is necessarily the right word. But like,
00:14:50.120 this is, this is an important event that I think a lot of conservatives, a lot of our members,
00:14:55.000 and perhaps even some members of the public will be watching with interest to hear from these medical
00:15:00.600 field experts. Do you know which UCP MLAs are planning on attending the event? Well, I do believe
00:15:07.560 that that Shane Getzen is to be part of it. Eric Bouchard, who is the MLA for Calgary Law,
00:15:14.840 he will be in attendance. I would suspect there are others, but those are the two that I am,
00:15:19.720 I am aware of. Well, we'll definitely be watching that event with interest. Rob, thank you so much
00:15:25.000 for joining the show today. I know that my audience will really appreciate your perspective. And
00:15:28.360 honestly, it's just nice that we have a UCP board that finally has some teeth. I don't think any other
00:15:32.920 province has a party board doing work like you guys are doing. So it's, it's actually really amazing
00:15:37.080 to see. And I can't thank you enough. Well, thank you, Rachel. Really appreciate it. We do all support
00:15:41.800 our premier. And so it's easy to get motivated to be an active board when we have a premier like
00:15:46.200 Danielle Smith. All right, everyone. Well, that was Rob Smith, the UCP president board.
00:15:50.520 Let me know in the comments section below what you think of this new initiative and what you think of
00:15:54.280 the board taking action to really speak out about some of the harms of the COVID-19 vaccine policy.
00:15:59.320 I will see you guys all later in the week. I hope you guys have a great one. God bless.
00:16:16.200 Thank you.
00:16:17.640 Thank you.