Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley recently answered questions from the Airdrie City View editorial team during a phone interview on Feb. 16.
The leader of Alberta’s opposition party and former premier spoke on topics including the recent Coutts border blockade, the elimination of the Restriction Exemption Program (REP) by the Alberta government, the lack of sufficient ambulance coverage in Alberta, and a proposed passenger rail project linking Calgary with Banff.
Coutts blockade
Notley said she was deeply concerned by how long the recent border blockade in southern Alberta that blocked traffic between the U.S. and Canada was allowed to go on.
While it is ultimately the RCMP that decides on action related to the blockade, Notley said the NDP recommended the provincial government seek an injunction to give the RCMP more tools to do their job and send a message about the seriousness of this issue.
Injunctions were sought by different cities and provinces, yet Alberta’s government did nothing, she criticized.
“We have seen the Government of Alberta, the conservative government, pursue injunctions against protestors quite happily in the past – yet this government sat on its hands,” Notley said.
The NDP’s transportation critic, Lorne Dach, argued that like the federal and Ontario governments, Alberta could have pulled commercial licenses for the trucks that were being used in the Coutts blockade, but didn’t, Notley added.
“Once again, they sat on their hands while members of their caucus cheered on the blockade,” Notley said.
If the NDP were in power, Notley claimed she would have removed members of her own caucus who had participated in a protest deemed unlawful and that cost hundreds of millions of dollars each week.
“I would have never said it was OK to have members of a government caucus acting unlawfully,” she said.
Having government caucus members openly defy the law while the premier and attorney general did nothing, is something Notley said was unprecedented.
While protesting is a protected right, when it breaks the laws and restricts the rights of others, it’s something that needs to be addressed, she said.
Lifting COVID-19 restrictions
On Feb. 8, Kenney announced a three-step plan to eliminate several COVID-19 restrictions, including the immediate abolishment of Alberta’s Restriction Exemption Program (REP).
“This government has once again abandoned the evidence and the science and is therefore moving us just a little bit faster than what is probably best for Albertans right now,” Notley said.
While Notley thinks Alberta is getting close to the point where public health restrictions should be lifted, she believes Kenney made that call based on political considerations that benefit himself, rather than scientific data. In late January, Kenney said the time for lifting restrictions would likely start at the end of March, but that timeline has since been accelerated.
Notley said those decisions should have been medically and scientifically based, with the clear evidence shared transparently and independently with Albertans.
“He never gave us the evidence, he never gave us the modelling,” Notley said.
“I suspect Alberta is probably a month ahead of where the evidence suggests we should be. I very much hope we don't see any unnecessary and avoidable fatalities and suffering as a result of that, like we clearly did last summer with the fourth wave.”
Lack of local ambulances
When Notley spoke with the Rocky View Weekly editorial team last spring, she claimed the UCP government planned to spend less on ambulances this year, which would create more problems when it comes to ambulance availability and response times.
Airdrie recently experienced a red alert in January, when Emergency Medical Services (EMS) crews were not able to respond to two of four simultaneous calls in Airdrie. As a result, the Airdrie Fire Department stepped up as first responders and transported patients in distress to the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre.
Shortly after that red alert, the provincial government promised to create an advisory committee to enhance EMS, while Alberta Health Services implemented a 10-point plan to add capacity.
“I think the problem that we have here is that the government has basically decided to ironically park this issue and then delay the issue and bide their time on this issue until after the next election,” Notley said. “The irony in that is that they're doing that on an issue that is by its very nature urgent and emergent.”
She added if the advisory committee was designed to fix the problem, it would have an end date and it would clearly be willing to consider the addition of resources to fix the problem.
“We have heard about the desperate need for more resources from those on the front line in terms of the number of paramedics,” Notley said.
When paramedics are off on paid sick leave due to COVID-19 or the growing stress from a lack of resources, Notley said the problem is spiralling in on itself. The government needs to understand that more resources are part of the solution, she added.
Another concern, she said, is the loss of staff in hospitals who are specifically tasked with relieving paramedics so they can get back on the road more quickly.
While paramedics can now walk away from those patients, there is nobody new in the hospital to take them, according to Notley.
She blamed the government for delaying solutions and letting cracks created in the system serve as justification for more privatized health-care services.
“I think this is a park-and-delay strategy by a government that wants to burn out the time between now and the election and use this as a way to delay answering for it,” she said.
Calgary to Banff passenger rail
A passenger rail project linking the Calgary International Airport and Banff train station was proposed in late 2021, to be constructed along the Canadian Pacific Railway’s main line.
Notley said the NDP certainly wants to hear more about the proposed project, including the final cost and environmental consequences.
“We want to see what the projected economic benefit is, but it certainly, in principle, sounds like an exciting idea,” Notley said.
“[A project] that can take cars off the road, that can link the Calgary airport really seamlessly with one of the world’s most fabulous tourist attractions…I think there's tremendous potential there. But I think we have to be consulting with all the impacted communities.”
She said future studies also need to look at the return on investment for any affected taxpayer, including municipal, provincial, or federal.
A memorandum of understanding was established between the Government of Alberta’s Ministry of Transportation and the Canada Infrastructure Bank last year, while the project will be developed privately by Liricon Capital Ltd. The project is currently under design.
Next election
Notley mentioned that no NDP candidates have been declared yet for the Airdrie-Cochrane and Airdrie-East ridings for next year’s election.
While some people have come forward to discuss their interest, Notley said the party is not at the point of nominating anyone yet.
She added the NDP hopes to have candidates in the field for the two ridings before this summer.
