Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley is demanding that Premier Jason Kenney puts new rules into place for COVID-19, including a mass vaccine mandate which would affect everyone using non-essential businesses.
Notley also wants to see everyone masked up again in all essential places, grocery stores, gyms, malls, and all.
This pressure comes only one day after Premier Jason Kenney returned to office with a shift in opinion regarding how the province should manage the pandemic. While never being against vaccines, Kenney now believes that increasing vaccination rates is the absolute best way forward, with lockdown measures being a last resort.
“We may have to take other measures to encourage people, the unvaccinated, to ensure they are not putting themselves in a position where they’re transmitting,” Kenney said while responding to residents on Facebook Live.
Never missing an opportunity to progress her agenda, Notley is demanding that Kenney does something and fast!
Using other provinces as precedence, Notley says that Alberta must phase in requirements for vaccine passports and smartphone verification in the short term while developing a QR code as proof of vaccination.
Simple. Secure. Scannable. And just in time for hockey season. By providing easy and secure access to immunization records while establishing a standard for large public settings, Albertans can protect their neighbours and continue to do the things they love. #ableg #abhealth pic.twitter.com/40anOBjia7
— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) September 2, 2021
“Vaccine verification is coming to Alberta whether Jason Kenney likes it or not,” Notley said Thursday. “The UCP must follow other provinces and step up.”
“By providing Albertans with easy and secure access to their immunization records while establishing a verification standard for public settings, Albertans who are vaccinated can protect their neighbours and continue to do the things they love to do.”
It only took Premier Doug Ford two days of debate to go back on his promise not to have a vaccine passport. However, with Kenney’s sudden shift, many are left wondering whether he, too, will suddenly announce a similar vaccine passport system.
So far, Kenney has stuck to his guns, but only time will tell if this continues.
